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Greta-Induced Redecorating

July 28, 2011

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Le sigh. It seems like just yesterday that I set up this vignette above the couch.  It’s hard to believe that it was two months ago.  It’s harder to believe it is already disassembling itself.  
It lasted a solid 2 weeks before Greta noticed it and ever since, it has been a battle.  She was especially interested in the guitar at first, so that has spent a lot of time chillin’ on the piano when she is romping around the family room.  The two smaller framed photos of Chris and I went next.  It was quite cute watching her get so excited as she pointed to us in the pictures.  And then soon, she wasn’t pointing, she was holding.  And then she started jumping up and down with them and that’s when I knew I had to move them to higher, unreachable ground.  Soon after, the candles flew out of their sticks and they have now found a new home on the piano, too.  So what I am saying is–this vignette is no longer and I am done fighting this battle.  I am also saying that the top of our piano is looking junky and that has got to change, too. 
Luckily, my girl, Sherry, along with a few other fabulous favorites issued a challenge I cannot pass up–the Pinterest challenge–which basically inspires everyone to actually make one of the hundreds of things they have pinned and share it next Tuesday.  What I am working on will fill that void above the couch, in a more Greta-friendly way (I hope) and I’ll be sharing all those details next Tuesday.  In the meantime, I found a home for the guitar and a couple other frames that were kicked off their shelf.  
Enter the big blank wall across from the piano in the family room:
Prime realty for a happy little grouping.  After surveying all my art I had available from the former gallery wall on the staircase and the vignette, I decided to keep it small and simple.  The guitar (Chris actually plays his guitar, so I like to incorporate it in decor to keep it handy) and the intaglio print of my parents along with a color chart I did with watercolors a while back:
I moved the pieces around on the ground before hanging them and finally went with this set-up.  When the color chart was above the staircase it was hanging vertically but here, horizontally, it lined up better with the width of the print’s frame.  The color chart above the print looked too matchy-matchy with the shape of the guitar–small on top, big on bottom.  Now it feels balanced and effortless–although, you can see read, it took a little thought. 
Funny little fact, Chris was actually very concerned about hanging anything on this wall because he didn’t want to block the walkway from the main floor down to the family room.  ???  It took a lot of convincing on my part, before I got the green light to hang anything here.  
After I got the grouping up, he did a test walk through and declared, “I cleared it!”  And we had a good laugh.  Do any of you have to constantly move decor around to keep little hands away?  Do you find it as fun as I do?  What can I say, I like to change things up.  Are you participating in the Pinterest challenge?  Gah!  I can’t wait to see all of these “pins” come to life.

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What do you think?

  1. KeriAdonna says:

    Love the wall color, same color we have in our bedroom!

  2. You are smart to enjoy that. There are so many things that aren’t worth putting out….because they are worth something. I’d much rather not worry about Greta in our home, afterall, it is HER house too and I want her to be able to play wherever she wants without me cringing.

  3. We just hanged Rory’s acoustic and electric guitar in our office! I’ll take some pics! Rory and I are enjoying our last days of glass vases on the coffee table….And by last days you know I mean another good year or so..

  4. Zippydame says:

    i am going to make a valiant attempt to join sherry’s pinterest challenge….oh what to do, what to do???

  5. I like the guitar hanging on the wall! If you ever want to incorporate guitar inspired art, Picasso has a whole slew of pieces (sorry, I’m an art history nerd and sometimes seeing an object makes me immediately think of art).

  6. Meagan says:

    Our biggest battle with Brinley is our internet router and cable box that sits on our side table next to the couch. Thankfully, with mama’s tone and constant attention, she has gotten the picture that touching those electrical boxes is a NO go. She rarely even goes over there now. I will be excited to someday get my shelves back on my bookcase, but for now, if it beats having to battle her every 3 seconds about breaking something, then I’m okay with letting her have her space. I love that shelf back there too! Can’t wait to see what you come up with!!

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