{please look away from the band of swine paint that still circles our ceiling ..}
Magazine inspiration photo for one of my kitchens in the 1990s.
Once upon a time — back in the 1900s, before some of you were born — I fell in love with a kitchen photo in a magazine. I tore that picture out and kept it. That image inspired a paint, tile, and curtain makeover in my kitchen about 17 years ago.
My kitchen makeover in the 1990s
You can see my version of those curtains in that old kitchen photo, taken shortly before we moved about 13 years ago. Most people thought I was crazy to put light curtains above the sink, but I preferred the way they looked. Appearance won over strict practicality—something that probably hasn’t changed much, even after years of family life and white slipcovers.
Even back in the 90s, I wanted to paint that desk — I still remember not liking it!
In that older photo you can also spot the same antique stained glass I’ve owned for many years. It’s been moved around the house—sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes in the living room—but it’s one of those pieces that travels with me. Much of what fills my home has been here for years; I reuse and repurpose my belongings instead of constantly replacing them.
How can someone furnish a home on a budget and continue to use, reinvent, and reuse the same pieces for decades? That’s a topic for another post — I have plenty of tips to share.
I’ve lived in three homes since that kitchen with my favorite curtains. Each time I moved, I took the remaining fabric along, intending to use it again. I don’t keep everything, but my favorite pieces tend to follow me from house to house. For one reason or another I hadn’t used that particular fabric again—until recently.
Several months ago, I sent the fabric home with my mom and asked her, pretty please, to make new curtains for my dining room. She had sewn those original kitchen curtains years before, and I trusted her to recreate that familiar look.
Over the winter I had black-and-tan curtains in the dining room. They were fine and recycled from a previous home, but they didn’t fit the bright, quirky vibe I wanted for the warmer months. With June arriving, I was ready to liven the room up with this cheerful pattern from my past. Funny how trends come back: I’ve been seeing similar prints everywhere lately. The fabric wasn’t long enough on its own, so we added a blue band to lengthen the panels and give them a neat finishing detail.
The dining room is still a work in progress. The carpet will come out, the ceiling will get painted, and I’ll continue tweaking, redoing, and repurposing—because decorating is never really finished. Small changes over time help a room evolve into something that feels lived-in and personal.
My dining room has continued to evolve over the years. I enjoy reusing elements I love and letting the space change gradually. The result feels familiar yet refreshed, and that blend of old and new is what makes a house feel like home.