Wednesday, August 06, 2008

< from house to home >

I don't consider myself a very adept interior decorator. I know what I like when I see it (usually in a Pottery Barn or Ballard Designs catalog) yet I have a hard time translating an inspiring image into reality in my own home. I consider myself somewhat picky – if I don't truly love something, I don't buy it. I don't want to be surrounded by things just to fill the space, I want to truly love the things in our home. So I'm usually in a hold pattern waiting to find exactly what I'm looking for, if I even know what it is that I'm looking for in the first place.

Of course we all know that home goes well beyond the stuff in it. Home is more of an atmosphere... a feeling. As we approach 4 years living in our house, I am reminded by blank walls that I'm tired of living in just a house. I want to transform this house into a home. A home where I feel confident inviting people into. A home where you feel as if you could just walk in and make yourself at home. A home that accurately represents the 3 people who reside within. I want to live in every space in our home... I don't want rooms that are merely for show.

I've been thinking a lot about my "To Do" list lately... that's bound to happen when you're faced with your baby going to Kindergarten in less than a week and the prospect of lots of "free time" on your hands. There are lots of spaces around my home that need some TLC (if you've seen my office space, you KNOW what I mean!). But I've already identified and started work on Project #1: the walls. I'm a photographer, for Pete's sake! Why don't I have any of the images I treasure adorning my walls?? I know it's because I have WAY too many that I love and I feel overwhelmed. How would I ever choose? and what size? Color or BW? So that overwhelmed feeling leads to procrastination... and here we are 4 years later with the same empty walls that we started with.

I have a very long, blank wall in my kitchen next to our table. It's probably about 12+ feet long. I have often used that space as a backdrop for taking pictures, but not anymore! Allow me show you my kitchen wall gallery plan:

I'm using black frames (most likely with white mats). The larger frames are 14x18 and the smaller ones are 11x14. I wanted somewhat of a symmetrical arrangement instead of a freeform, so I kept the outside edges of my display in a rectangular shape. My theme for this display is going to be family... all in black/white.

I actually already have all of the frames on the wall, thanks to the help of my sweet husband. Now for the hard part... to go through and narrow it down to 10 images I want to use here. I will post a picture of the finished product when it's all completed. I know there are others out there just like me who procrastinate in a bad way when it comes to displaying photos. Does anyone else want to commit to cozying up their walls with me??

5 comments:

Mommy said...

Hahaha. You mean you know others who procrastinate with such a task? I can't imagine who they might be. Can't wait to see the finished project. Oh, and you know all of those procrastinators out there are so going to steal your mock up. I'm not speaking of myself, of course.

Izzy said...

I know you had m and my foyer in mind when you mentioned those other people. I still have not hung any pictures!! I am still looking for frames. Any suggestions???

Courtney said...

Steal away, I say! Or I can help you make your OWN layout specific for your space. =) Gotta keep myself busy, ya know.

izzy - well, I know it's not fancy, but I just got these black frames from Hobby Lobby. For this display, the frames aren't really important. I wanted them to all be the same, but I really want the black and white images to shine. And I also want to be able to change it out periodically. =) You should take a picture of your foyer and maybe I can help you sketch something out? ps - izzy is a doll, loved my card. =)

Rachel Spence said...

I too have ALL these pictures of my kids and family and we really don't have any hung up anywhere. I'm like you TOO many to choose from. I can't so I don't....but I guess I should.

Kim said...

that is cool!! I can't wait to see the end result!