Blank Slate

I am so excited about this huge canvas I picked up this past week!  Now comes the big decision of what to paint on it and where to put it!  And it's not actually canvas covering the surface, it's a pale, neutral fabric - even better.  My first thought was to paint a huge chandelier on it, or maybe monogram an 'S' on it, or possibly a close up of a flower?  You have to realize I'm not even a painter, but I figure I can project an image onto it to trace, then paint.  Of course, my son (who is the true artist in the house) thinks he should be allowed to paint a battle scene on it and put it in his room.  Hmm...I'll have to put some thought into that one.
Anyway, before I decide WHAT to paint, I need to decide WHERE to put it.  That will take some time.  I can envision this sitting on the floor leaning against the wall, or hanging on a wall. The trouble is, it's so big that I'm already limited as to where I can put it, and I'd have to get rid of something I already have to make room for it.   If I put it in my dining room, then a painted chandelier would look amazing.  But, if it's in a different room, another object might be more appropriate.  Auugghh, decisions, decisions.  So, this huge beauty just may have to hang out for a while before I do anything with it.  If you have any amazing ideas for me, pass them on!  I'll be sure to post about it again once it's finished!

White Frames, Part 2

You may remember several months ago I posted a blog about these three white frames leading up the stairs to my bedroom.  I wasn't sure what to put in them, so they hung empty for a long time in the stairway.  After a family photo shoot this past fall, I finally have filled these frames!  Since these frames lead up to our master bedroom, I decided to fill them with enlarged (16x20, 11x17, 16x20) prints of my husband and myself.  We hadn't had pictures taken of just the two of us professionally for over 14 years - WAY too long!  My husband absolutely hates having his picture taken and I have a bad reputation for blinking at the worst possible time when having pictures taken - so needless to say, finding a good picture of us together is tough.  However, our photographer did a fantastic job and got several great shots of the two of us.  So, I had them enlarged, but then had no backing or glass.  Remember - these were completely empty frames.  So I headed to Hobby Lobby's framing section and purchased (on the cheap, of course) cardboard backing with clear plastic to cover the prints.  Yes, I said plastic.  It's so much cheaper, and when they are hanging on the wall, you can't even tell the difference between that and glass.  So, even though I loved the frames empty, I love them even more filled!  If you need empty frames - I've got lots at my booth at The Rose!  (please excuse the shameless plug of my business!)

Oh so blue...

Whew!  It's been a while since I've posted - sorry!  But, as you can see from the above photos I've been a bit busy.  My big project over Christmas break was to paint my living room.  This room was the last room in my home that I hadn't painted yet and it was way overdue.  I was seriously procrastinating doing it however, because it's 400 square feet, has two walls that lead up a staircase, and both the barnwood trim and the ceiling would need to be painted too.  With a long New Year's weekend at home, I had run out of excuses and just needed to get it done.  The barnwood trim was first.  It's not my favorite style of trim, but it was already there and nice and thick.  Plus, replacing it would have meant involving my husband, and well, he's not a big fan of projects I dream up for him.  So, I left it there and covered it with no less than 3 coats of bright white paint.  Things were looking up - this totally brightened my room and I loved it right away!  Next came the ceiling - I'm sure I don't need to mention that I absolutely hate to paint ceilings.  Did I mention this was a big room?  But it was quick and done in one day, and brightened the room even more.  Next came the walls.  I'd wanted blue walls forever, and we thought we had picked out a nice, sedate neutral blue with touches of gray and green in it.  Wrong.  But I didn't realize until I had it on 1/2 of the room just how wrong I was.  Then I thought it would look better after it dried.  Then I thought it would look better after two coats.  Wrong.  I was completely disappointed in the color, but my husband said it wasn't too bad, and it definitely looked better with my very neutral furnishing and decor back in place.  The problem is that with the white trim and ceiling, the room is SO much brighter than it had been, and in daylight the blue is too bright.  Way too bright.  But, in dimmer light, it's fine.  So, we're living with it - mainly because it's so much work to paint over it!  But, I have come to like it, even though it's a shock to see it in the morning light!  As I mentioned, I tried very hard to stick with very neutral decor for the room - white, black, gray, khaki and a little bit of red.  These colors help tone down the blue quite a bit.   I plan on adding a few more black and red touches over the next couple weeks, and eventually replace the leather chair and ottoman.  I never run out of projects!