Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom is a super talented a creative lady. All of the houses we lived in were decorated beautifully. She sews, draws, paints, gardens, and crafts. Plus she is an awesome mom, wife, daughter, sister, and dog grandma. :)

I just thought I'd share a couple photos of her home and some of her art.

This is her antique oyster plate display in the kitchen:

                                       I love this "private" sign on her bathroom door:

                                         This is the vignette on her side of the bed (please ignore my reflection in the nightstand):

Here is another vignette in the living room: 

                               Now for her artwork! She is still learning and doesn't want any of it credited to her. I may be biased, but I think it's pretty incredible.
                                              This painting is from a pic she took in Italy a few years ago:

                                                             Love the clouds:

                                Erik is particularly fond of this one of some kids playing a pick up game of soccer in the park:

  My personal favorite is from a pic of me on the beach as a little girl. It may be hard to tell in the photo here, but the waves look incredible.

 That is just a tiny bit of my mom's creativity. Her kitchen wasn't staged when I was there ( she was making us dinner), so I didn't post a picture of it. I'll have to get it another time. It is beautiful!

Dining Room Progress

We have a pretty little dining room. It only has room for a table really. We NEEDED to do something with this boring room without adding any furniture. So, we decided to paint. My kitchen backsplash *love* has little greenish/turquoise tiles in it. After getting over my fear of putting a real color in there, we went and got "green trance" from Sherwin Williams.

Erik getting his paint on. I do the details and he's in charge of the roller.

Thankfully, it's pretty subtle. In the morning light, it is nearly invisible (not sure how I feel about that). I'm not too overwhelmed!

 Charlie didn't try helping by walking through the paint this time. You can still see tiny blue paw prints in our bedroom....

 Once the paint was dry, I started working on what kind of display I could put up on the only complete wall. I decided on a mix of things.

I framed this postcard from Madison, Wisconsin. Print of a goofy little painting called "Cows on the Concourse."

                                            Anthro plate from back in my apartment. Perfect for adding a pop of coral.

                                         The cameoes my great grandmother gave to me. Gosh I miss her.

                                           A watercolor called "Spring's Promise" by a student's dad.

                                                     More of grandma's cameoes:

                                               Another coral Anthro plate:

                                              A pastel of a gingko leaf done by my oh-so-talented mommy. :)

                                                         Here it is all together:

Next job: fix that table. We're thinking "tricorn black" legs and a darker stain on top. Ooh..and I have a chandelier picked out on my pinterest. Eventually I'll change the seating around the table.