It's curtains for this one

The home improvements have been continuing. On Tuesday night we put up some curtains we'd purchased on the weekend, along with the hardware to put them up. 

The first photo is at a different angle from the one below because this isn't technically a 'Before' shot, but rather a photo I took with me when shopping for the curtains in the first place. I'm great at visualizing things (even people, places, events) that don't exist, but when it comes to reality, photos are safest. 

You can see some empty boxes I'd left in the window to hide the gap between the end of the blind and the windowsill. I don't want to tell you how long those boxes have been there. (Actually, I don't want to tell you how long it took me to realize how clearly you can see right into the room from the street below through that little six-inch gap.)

Before: messy, curtainless room

After: curtains! Here they are open.

The curtains do the same thing that the new wall of pictures above the couch did instantly, which is make the tiny space feel larger by drawing the eyes up. Plus they increase the coziness factor by, like, literally a billion!

And here: closed! And with my writing table back to its usual clutter.

I've been enjoying them every time I come in and out of the room, not to mention at night and in the early morning. This little alcove where I do my writing is attached to our bedroom, and while these aren't blackout curtains, they definitely keep out a lot more light than what was seeping in before. 

Progress, bit by bit

Bit by bit, that's how things get done. This weekend I framed and hung a bunch of pictures on a previously blank wall:

I also put up a mirror that has been sitting in our powder room for weeks!

A bunch of furniture we’d purchased over the holidays was delivered (now we have CHAIRS around our dining room table! AND a coffee table which isn’t just the piano bench dragged back and forth between piano and couch). Tables might not sound thrilling, but they really are when you’ve gone without for six months.

We also had the opportunity to go see the Habs playing the Blackhawks…

and the Habs won!

Am I lucky or what?

There were a few projects I didn’t get to, but headway was made on a few: curtains and curtain rod purchased for our bedroom, if not yet installed, and a story outlined – if not yet finished. I also dug into The Little Friend (Donna Tartt's second novel) and watched a little TV but not too much (Girls is back!). And here's another great link about why reading novels is good for you...(it boosts brain function for days). All the more reason to carve out some reading time in your week if you're not doing this already!