Mood Board Monday!

 I love a banquette.

 At restaurants, I always choose booth seating and I dream of having a built in banquette in my own home some day.  There is something about the casual, relaxed seating that encourages togetherness and conversation.  We never entertain formally and it would always feel right to sit with friends and family in a cozy banquette area.
  Here's the artwork, by Cori Dantini I chose to use as the inspiration for my cheery dining area:

I couldn't resist the juicy palate - I love the fresh spring green.  Here's how it turned out:

Sources:

Dining Table

Chairs

Chandy

Curtain Rod

Hutch (I would paint the inside of the shelves in kelly green)

Fabrics: Yellow Zigzag, Samoan Plantation in Sunstone, Green Geometric

Napkins, Glasses, Dishes

Linking up at Pewter and Sage!

xo Meg

Puppy Love Girl's Room

Hey everyone, happy Friday!  I'm so glad it's the weekend, although it's a really busy one around here.

Audrey helped me to create this fun girl's room inspiration board.  I love the doggie art prints and am thinking about ordering a couple of them for Audrey's room.  The golden with the tennis ball in his mouth looks just like our Gilmore.  You can usually find Gilly and Audrey curled up in her room reading a book (the girl reads, not the dog).  Audrey wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.

Email me if you have sourcing questions!

xo Meg

Art: Maps & Globes

Let's face it.  Art, well, good art is expensive.  And we are not all artists.  Sometimes I wonder where artists get their inspiration to create something different.  Something no one else has done.

I am often on pinterest looking for inspiration.  There are so many cool ideas out there.  As I was looking over my DIY pinboard, I discovered that I really like maps and globes.  Tripped out maps and globes, anyway.
Here are a couple of ideas that I really loved:

Frame the maps of the places you were born or places you have travelled together.

Frame a city map, of a place you love.  

  I'm thinking of framing a map of the city of San Francisco.  My hubby and I went there for our honeymoon in1999.  We barely had a penny to our name so we walked and walked and walked!  I love that city and we hope to go back sometime soon.   I love that this one is framed with a vintage gold frame.

I love these globes with the chalkboard paint.  I'm thinking of combining the chalkboard paint with a cool saying or something decoupaged, like these:

art globes via imaginations

I got the chalkboard paint out this morning and am currently putting the first coat of the stuff on my globe.  I'll keep you posted!

xo Meg

Living Room Art

What a lovely weekend we had here in London.  Sunny and crisp, perfect fall weather.  Unfortunately, Jay worked most of the weekend again but we did manage to have some friends over on Saturday night.  We also went to a Native Harvest Festival and PowWow on Sunday.  It was beautiful and I'll share more about that later in the week.

I bet you're wondering about my art installations!  I managed to put up the artwork in the living and dining rooms at least.   I didn't chicken out.  I put holes in the plaster.

Here is the piece we got on a trip to Cuba in 2005.  And my mantel, looking decidedly un-fall-ish.  But I'll get to that sometime soon.  

     I also re-arranged the room.  If you recall from this post, the couch used to be where the series of three paintings is. I think I like it better this way for now.  We've been enjoying our wood -burning fireplace a whole lot this fall and this set up allows better views of the fireplace.  In the past, we've only had gas fireplaces.  I always thought I wouldn't like the wood burning type since they are messier and smokier but I really love it.  

I still think the room needs more personality but I'm starting to really feel at home in here.  Maybe it's the fire.  Alice the kitty sure is enjoying it too.

I have so many things to share with you this week.  I'd love some feedback on the new living room!

xo Meg

Art Inspiration

   One of the projects I plan to tackle this weekend is the installation of the artwork in our new house.  Right now, shamefully, most of the art looks like this:

     Stacked behind doors, wrapped up and hidden behind the couch, etc.  We did just move but I've been thinking about why I'm so reluctant to put up the artwork and photographs we have.  It's not that difficult to do and we have the supplies handy (drill, hammer, level).  I guess maybe it's two things.

      First, I'm totally afraid of making a mistake.  I can go into a friend's house and create an impromptu gallery wall with their art, or decide where to hang the new mirror they just got.  No problem.  But with my own stuff, I'm far less confident with my 'artistic eye'.  Don't know why that is.

    Second, we don't have the art I really want.  I really want a huge canvas with subtle, moody colour to go over my couch in the living room.  But we don't really have the budget for that right now.  We have a lot of cool smaller pieces, though.  And this weekend I plan to get 'em out from behind the couch and hang 'em up!

     I also plan to create a piece of artwork of my own.  I've been dabbling in this creative pursuit a bit over the last year but I am far from an artist.  Usually I look at an inspirational image of a painting I love and try to make something in the same style or feel.  I'm not sure if that's called copying or not...

      I prefer to call it inspiring.  Here's a hint at what is inspiring me:

via

     I have a friend who is a wonderful artist and he helped me to make my first ever piece.  I will show that to you on Monday.  I'll also show you what I make this weekend, assuming it doesn't turn out horribly!

I will conquer my fear of hanging the artwork!  THIS weekend!  I sure hope you guys hold me to it.

Have a great weekend and thanks for following along on my crazy old house journey!

xo Meg