The Dreaded Blank Wall

So while this may only seem like a decorating post, I am adding it to Chatting at the Sky's Tuesdays Unwrapped. And here's why: my design dilemma of filling an empty wall turned into a walk down memory lane, reliving the 14 magical days spent on vacation with my amazing family. Today, I am unwrapping memories and then wrapping my wall in them! Head on over to see what other people are unwrapping today.

Every home has one... the dreaded blank wall that no matter what you do you just can't seem to find the right design element that will fit the room's scale and decor. Here's my dreaded wall:

It's one of the walls in my bedroom. And to make maters worse, it's the first thing we see when we wake up in the morning. The only decoration on that wall is this iron work vase. I absolutely LOVE it. It matches the old world, tropical theme is our master bedroom, plus it holds the dried buds from two of the bouquets by dear hubby gave me. Their colors of the buds are a lot more vibrant in person - I tried to fiddle around with the camera settings to capture it better, but am still feeling a little woozy from the bronchitis and called it quits after a few minutes.

But you can kind of see it and get the idea, right? So here is the reason that I never placed anything else on the wall to accompany it: I was waiting for that one perfect painting or wall hanging. Every other wall in the room is just right. I love the way the pictures and sconces look around the rest of our room. But as this was the last wall to tackle, I realized that I needed to put something on it that would balance out the room a bit and tie in the different old world, jungle and palm tree prints.

So I waited for that perfect piece...for six years.

And yesterday (after watching too many hours of HGTV, one of the nice parts of being sick), I decided: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

I am ready to take the plunge and place some art on that wall. There are only two requirements:

1. It must be inexpensive. That way I can swap it out if at some point we grow tired of it, or if it simply does not tie in with the rest of the room.

2. It needs to be BIG in scale, but not necessarily in actual photo size. Keep reading, I'll explain.

For too long, I have held out for one BIG piece. But today I decided to take 4 or 6 prints from our last two Mexico vacations, enlarge them to at least 5x7 (maybe 8x10), and frame them with a chunky, textured mat. That way each photo is still a medium size, but the visual impact of grouping them together will say BIG! And that is what I need to fill up my last little empty bedroom wall.

(the turtle is a lot clearer in photoshop)

So I'm posting some of the potential candidates for these new art pieces. All of the photos you see on this post are from our last two trips, and I'm asking you for some help in picking out your favorites.


Not only will I be completing a project that I have put off for too many years, but I will be preserving a few more memories in a practical, beautiful way.

So take a look and let me know in the comments which two,

or four,

or six,

or eight I should use.

And what size do you think they should be?

5x7

8x10

mixture of both?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and solutions for this master bedroom dilemma. Thanks for stopping by... and check back soon to see the unveiling.

And don't forget to head on over to Tuesdays Unwrapped.

When Life Gets You Down

Have you ever had one of those days? You know the ones I'm talking about.

Where nothing is going right,

everything feels ten times bigger than it really is,

and you don't feel like doing anything.

Are you having one of those days today? Where life is just a bit overwhelming?

This week is going to be a crazy one at our home.

Lots of work to do.

Long hours.

So many things that I want to do, but won't have the time to squeeze in

Just when I am about to let those thoughts of defeat settle in my heart, I see this:

That's my pup.

Resting.

Relaxing.

Unaware of all the clutter and chaos around her.

She still loves me.

...and I am suddenly reminded that I do what I do because I love it.

I love the people I work with and work for.

And even though this week feels like a tornado, next week I will be resting and reconnecting with my family and home.

I have to keep reminding myself:

This is only one week of many. One chapter in the grand scheme of life.

Breath. Everything will be ok.

I'm entering this post as part of Tuesdays Unwrapped over at Chatting At The Sky. Head on over and check it out!

Unwrapped

This Tuesday was another "Tuesday Unwrapped" at Chatting at the Sky.

The question asked was, "What moments are you unwrapping on this Tuesday?" Although I am a bit late, I still wanted to share this {sweet} moment captured a few years ago on a family trip to Leavenworth, WA. I ran across these pics and they just brought so much joy to my heart.



Yes, that is my pup taking a good hard look at that tootsie pop! I saw her pondering the age old question:

"HOW MANY LICKS DOES IT TAKE TO GET TO THE CENTER OF A TOOTSIE POP?"

As she took a few licks, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be great to get a shot of her right as she licked the tootsie pop?" So I started snapping a few shots... OK fine, a LOT of shots trying to get that perfect lick. After a few minutes of clicking, I looked through the photos... low and behold I spotted this gem:

Yes indeed, the coveted action shot was mine! I absolutely LOVE that photo of my pup. And after several ( and I do mean several) shots, my perseverance was rewarded.

Oh happy day!

What moments are you celebrating/remembering today? Please share in the comments and then head on over to Chatting at the Sky for some more wonderful life moments.