Need Your Opinion

Ok, so I want to update the look of my living room wall.

Right now, I have three 20 x 28 frames hanging all next to each other, with about 8 inches in between each one. In each of these frames is a blown-up photo that I took in a state park in Vermont when we were on vacation there in 2006.

Here's what the wall currently looks like:


While I like the photos enough, the problem has always been the frames. I purchased these 3 frames from Ikea. Trying to open the backs up to put the photos in resulted in the glass breaking on all 3. YES, ALL THREE. So the frames are hanging without the glass. My dad rigged up the frames with some stuffing in the back to make the photos come to the front, so it wouldn't look weird. But...it looks weird. Because now the photos are starting to buckle out from the matting. Sigh.

It's time for a change. Seriously. Buying a large, framed or stretched-canvas art piece for the wall space above the sofa isn't going to be cheap, even if it's a print. We're talking about a framed piece that's at least 64" wide by 22" high, or a combination of framed art (or prints) equal that amount. I can't afford it; and I can't think of anything I actually like enough to be willing to shell out the cash, either.

And something tells me that Todd wouldn't be thrilled to see three of these on the walls:


Damn.
















Anyway, that wall is a light green. Not quite sage because sage has more of a brown/yellow undertone and this green color has definite notes of gray or blue in it. It's a little darker than how it appears in the photo. You can't really see the sofa too well, but it's a dark marine blue.

I've been thinking of doing the removable, vinyl wall decals. Etsy has TONS of them. And I can re-do the look of the wall for well under $100. I've favorited several, and would like your opinions on what you think might look good in that space.

Here are a few that are in high consideration, in no particular preferential order:


I would probably do dark brown branches, white flowers, and turquoise birds. Unless you think some other color combo would be better with the wall color I have.













Again, for color, I was thinking either the chocolate or the matte black. I really like this one. My only complaint is that it's only one color. But the picture is interesting enough that I think it would be ok. Maybe? How about the silver?










This decal has a TON of color options. I still think I'd do brown for the blocks and then the birds in a turquoise color.
















This would be more of a departure from what I have now, but I think it looks so cool. And seriously, I think the wall could handle it. Also, GREAT price for the size! Colors? Trees in brown, gray, or silver, birds in turquoise? Beige? Not sure.








This is similar to the first one, but it's a good bit larger. Still thinking brown tree and blue birds. But the black does look good.









Another triptych style. I like how this looks in black. I think it would look great with that light green coming from behind it too. This is a really inexpensive option too, under $50.














Ok, last one! This one is another large one (80" wide). I'd have to really think about where to position this, but it could work if it came from the other direction. If you look at the picture of my wall up there, I have a doorway to the right and a lot of empty space between that doorway and the sofa. I'd probably chose similar colors to the ones pictured here in this photo.





Hope I didn't bombard you with too many options! I think I might do the same thing in the master bedroom and possibly in the powder room, since I can't seem to get around to painting it!

To Start Your Day...

Todd, on Frieda Kahlo:

"Once you've seen about six paintings of her cooter with apples, bears, and cats, you've pretty much seen enough."

Oh My DOG. Gorram You, ETSY!

At one time in the recent past, I proposed to you that the web store for all things handmade, Etsy, is evil. Evil by way of temptation and gluttony. I basically, freakin' want everything there. Ok?

Now to remove any doubt at all as to exactly how evil they are, I give you the following picture links:

Another Project Finished

And it's not knitting!

A few months ago, my parents bought a painting from JC Penny's catalog to hang in their living room. They bought it primarily because they absolutely loved the frame: mildy Rococco, distressed gold leaf, in an unusual shape. The "artwork" inside the frame, well, left a lot to be desired. It's one of those "paintings" that is mass produced somewhere overseas. Some poor dude in a sweatshop somewhere probably knocks out 50 of these a day. That says a lot about the "art" inside the frame. Anyway, the painting was supposed to be a depiction of Tuscany. Well, about the only thing about the picture that even remotely suggested Tuscany was the presence of three of those tall, skinny cypress trees that are common to Tuscan lanscapes. That's it.

Here's the painting. Now, from a distance, everything seems acceptable. But as you look at it, and if you click on it and get a bigger image, you will start to notice some odd stuff. Maybe you don't even know how to explain it, but you just know it's not right somehow.


The rather dull horizon notwithstanding, the first thing that I noticed was the odd, little, red "building" back there. What the crap is it? And why is it floating in the trees, which also happen to look like underripe broccoli florets? Is it Cloud City? Does Lando Calrissian live there? No? Then the structure has to have a base ON THE GROUND. This bugged me the most. I was also annoyed by the vague position of the sun. It's casting shadows in all kinds of directions, none of which are consistent. Pick a light source, people.

My mom was most annoyed by the colors, or rather, lack of colors. She said, "Yeah, the house, sure, but also, why is everything yellow and olive green?" She has a real point there. I've never been to Tuscany but my in-laws have and my dear, dear late friend Kathleen went there a couple of years ago and I saw plenty 'o pictures between the three of them. Tuscany does not look like it's in the throes of a nuclear winter. It's breathtaking.

My dad was practically crawling out of his skin over the picket fence. "There are no picket fences like that in Italy!" Well, I don't know about none in all of Italy, but there certainly are no fences in any of the landscapes of Tuscany that I've seen. Also, and rightly so, my dad was annoyed that the fence had no real change in size, even though it was obviously meant to move back in perspective from the foreground to the horizon line.

Sigh, what to do? So my parents asked me if I could "doctor it up." You know, just get rid of the fence, fix the house, give it a little more color, etc. Um...ok. This is impossible. My only
recourse was this:


Do over. So over the course of the last two or three weeks, I worked on a completely new painting a little at a time. My dad went out and bought a set of acrylic paints for me to use. They were pretty nice to use. Oils are a pain in the butt. I was worried about doing this because I am out of practice, artistically. The last time I undertook a major art piece I was in college, so we're talking like 1992.

Well, I finished it tonight. Now, I am sure it has plenty of errors in it. Look, I 'aint Bierstadt, ok? But I do think that it looks a lot better than the yellowy-green ode to the mutant broccoli that emerged after the nuclear holocaust on Cloud City. Personally, I like the poppies. I think those turned out great. Here is my painting:



I'm sure my dad will find some sort of problem with it. He always does that. He'll be like "Hmm...how about you put in another tree over there?" My mom will flip her lid. I think she'll be very happy. My mom is like that. If one of her children does anything, makes something, cooks something etc., and no matter how dreadful it is, she loves it.

So I am off the rest of the week until Friday! WOO! I will bring this painting over to them tomorrow morning after I drop Todd off at work.