hanging tough

That's what I renamed the New Kids on the Block song, "Hangin' Tough" today.

This is what our formal living room looked like this morning. Pictures not hung, lamps on floor, and boxes of books hidden behind the chair.
This room has the furniture that was in our living room on Bieze Street. We were lucky with the paint color. It really does match perfectly!

My first task was to hang the coral prints. I have been avoiding this. Hanging a grouping of pictures takes patience, and a measuring tape. I love to eyeball things.

I laid the frames on the floor to get an idea of the spacing I wanted.

These prints are from art.com. Got them about two years ago.

Sidenote-bookcase is finally full of old law books. I am glad the old book trend is hot right now.

Next, I taped paper on the wall for the measuring to begin.

The great thing about these frames, is the movable wire. You can adjust very easily if your nails aren't perfectly level.

Frames were from IKEA a few years back.

I didn't like how low I hung the bottom pictures. See the one on the bottom right. All I had to do was adjust the wire, and I was set!

The big reveal.

Here's a view of the room a few hours later. The coffee tables are acting as temporary side tables for now. We brought in another one of our coffee tables. {I washed the pillow covers on the sofa}

The Martha Washington chair on the right is from an estate sale. I need to get it recovered, so I'm testing out this Kelly Wearstler Faux Imperial Trellis fabric.

Then it was to other rooms. This is our breakfast room below. Hung a few things here. I am planning to repaint this room a light, neutral color when we do the family room.

After the breakfast room, came the master bedroom. I am so happy that our master bedroom was already painted a color that's basically the same as our old house. We have a fireplace, and two built in bookcases. I found a spot for the leftover law books that wouldn't fit up front.

I hung our egg prints over the mantle. They are a tad small, but at least they're up! Maybe I'll add more.

Last but not least is my office. This room is opposite the foyer from the formal living room. It has a LONG way to go, but I hung my old Whippet print until I figure out what direction this room is going.

It was a productive Sunday, and in case you're wondering-we have 7 fireplaces, so I will need more art!!

weekend update

This is a happy time for us. We couldn't be happier that we have a great couple that wants to buy our house.

Then, Saturday night, we had a party to attend. "Summer Chic" was the dress. What is more summer chic than Lilly?

The girls being silly.

Then, a real picture.

Then, Sunday we went to Scott's Antique Market.
And I found this great painting. Scott's is always so fun. Now to work this week. We have lots going on!

idea house art

The other day I did a post about the fabulous new Southern Living Idea House in Senoia, Ga. Check it out here. In the post I mentioned one of the featured artists, Millie Gosch, who is originally from Newnan. Since Newnan and Senoia are both in Coweta County, the designer tried to find local art for the house.

I ablsolutely love oil paintings. The more colorful and casual the better. See an old art post here.

It doesn't hurt that many of Millie's paintings are based on my two favorite places...farms and beaches. They aren't really beach front paintings, but mostly marsh {I believe some based on St. Simons Island}

You can see more of her beautiful work on her website. here.

It has been a busy busy work week. Looking forward to the weekend, and an upcoming beach trip. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

gallery wall reveal!

I finally hung all six of my egg prints. In my previous post, I told you I was working on an inexpensive gallery wall option for our master bedroom. You will find the link for the egg prints there.

I chose 6 to use on our wall.

The frames were a big score at Wal-mart. $3 each! That's a total of $18 for our art! Remember, the egg prints are free! All you need is a printer.

I am not great with the camera, flash, etc. so pardon the glare.

Here are some close ups.

I think they turned out pretty good for $18. The $3 frames included the mats.

These are the images I used.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Let me know if you create any gallery wall art!

gallery walls

In my last post I told you about our new bench. This picture doesn't show the huge wall space above it. As soon as the bench was in place, I began racking my brain for art ideas.

Then, I realized this gallery wall look would be perfecto!

{via things that inspire}

{via susanne kassler decorpad}

But how do I do this affordably? Similar botonical prints can run around $50-60 each!

{via decorpad}

I have done this once before on a budget. This is our mantel below. The coral prints were around $9.99 from art.com, and the frames are ikea. I think they were $10-15. Not too bad for 4 prints.
However, I need to do at least 6 prints. There are so many other things I need to be spending money on for our bedroom, so still don't want to go the art.com and ikea route.

{via decorpad}

{via decorpad}


Then, it hit me. I found some of these vintage egg prints online. THEY ARE FREE! All you need is a computer and a printer. You can see more vintage prints here!

I have been liking the vintage egg prints. You see them at Scott's or around the blogosphere. The colors really work with our bedroom wall colors and fabrics.

So, with my free art, I went on the hunt for el' cheapo frames. Found some. Will post pictures once my wall is complete. I have a few hung, and will finish this weekend.

We are getting closer to a master bedroom reveal! You can see some progress pics here.

if you can't afford new art, make your own!

I think it was Christmas '06, Charles gave me a starter kit for acrylic painting, and 6 lessons. Sadly, I never booked the lessons, so I still have no idea how to paint with acrylics. I figure the teacher might not appreciate my calling her some 3 years later....

This is the kit. It's been sitting in my office closet. I pulled it out a few weeks ago. Working up the nerve to test it out.

I took art in high school, but that was awhile ago....

My first step was to mix my colors. Much harder than I thought to get them the way I wanted.

Oh yeah, I finally found a use for drycleaning bags. They make great drop cloths.

Hobby Lobby recently had all their art canvas on sale. I grabbed 2 of these. I think for $7 each.
Not to bad an investment.

I did a post on art that I like. Decided to use some of my favorites for inspiration. I wanted colors to blend with the living room. {And I just love aquas and greens}

The one on the right was the first one. Still working on the second.

Here are the finished products. I am happy with them.

I need to paint a gloss on them. Didn't have any on hand.

As of now, they are on the tv wall. We'll see if they stay there. It was fun painting, will do it again soon!

Have you painted your own art? I'd love to hear about it!