Tag Archives: wall art

Every Girl Every Boy

14 Tuesday Sep 2010

Posted by in Accessories, Inspiration, Kids

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This past weekend, I was reminded of just how different my two kids are from each other while catching a rare moment of snuggling with my daughter. My 4 year old son wants to be a fireman and a parachuter, but loves to set the table, help me cook and gives hugs and kisses followed by “I love you Mommy” all day long. My almost 18 month old daughter spends most of her time trying on shoes and making sure everyone else is also wearing theirs. But when not worrying about that, she is climbing stools to get on the counter, climbing ladders to the slide, or jumping from the ottomans to the couch. She has no fear, is happy to go off on her own at the park, the beach, etc. and I’m hard pressed to get a hug or a kiss out of her. Their differences aren’t gender specific, but I think people often like to explain “reasons” for differences by focusing on gender. A few years ago, when I walked into a new job, this poster was hanging in one of the office’s. It is used in a lot of classroom settings. My first thought when I read it was if I ever have a daughter (in addition to my son who was already born) I would hang this poster in between their rooms. I have the perfect spot where our hallway ends and to one side is my daughter’s room and the other side is my son’s room. There is a lovely sailboat print their now, but I think the message here is much more important than the beauty of anything else, and it makes the space more personal in a way and hopefully reminds them that everyone is unique and they don’t have to be like anyone else. Kids, and even adults, are under so much pressure these days that sometimes it’s nice to have a reminder that we should just be ourselves and accept others as they are too.

Vintage Printable

22 Tuesday Jun 2010

Posted by in Accessories, D.I.Y.

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I am always drawn to vintage style botanical and curiosity prints, but they are generally a bit of an investment. However, now you can get the look for a lot less, at least on a small scale. Vintage Printable is a web site where you can download and print vintage images mostly from rare books whose copyrights have lapsed as well as newer images uploaded by their artists that are available for free. There are images of just about every plant and animal species you can imagine and a whole lot of other topics as well. Here are a few of my favorites.

Keep in mind that you’ll only be able to print them to about an 8″ x 10″ size or else the quality of the image will not be very good. Also, some of the images are much better quality than others to begin with so you’ll want to look carefully at each one as your making your selections. But these would be great in a series of 4 or 6 prints on a wall or if you just need something small to fill an empty spot on a wall in a bathroom, bedroom or hallway then this is a great, inexpensive option to get the look of something more expensive.

If you like this post, then you might like these:
Serve It Up on Seaweed!
Custom Draperies for a Fraction of the Cost
Before and After:  From Tiny Hall to Gallery Walls 

Family Photo Gallery Wall

07 Monday Jun 2010

Posted by in D.I.Y., Inspiration

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Benjamin Moore, , Lee Gallery Frames, Maaike Bernstrom Photography, , Ribba frame,

I was so ridiculously excited yesterday when we FINALLY hung the photos behind our couch. This has been VERY long process in picking out what to put in this 8′ wide by 6′ tall space behind our 9′ long couch. I have a basement full of photos and artwork, but none of them seemed right and so for the past 3 years I have agonized over what I could put here that would achieve the look I wanted and fit my budget. I have contemplated everything from a giant canvas to a decorative iron grate but kept coming back to wanting a series of square frames. Then last November we had a great set of family photos done by Maaike Bernstrom Photography so I decided I definitely wanted to use those and create a gallery wall. I found the Lee Gallery Frames in an oversized 8 x 10 at Pottery Barn which I loved, but at $129 apiece and since I would need 6 of them, that idea was quickly dropped by this unemployed blogger. Then, to my surprise, I found the Ribba frame at Ikea which at about 20″ square was only slightly smaller and way less expensive. I was able to get all 6 frames for less than the cost of one of the Pottery Barn ones. Score!

Oh, but not so fast (I bought them last November). Now I had two new issues, the first being that the opening of the picture mat was 12″ x 12″. This is only a problem because it is nearly impossible to get a photo to fit this size. Your options are 11″ x 14″ or 16″ x 20″ so you will be just a tad too short or quite a bit too large even if you zoom out and trim down. I decided that since I liked the square thing I had going on that I would have 8″ x 10″ photos printed and then trim them down to 8″ x 8″. Great, right?

Problem number two, I now needed to find an additional mat to make up for the gap between the 12″ x 12″ mat and the 8″ x 8″ picture. I didn’t want to use anything white because the mat was already white and I needed something that would match my wall color which is Ocean Air by Benjamin Moore. I looked at everything from different colored papers, fabrics, wallpaper and more, but nothing seemed right. I thought about having pieces of mirror custom cut to fit the frames which I actually think would have been very cool, but the thought of bringing two toddlers into the glass shop with me was daunting, and now I think it probably would have looked a little more formal than the rest of our house is these days. And then it hit me, I had nautical charts sitting in a closet waiting to be wallpapered onto my downstairs bathroom wall, but that project wasn’t ready to be done. The blues in the charts would pick up the wall color perfectly and the charts would add more interest to the frames while still being subtle enough not to compete with the photos. Plus, the charts are of Rhode Island and include a lot of the beaches and bays that are near and dear to our hearts. I am completely thrilled with the result! Now I am on a roll and am doing another gallery wall message center in my kitchen which I hope to share with you by the end of the week.

IdeaPaint

02 Wednesday Jun 2010

Posted by in Inspiration, Kids

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dry erase board paint, IdeaPaint, paint,

We’ve all seen the many wonderful uses of chalkboard paint, but now you can do similar things with dry erase board paint by IdeaPaint. I think this is a fabulous product because, while I love chalkboard paint, sometimes we don’t want a big black mass on one of our walls, especially if our space is already dimly lit. The IdeaPaint is white so you can create a nice bright space and if you don’t have anything written on it, your walls still look nice and fresh and bright. And you can do cool things like the the tree featured above and it looks hip and modern. Don’t give up completely on chalkboard paint. It still has it’s purpose (and I’m actually working on a project with it at the moment), but now you have even more options when developing a creative space whether it be at work, home or school.

Image: IdeaPaint

Biggest Fan

06 Friday Nov 2009

Posted by in Bath, Inspiration, Living Room

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Coral Sea Fans, Karen Robertson Collection, sand dollars, starfish,

Despite the fact that we have no fewer than 30 pieces of artwork or photgraphs in our basement just waiting for us to hang them, not one of them or any series of them is right for above our 9 ft long couch. So for the 2 1/2 years we’ve lived in our house, I’ve pondered every day what would be the perfect piece for that wall. It is the first thing one sees as they walk into our main living space so I want it to be right. For a while now, I’ve had my eye on these Coral Sea Fans from Karen Robertson Collection which are pressed between two pieces of glass. I love their simplicity combined with the aged metal frame that gives them a vintage feel. They come in a variety of colors, although I prefer the white, and I just discovered that there are other options such as starfish and sand dollars as well.

They also come in a variety of sizes, but I think the bigger the better so I would do a series of them in the 24″ x 24″ frames. Maybe I’ve finally found “the one”.