Putting Things on Walls

This weekend I finally took the plunge and put some nails in the walls.

Of course, since we spent so much time spackling and painting, I tried to make sure all the holes went in the right places. It would have gone a little faster (all-in I think it took me 2 hours to do the collage wall) had my templates not kept curling and falling off the walls, but in the end I think everything lined up pretty well.

The art in our home is mostly things made by friends, family, or myself; concert posters; and the odd print or two we've picked up in the past couple of years. Pretty much everything is tied to some kind of memory/person, even if it's not a photo of them.

Top row (from left):

• King Salmon photo taken by me Spring Break in Seattle my senior year of college;
• Wilco Sky Blue Sky Tour Poster by Pfahlert Creative Labs from concert we attended in Millennium Park in Chicago;
• REM, New Adventure in Hi-Fi, promo art.
• Low Anthem Live! Poster by Hatch Show Studio from Space Gallery show last year

Middle Row:

• My dad's Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album
• Laura Veirs mermaid concert poster by Diana Sudyka from show at Schubas, Chicago. (I had to sweet talk the doorman to let me take it).
• Painting by me
• Horseshoe from house my senior year of college
• "Sweet Cookin'" Sailors drawing by Brenna in honor of being tap dancing stage hands  for Rough Crossing at Portland Stage
• Mr. Cleaver's concert ticket collection

Bottom Row:

• Print by local artist, Shannon Rankin.
• Postcard. Winslow Homer, Looking out to Sea, Cullercotes 1882 from Portland Museum of Art
• My dad's Abbey Road album
• Salt & Sea Piano Keys print by Evan B. Harris
• "never do this" painting by Biz, birthday gift.
• Mail-holding Lobster - wedding gift from my sister-in-law and her husband.

Over fishtank: Rae Lake. Photo by my Dad.

On top of bookcase:  Alvaro & Christina print by Andrew Wyeth

On Far Wall: "Owl Cat" by Drew Foster (gift from friend/artist)

Family Snapshots and old cameras, including our engagement photo by Ryan Ward Thompson.

More family photos. Eventually I'll get some books up on these shelves as well.

On wall : (Top) Photo by my Dad, taken when he was in college. (Bottom) Photo taken by me in Seattle.

Fish sculpture: Designed by me, made by my dad.  This is actually the model for the mailbox stand at my mother's house (which is obviously much much larger).

I've still got some more things to hang, but I'm glad I got this much up. It definitely changes the feel of the room and makes it feel more homey.

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In other image-related news, I started a Pinterest account and I love it. It saves me from saving all those inspiration images to my computer and I can drool on them from anywhere. Follow me if you'd like, and let me know if you have an account!

Master Bedroom: Before and After

I'm sure you were all waiting with bated breath for the decision regarding the bedroom paint color. (The vote was 15% keep it, 77% lose it, 8% other). Completely ignoring the will of the people, we kept it.

It grew on me and when I brought in swatches of my backup colors, they just didn't look great in the light. That said, we still didn't move into the master bedroom until yesterday because we didn't get the second coat on the trim until earlier this week.

So without further ado, the before and after reveal.

Before:

After:

Having a bedroom with no sewing tables, cross country skis, and bookcases in it feels, a bit weird - but I like it!!

With Brush In Hand

At the start of the weekend, the master bedroom looked like this:

Now it looks a little something like this:

The bad news: I don't like the color, it's just too saturated/bright. I was going for a robin's egg blue and this is much more tropical than I was aiming for, if that makes any sense.

The good news: The paint only cost $10 on sale, so it's no big deal to buy a different can and try again.  I'm leaning toward the following color.

Water .01

[polldaddy poll=4405228]

In the living room things are more certain.

Before:

Primed:

Painted:

Both Mr. Cleaver and I absolutely love the transformation. The original color made the room so dark and den-like - it's so much brighter and more modern now! Eventually I'll make some curtains to cover the lower bookcase and we'll paint the doors to match the trim, but aside from a few touch-ups and painting the built-in's shelves, we're done in this room - which is huge.

Once again, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our friends, who helped out enormously!!