And….a bit of shameless self-promotion. I’ve been doing a bit of page design here and there with my job as a part time writer/editor, and I’ve really enjoyed it. Over the past few years, I did some digital scrapbooking with my family photos. One thing led to another, and I had some friends ask me to design some things for them, and here we are. I have a new Etsy shop, FinePrints. Just holiday cards for now, though I hope to expand to invitations and that kind of thing eventually! 

I was right in the middle of doing a little rearranging in my guest room anyway, so I marched myself over to World Market, and for close to the price of the West Elm piece, I picked up my chandelier (and no shipping…yay!).

My husband had to get a little creative to hang it, but I was pleased with the results.

I had this idea that I’d like a backsplash. A real one, involving tile and labor and money. That wasn’t in the cards, so on a whim last summer I picked up a roll of textured grasscloth-looking wallpaper from Lowes. This was significant for me because I’m not typically a huge fan of wallpaper. Not that I mind the way it looks, but pasting that stuff up on the walls just seems like a big commitment. And….in about an hour (an annoying hour, I might add, but only an hour!), my husband and I had created a bit of a backsplash. I like the way the color just blends in with the wall color. It just gives it some texture and it’s a little something to hold me over until I can (someday) get granite countertops and a tile backsplash. And cost effectiveness? The roll of wallpaper cost in the neighborhood of $16. I used about half of it. So $8 for a backsplash? That works.

Once I got these photos uploaded, I realized the texture doesn’t show up so much in the smaller files. But…here you can see the backsplash and wall color are about the same (pretend you don’t see all that junk on the counter):

And hopefully here you can at least somewhat see the wallpaper:

Photo from Style Court, [A past incarnation of India Hicks' island master bedroom and other rooms. All Hicks photos by Arthur Elgort as seen in Vogue, 1998.]

How about the family room? I love the family room. It’s cozy. I love peeking at the mountains out the window. I love when the sun goes down and I light candles and turn on the lamps. I love how comfortable the couches are. But guess what? It’s too small (so small, in fact, that I had to take this picture from couple of different angles to make my point). There are always toys thrown around. There’s a soft pink chair, belonging to a certain little girl, which does not match the decor. So what? There is always a stack of magazines and the kids’ books on the end table. So what? It’s our FAMILY room; that’s the point!

And how about the kitchen? I love the kitchen. That’s where the kids help me cook. That island counter? That’s where there is ALWAYS a to-do list, a grocery list, some keys, and my cup of coffee. See?:

The kitchen table? That is where we spend family meal time. It’s pretty beat up. We call it rustic. The booster seats aren’t so cute. See that empty basket? It should be full of fruit, but guess who needs to go to the grocery store? I’ll get there.

So, home…..imperfectly beautiful. I could post more (lots more), but you get the point.  

Though I’m trying to work the kiddie art into other areas of the home, it does have a way of ending up on the fridge sometimes anyway. Take, for example, this week’s monkey:

Thanks for stopping by, and have a good weekend!

Another thing I’ve done is arranged a group of my son’s watercolors in the living room:

For art management (because it sure does get out of control), my new plan is to delegate each child a drawer in the dresser near our front door; we’ll collect the art in there and go through it every so often to try to select our favorites.

Any other ideas out there?

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I found some inexpensive fabric with blue and green stripes, added that to the bottom of each panel, and trimmed it with wide ribbon. All using iron-on hem tape and hot glue (I would love to learn how to sew one of these days, but for now, I make due)! Then, for the topper, I folded a piece of fabric, trimmed it with the same ribbon, and tacked it to the wall with upholstery tacks. Better, I hope! It’s amazing what a difference it makes when you hang those curtains nice and high.

O.k., so it’s not a perfect picture, but see the white armoire thingy? That houses the computer. I hide the ugly black office chair if we’re having people over. The t.v. situation is not ideal, but it will have to hang out for now. But what to do with the armoire area? Is that little grapevine wreath too country? Should I hang pictures on either side of the armoire? Above it? Do nothing? Here’s another shot of that room:

So if anyone stumbles upon this little baby blog, I want some ideas!