The Art wall

I've been gathering inspiration to decorate a large wall in my home. It's actually the only large wall that we have. I like the look of a collage with white frames to showcase all of our family photos and maybe a few other types for interest. I stumbled upon this photo from I'm-not-sure where and it's similar to what I am thinking. I even have an "M" like that. Must be fate.

How do you deal with a large wall?

Do you go for large artwork or a gathered over time effect to make a statement?

If anyone knows where this picture is from, please let me know so I can give a proper credit source. Thank you!

Now...

It's been kind of busy around these parts lately but I do have some craft and DIY projects on the docket. I hope to post those in the following week.

One project has sent me to the hardware store, oh let's say, 42 times now - literally, I have 42 items for one project. Curious? Me too - I'm curious as to how I am going to make it work.

But anyway, today I am heading back out to the produce auction and I am a little excited about it. I'll be sans children so I may hit a garage sale or flea market on the way home so I can revive my Thrifty finds for you all.

Have a great Friday!!

Light duty

There are many things that we still need to tackle in this house. Lighting is one of them.

All of the light fixtures, what little there are of them, need to be replaced. I guess they don't need to but I want them to. Bringing them into this century would be good.

But, the problem is that the standard light is not what I am looking for. And, the ones that I like are often priced at what I don't.

Looking through the Anthropologie catalogue last year, I saved an image of this light. I loved it but thought I could make my own. I want it to go right over the kitchen sink. After I told Jon my plan, he said, "Why don't we just buy it?" I told him to let me see how close I can get to duplicating it and if I failed, then we'd buy it.
Deal.

So, I searched for vintage cage lights and found some but I lost bids on E-bay that were too high, which defeated the purpose of making it. I actually found some that were exactly like the other ones at Anthropologie but again, I lost out on those. So I kept trying. Enter Etsy and a nice seller who listed this vintage cage light just for me.


Hmmm...although it's not quite the shape and the hook is larger than I thought, we'll see what I can do. Now I am just waiting for an Edison bulb and a light kit. If I can't do it, I have plan B on standby which will involve my round, wire basket taking one for the team.

Just remembering

The studio organization project

I'm taking the studio in a new direction. I say that as if it had one before, maybe I'm just-finally getting-around-to-organizing it is more like it.

Although we loved the black bench, it had to go.
And say good-bye to the open shelves.
In their place we brought out the antique armoire my mom gave me.

I like its period hardware. Luckily, it also has the skeleton key to go with it. I'll need that as I have already found little kids using it as a hiding place. Good thing it is well built.

Although it doesn't boast many shelves, it has a few that I can work with and on the other side, I can create more by installing grid shelving since that side was used for hanging items. Having fewer spaces to put things will also be good for me to pare down on some items.

So this is what will keep me busy for a few days.

And then I'll be ready to

gear up for the fall craft/homemade/holiday season

once again.

Garage thrifting

Since it's not in the plan to get to any flea markets or thrift shops in the next little while, I thought I'd shop the garage. After all, it's free, sort of.

(Although, I am making plans to go a big flea with a friend soon so I'll document that journey later! Maybe I'll even shoot a video... I can't stay away for too long.)

Jon and I have made it a point to go through all of the boxes in the garage and either use what we have, sell or give-away what we don't need. I've already set out 5 boxes of items that were picked up by freecyclers. Love that. Two people came by from Craigslist today and a few other items are heading to Etsy.

It was a tough competition but something had to go. I'm the Paula Abdul of the garage storage and thinks everything has a chance. Jon is more like Randy. "Yo dog, you're cool and all but you're better suited for someone else."
The following items are what made the cut.

This vintage tool carrier was from my mom. I'm a sucker for these but they can be pricey. This was found at an antique mall and it was such a bargain, we couldn't pass it up. It held big jars of spices in her kitchen and I may do the same. Flowers would look so good in here too. Or herbs... any thoughts?

Although I don't buy linens as much as I used to, I still like them, especially vintage tablecloths. They are always just a little more fun to use.

I thought the price on these napkins was funny. $12.60 for a dozen of Damask Irish linen. I like it when the original price tags are left on items.

Even though I don't use doilies much, I do think they are small pieces of artwork and I hate to part with any that were made by my family members. I've often wondered how I could modernize them a bit since I lean toward contemporary design with a vintage mix.

Then one day I was reading an old Country Living article and came across this and my question was answered. Stitch together the doilies and make a table runner. It would look great on a big table, like a large graphic design. I have plenty to work with so we'll see how that turns out.

Last but not least, the Jadeite. I bought 12 of these older cups in North Dakota for $12.00 at an antique shop. I thought I heard the store owner wrong when she told me. Without hesitation, other than being shocked for a brief moment, I took them and added to the collection.

It will make drinking hot chocolate with a {huge} dollop of whipped cream this winter so enjoyable. Can't wait.

** You know how there are "crossover" artists in music?
Well, I am going to be a crossover blogger.

In addition to this new blog, I also write another blog called "Enjoying the simple things". There I post about everyday life, funny adventures, (to me anyway)like the time the gas attendant lady yelled at me or about the crazy guy in Japan. There will also be family activities and just thoughts and experiences. You will see a lot of photos, letters to family members, and more photos. I may have the same post at both if I am having a case of writer's block, though, so don't be surprised. Like right now I am writing over here when I just posted this there.

But I hope you'll stop by there too.

Thanks friends!

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Coming soon @Home Again