The Sunday Post: Walls

When we moved into our little rental house soon after our wedding, we didn’t have much in the way of furniture. What we did have an abundance of though, was stuff to put on our walls: artwork, family photos, posters, etc.

We decided that rather than put everything up right away, we were going to take our time and be selective about how we decorated our walls and keep in mind the kind of mood we were trying to create in each room. We also wanted to take advantage of the talent within our own families and our community. We’ve been focusing on living a more creative life, and our walls were a perfect canvas on which to practice this new mantra.

Below you can see our foyer, living room, and a peek into the kitchen. In the living room there is just one large piece hanging, or rather a set of three prints that together create a mural of sorts. This is definitely something that gets your attention when you walk in the room. It’s close-up of a guitar Doug used to own, and it definitely sets the mood for the room. This is where you go to pour yourself a drink, listen to the hi-fi, and relax. The foyer features art and pieces reflecting my Panamanian heritage. There are molas on the wall and watercolors of the Panama Canal. Not pictured is the powder room just off this hall which has a couple of huacas hanging on the wall. Just beyond the hall you can see the kitchen where another large print titled “Panama” is hanging.

The dining room features five large canvas prints of our children. Each print does an amazing job of capturing the personalities of each. No, I did not take all of these. The painting was done by Sarah, and the other three pieces in the room are my photographs.

In Jeremy’s room we let him pick and group photographs that reflect his interest: sports and cars. He also has a painting by a local artist hanging over his bed. It always tends to lean a little to one side, but that seems to fit the room.

Our bedroom features a trio of photographs taken by Matthew, and then a large grouping of family photos, plus a photo from our wedding.In our office/studio, we have a grouping of mixed media art created by Matthew. All of these pieces were inspired by Doug’s song Paper Airplanes and the stories told by Doug to Matthew of how the song came to be. As you can also see, they are also creatively grouped. The painting on the right is by the same artist who painted the Blues Brothers piece in Jeremy’s room. The guitar is another mixed media piece that was a gift from Matthew to Doug. One of the large photographs on the last wall was taken by Kyle, and I took the other one at a nearby Civil Ware battlefield.

We’ll probably rotate and change some of these from time to time, always keeping in mind the goal: to live in a creative space.

This post was inspired by the Daily Prompt: Wall to Wall.