Wall Art

Decorating the very neutral and uninteresting walls 

of the rooms in our house has been a long and slow

on-going project. We explored the conventional types 

of wall art and came away uninspired. 

The impetus for finally resorting to drastic measures 

came when Emily one day decided to take matters 

into her own hands. She tore scraps of paper, 

colored them with markers and stuck them artistically 

on her bedroom wall and windowsill with tape. 

When asked what they were, she replied, "wallpaper". 

When asked what motivated this makeover,

 she explained that her room was boring.

Point taken.

So we finally got round to doing something - 

even if it seemed a tad DIY-ish.

I exhumed my ancient box of dessicated oil pastels 

(I'd used them when I was a child) and ventured out 

to Michael's to buy art paper and fixative. 

Found a photo of a corner of a rug in an 

old Pottery Barn magazine and extrapolated 

the rest of the rectangle. It was addictive, 

working with pastels again after so many years, 

coloring and blending and scraping (mistakes!) 

under my sewing lamp late into the night 

when the kids were finally in bed. 

It isn't serious pastel work but at least 

now there is some color on one of the walls

 in Emily's and Jenna's room. There are smaller pieces 

to be done to complement this one, 

but that's another story for another day.

Another cost-cutting project - home decorating fabric 

from JoAnn's (my other favorite store)

stuck in frames, to brighten up our living room. 

The remnants go back to my fabric box 

to be turned into wallets and bags.