The April happenings

Where did April go? And now we are racing through May! I thought I would post my favorite pics from the month of April for memory's sake.

Let's get the bad memories out of the way.  We had major flooding - check out that backyard lake! 

No fun. Enough said. Moving on...

Louisa and I met up with some friends at the Conservatory.

My daughter, competing at the IL State Meet for GIJO Level 4 Gymnastics. Bittersweet day. She was jipped by the judges- true fact. But we are proud of her. She worked so hard this year. 

Placed 6th in the All-Around.

Louisa's last night as an AWANA Cubbie. The end of an era. One of the cutest Cubbies around.

She has always had a great sense of smell. 

 Kailyn joined the Junior Orchestra at her school- she has been wanting to learn violin and she loves it now.

Here are the other 1st graders with her at their concert.

And one of the best surprises- meeting Gabby Douglas!

It has been a busy month but fun!

White.

So, I have these panels... curtains... window treatments... whatever you call them.... they were a steal of a deal that I bought when we first bought the house. They are from JCP and are thermal lined (keep the cold windy winters at bay and the blazing hot summers under control) and they were a fun bit of color and pattern.

My shameful secret was that I never washed them. For three and a half years. Don't tell.

So, I did get inspired a few months ago and put them all through the wash... following the instructions VERY carefully!!! People, I have 10 huge windows - I didn't want to make a mistake plus I am a rule-follower... mostly.

Lo and behold, they shrunk. A lot. Enough to look like a bad case of high-water pants (and not the capri kind).

I looked for my reciept after being encouraged by a friend to take them back to JCP. Long story short, I could not find the receipt and JCP was willing to exchange them for me but I had to have some sort of paperwork. I went home depleted and told Steve who casually said- "I have it in the basement" (because he is a receipt hoarder documenter). Needless to say, I took them back (all 10 panels) and held my breath until the lady actually refunded me. I couldn't quite believe it was that easy! JCP is awesome!!!

So, now I was left with naked windows. IKEA to the rescue. I bought 10 panels (98" long!) at $25/2panels. Their name is RITVA. They are not paper thin but have a nice weight to them. That is a deal, people. Want to see them?

They are white! I love them. Don't they look elegant?

I even put them in the dining room, since these two rooms are really one anyways.

So, anyone have white curtains?

And, yes, I am planning to hem them about one inch because they puddle a little more than necessary on the floor but I do love them. Thank you IKEA for making affordable, beautiful curtains.

Lightening Up

Once upon a time, I liked the color red. I still do, actually. But, when we first moved into our house, I liked it a lot and wanted it in the house. Under the influence of bad advice (friends who shall remain unnamed ) I decided to paint my stairwell, my small hallway AND my foyer red. Dark red. Yes, I can hear the groans....

See??

(If you love this color and even have it in your house, please forgive me for this post... it just isn't my thing anymore but I am thrilled if you are thrilled. FYI: there were several people who looked at me like I was crazy for saying that I wanted to repaint- just sayin!)

Eventually I grew tired of it and realized my faux pas. The stairwell was the worst and was attacked first. The red had to go. There is no light in the stairwell, so paining it red really made it seem dark. That was replaced with Ben Moore's Whispering Spring (see the new and improved stairwell here).

The hallway and foyer were next up on the list. I enlisted my friend to help me pick out a color. Let's just say, that after about  50 paint samples on the wall, I had committed to a color (BM Raindance) only to discover (after buying a whole gallon of paint!!!) that it wasn't the one I loved. It was too blue!! This, people, is maddening. It makes you doubt any decision making abilities you ever had. It makes you crazy because you just spent $30 of good hard-earned money on a color that you will come to hate over time because you settled.

After a few hours of kicking myself in the head for picking the wrong color, I chose a color that had been sitting in my basement the entire time- I just hadn't tried it on the wall- don't ask.

The winner was: Benjamin Moore's Silver Sage. Just the kind of watery green I was looking for.

And here is the before, one more time:

And now, on a beautiful spring day here in Chicago: