5 Pants in 5 Months

If you follow my blog, you have been forced to follow the story of my pants.  Lucky you.

I pledged in April to make 5 pairs in 5 days, but the pattern proved problematic.  I did finally finish all 5 pairs, and have been wearing them gleefully this month.

The truth is, I made 6 pairs, because the very first pair had to be taken apart completely and resewn from the beginning.  I changed the pattern every time so the first/last pair fit just right, then went back to all the other pairs and updated all the changes so they all fit the same.  Here they are:

5 Pants in 5 Months

HOWEVER.....there is a curve ball:  In the last 2 weeks, Dave and I started cycling some of the trails around Chilliwack.  The setting is spectacular, but my cycling skills are not so it's pretty teetery, coasting-along style cycling.  So imagine my surprise when I put some pants on this weekend and they are all too loose - like 2" too loose!  Fortunately I somewhat anticipated my size changing and designed them to  be altered along the side seams easily.

 I'll just get right on that.

The 5% Summer

Welcome to the Cottage

We bought our cottage five years ago in the summer as a fixer upper with great bones.  We moved in a flurry, got the kitchen and bedroom operational, then 3 days later I left for Japan because Sarah was about to have Japanesie #4.  Turns out she went 2 weeks late, and I did not get back until the day before school started.

Meanwhile, Dave worked like a mad man.  One of the main things he did was refinish all the bedroom and kitchen floors which he discovered were straight grain Douglas Fir.  All the kids decided to come home for Christmas that year, so during the fall we renovated the main bathroom and the kitchen mostly by ourselves.  Here is what the kitchen looked like when we bought the house:

We got the bathroom to 100%, but not the kitchen so much, and we have never touched it again until this summer. We had replaced all the lower cabinets, but kept the orginal upper cabinets.  However, the upper cabinet doors had been unsuccessful refits, so we removed them but never replaced them. We had the floor molding in the garage, but it never made it to the installation stage. Also, because we never got to renovating the heating system until this spring, it was very hard to keep clean.  Here's what it looked like until this summer:

Can you see the dark open cabinets up high?  They are cedar lined!  For 5 years Dave has pondered the construction of the cabinet doors, which have to fit inside the casements, leaving no room for error.  Stacks of magazines and a garage full of tools were accumulated in the rumination process.

I'm happy to report that all is now complete.  We degreased and repainted all the walls and cabinets (I love you, Benjamin Moore!) changing the wall colour from a cream white to a soft gold, lined the cabinet shelves with glass (I love you, Brock Chapman!), installed the floor molding, stripped and stained the original Douglas Fir doors to match the floor and replaced the curtain hardware.

All this was just a backdrop to those 13 brand new cabinet doors, the "pieces des resistance".  Each door was a torture to create and fit because no two openings were the same size. We wanted them to look like they had always been there.  The glass doors were fitted with a vintage look seeded glass (I love you Brock Chapman!) and the bottom 2 shelves were left open which I love, love, love.  Here is the result:

You can see we changed the nook to a loveseat area.

Dave remodeled a kitchen moveable bar into a side table on wheels for the loveseat that also doubles as an extension to the counter when I need it, or a wagon to wheel into the dining room or living room for serving, like my great grandmother's old tea wagon:

I want you to see this all, because next I'm going to write about another dilemna concerning our house, and see what you think.  I'll keep you posted.

Thanks to Dave over and over for all the work he has done this summer.  The kitchen now sparkles and works like a dream.  It has a small footprint, but is so easy to work in, with everything at the tips of my fingers.  It's cozy and comfy and complete in every detail.  Because we took our time and lived with the kitchen for a few years, we knew it well enough to make the right decisions.  It was well worth the wait.

My First Chair

Recently, one of the two matching leather armchairs in our living split right about where Dave's shoulder rests. As I dithered about what to do the split got bigger and more irreparable so they had to go.  Hannah felt sorry for me and gave me two chairs from her house; one was Dave's old oxblood leather chair and ottoman that I had made him get rid of in an earlier renovation.  He was so happy to have it back that I immediately regretted ever making him part with it.

This was the other chair she gave me:

Clearly, this is a mid-century modern chair that is in pretty rough shape, .not a chair designed for the 1930's English cottage we live in.  But this chair had one redeeming quality - it fit me!

I'm short and squat.  Buying furniture is torture for us because Dave is a foot taller than me.  When I try to sit on furniture that Dave is comfortable with, I can either reach the floor or the back of the seat, but never both.  If Dave tries to sit in a chair that fits me, he looks all scrunched up like Gulliver having tea with the Lilliputians.  We don't buy those chairs.

But this chair found me, fits me, loves me, wraps it's loving mid-century arms around me.  Now, how to fit it into the decor?

25 years ago, I slipcovered a beat up sofa and chair, so I thought I would give it another try.  At THE fabric store in Chilliwack, I found set of fabrics that would work in my livingroom for $16.00 a metre.  At the till they were $3.00 a metre! score!  Back home, I made a pattern, cut it out, sewed it together in one night - awesome!

By the light of day, I saw all my mistakes - it didn't fit around the shoulders, the seat was crooked blah, blah, blah.  But a week later, I finally had it all together and I am pretty excited that I get to sit in my pretty chair and touch the floor whenever I want to.  Wanna see it?

Mid-century modern lines are hidden under the deep skirt so it blends with the room.  It's the first time I've had my own chair.  Be happy for me!