Inspiration

After a somewhat heavy post, I thought something bit lighter might be in order...even if it means two blogs in one day.

I have so enjoyed my smaller home and taking the time to decorate it the way we prefer. Taking the time means many things. Sometimes I don't have the funds or the time in my schedule to do what I want and other times I just don't know quite what should go in a particular spot or where to find it. The biggest wall in our living room was like that and I really pressed the hubs to wait with me until we knew what to do. I have done plenty of hasty decorating with less than perfect results. Not this time. I really needed some inspiration. He waited and then did lots of work to make it happen and I thought I might show how it turned out.

This was my jumping off point...

Thanks to Pottery Barn, I finally knew what I wanted to do with my big, square, blank wall. I didn't want to copy their design but I liked the mix of frames, some with art, others with photos along with the large, wooden initial and other art. I also appreciated the treatment of the table in front of the wall with the branches in the jar, the tray and other items to break up the flat, linear aspect of the wall. Problem was, the blue just didn't work with our color scheme and I absolutely HATE to paint. Mr. Brown took care of that.

He meticulously painted the wall a lovely green. He's really good at painting. I was blessed to receive a number of priceless and precious family photos from my uncles when they came to celebrate my Mama's homegoing. My sweet mother-in-law contributed some from her collection as well.  I selected and repainted frames for as many as possible and our project began. Did I mention that I hate to paint?

A certain artful daughter created this modern rendetion of a family tree at my request.

Then we carefully cut paper patterns for each piece to make selecting their location on the wall that much easier. While time consuming, it sure made repositioning and then hanging the actual frames, gears, and art that much easier in the end. And...fewer holes in the wall.

Here is the nearly finished work in progress. The gears were a special gift from oldest boy. The large empty frame held a prominent place at both daughters' weddings and now contains photos of their beautiful grandmothers...the small empty space now sports a pin-up photo of Nonnie Jean! While scandelous at the time it is quite tame by today's standards. She could really rock a bathing suit!

If you look closely you will see my wedding photo from the Austin American-Statesman, circa 1977, wedding photos of my children, parents and grandparents, my handsome Airman at about 18 and my sweet second son dancing with me at his wedding. I will continue to add and rearrange as our family grows but this is a great start, don't you think? I believe I might have been inspired.