Mellow Yellow

I haven’t hit you with house porn for a while, but the drought is over.

If I could pack and drive out of town today, I’d want to go see this house in person. It obviously needs updates – but nothing looks scary to me, merely outdated. The wallpaper would have to go for sure, and I’d want to paint inside and rip out the old carpet and plastic flooring. (Ditto for window coverings, but curtains are an easy fix.)

I love love love this house. It’s in our budget, a respectable size, the location would work for us, and we really need to move yesterday, for the sake of everybody’s health and well-being. (Crime rate is virtually zero, not a flood zone, and far enough north both to reduce risk of heat stroke and of tornadoes.) The bedroom split would be a good solution. Our younger daughter and grandson will be living with us and they could have the upstairs to themselves. A duplex would be better, but this is absolutely doable.

Okay, I admit I’d like to update the appliances, add a dishwasher, and replace the range hood with a built-in microwave. There are more cabinets behind where the photographer stood in this photo, but I couldn’t tell how many or if there was also more counter space. Even if this is all there is, it’s a lot more than we have now. (The wallpapered space to the left is the dining room.)

Given both my and G’s mobility issue, already having this type of bath would be a godsend. It offsets a world of bad wallpaper.

Ugly wallpaper and ugly flooring in the bathroom shown directly above. If the wallpaper is ripped out, I might be able to live with the floor. If not, that kind of floor can be painted. I’d eventually want to replace the shower with a tub/shower combo, if the structure would support it — or at least a better shower. A window would be great, too, if this sits next to an outer wall.

Quibbles, not deal breakers.

I have to wonder about the curtains on the upstairs landing area. I can understand the shorter drapes directly over the staircase, but the bigger window at right needs to swap its “mini” for a “midi”.

Like I said – the house could stand some updates to the walls and flooring, but push comes to shove I could live there as-is. I keep forgetting to win the lottery so I can retire. Mainly I forget to buy lottery tickets. (Taking care of that omission this weekend). I’m serious enough about this house, I’m considering talking to my boss about moving now and working from there. I guess you never know if you don’t ask, do you?

Link is here for details.

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A lot of my weekend was spent sewing. I’d like to tell you I finished up several garments and cleared my closet of all the things that don’t fit. I’d be lying, but I’d like to say it.

I did decide, before cutting the fabric I love, I should do a “muslin” mock-up. For most people, that means using actual muslin: plain unbleached cotton fabric. But since muslin costs more than stuff I bought from a yard sale, I opted instead for a two-yards-ish piece of batik to sacrifice in the name of, “Let’s see how this turns out.”

There were some happy successes. For example, I was afraid the bustline might be too small despite my measurements. In reality, I could probably have reduced the size by another 2-3 inches and still been fine. (Part of the overall weight loss is I can no longer eyeball my size.) The length was right on target, too.

The shoulders and sleeves were a huge fail – emphasis on “huge”.

I used a principle which works great on knits. This particular batik is about as far from knit as it’s possible to be. It’s tissue-paper thin (albeit surprisingly opaque), smooth, and crisp. Where most material would drape into soft folds, this stuff sticks straight out. It’s better at standing up than I am.

The intended cap sleeves ended up oversized and with a distinctly sci-fi effect. I decided to take some small tucks in the sleeves, assuming it would tame the folded-disk look. Ummm…. nope. Now it looks like a folded disk with a dent on both ends.

Mind you, this kind of stuff is partly why I’m doing a mockup. It’s part frustrating, part giggle-inducing. The fabrics I’ll be using for the final garments are much softer and drapey. I don’t foresee any of them standing at military attention. I’m using woven quilt cotton and the batik is woven, so the fit should translate perfectly fine.

Sci-fi disk shoulders, not so much.