Sunday, February 8, 2015

A Gallery of Pretty

The husband and I moved into a new house this past July, shortly after we got married and relocated to Richmond. Since then, we have been slooowly making the house into our home. Our to-do list just seems to get longer, regardless of what we complete and check off.

Immediately after moving in, we bought furniture for the family room. Once it was delivered and arranged in the way we wanted it, I realized the empty wall over the sofa was the perfect place for a gallery wall. I love pictures of the wonderful people in my life, but the husband prefers to not have a thousand pictures of us all over the walls of our house. I respect this and while I do have pictures of us strewn about the house, I try to limit them to smaller, framed pictures on side tables and the fireplace mantel. For that reason, I decided to only include meaningful prints in the gallery wall. It took me awhile to collect prints that were important and worthwhile, but, finally, it is finished! 



(sorry for the glare and light reflections--taking pictures at night is not a good idea)

Both my husband and I really love how it turned out, though I may be a little more enthusiastic about it than he is. And now for the breakdown of the included prints, clockwise from the upper left corner:

1. The cat is a photocopy of a sketch one of my former students made last year. While it is not a sketch of our fur-baby, I do not think it really matters, as it shows how important our cat is to us...he (or really his species) made the wall!

2. Since getting married, I have fully embraced my new last name and new monogram. There are Js all over our house, so the gallery wall was not to be overlooked. I stumbled across this amazing woman on Etsy who specializes in original, hand drawn works of art, StephMicheleArtworks. She worked with me to create this lovely, custom piece.

3. It is a little hard to see, but it reads, "The best is yet to come." Everyone kept saying that our wedding day would be the happiest day of our lives, but I feel like that is not entirely the truth. While our wedding day was amazing, I think that everyday we spend together builds on the one before, making tomorrow more amazing than today, which was better than yesterday...if that makes sense... This print is from paperandpalette, an Etsy shop based out of Richmond.

4. My husband went to college in Arizona (ASU...Go Sun Devils!!!) and in June 2013, he took me out to the Tempe/Phoenix area to visit and see the greatness that he loves. On our first full day there, we got up really early to go for a hike up A Mountain in Tempe, near the ASU football stadium. When we reached the top, David got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. Needless to say, Arizona now holds a special spot in my heart. Steph from StephMicheleArtworks created this print for us.

5. We got married this past summer, 366 days after we got engaged, on June 21, 2014. This is a reminder of our anniversary, and thus, our wedding day. I liked that the Roman numerals made the dates a little more intriguing than your normal numbers.

6. I LOVE fairy tales and while my life is nowhere near perfect, being able to spend it with my husband and kitty is pretty darn close. I get to live my happily ever after every day. This print is also from paperandpalette.

7. I try to stay positive and because of that mentality, I kind of fell in love with this print from Islay's Terrace. It says, "Think Happy Thoughts" and the happy, bright colors work so well with the sentiment (and our family room). I also liked that it brings some color to the blacks and whites of the other prints.

8. Oh, Virginia... This print is a companion to the Arizona state print. David and I met in Northern Virginia and spent the past three years living there. Now, we are living in Richmond and making a life here. Even if we do not stay in Virginia forever, it will always be our home and this print is a lovely reminder of that.

Now that the gallery wall is finished, I cannot help but smile whenever I walk by it. It is just a very "us" wall since every piece holds a special meaning to me and David.

One final picture.....



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