The Bedroom

Who doesn't want a pretty bedroom?  I have since I was itty-bitty, and my parents were always gracious enough to let my room be my very own space to decorate.  When I was littlest, I wanted pink curtains and a lace canopy, which my mother made for me.  Then when I moved upstairs, I picked out green carpet (brave parents) and bright blue walls.  My uncle and father painted a jungle scene on one wall.  The other three were always covered with tac holes from having hung the latest posters and pictures.  Butterflies cut from colorful poster paper hung from the ceilings, and pink curtains patterned with bright frogs covered the windows.

Since, my taste has matured a bit.

But my desire to have a bedroom that I find beautiful remains the same.  My husband and I recently bought a house, and the bedroom was the first thing I tackled.  I'll give you a tour!

I wanted a mostly neutral bedroom.  Neutral never goes out of style ... at least I don't plan on it!  I love to mix and match neutral colors while using all different textures and patterns.  So I went with gray, black, white, cream, metallics, and wood tones.  The only real color that appears is in a few pictures and flowers in the wreath.  I think it would be gorgeous if the trim were black ... but that's not going to happen, haha!

 I love this mid-century modern console table.  This West Elm original was $1600 on sale for $275 at the Pottery Barn outlet in Dawsonville, Georgia.  I love furniture from all different periods and genres, so this mid-century inspired table was perfect for our collection of interesting pieces.

This picture includes both the items that I am most secure and least secure about.  I knew I wanted my wedding dress on display, so I bought a mannequin from Home Goods for $25.  And I love the geometric Threshold curtains from Target hung on gold curtain rods.

It's no secret that I love skulls, especially paired with organic elements to soften the "she's got a real skull in her bedroom" blow.  I've heard my ideal style called "rustic luxe" before, and this gold skull adorned with the dried flowers from my floral crown and Jared's bout are a perfect illustration of that to me.

I also love these tokens from our wedding:  our stag and wolf cake toppers.  I, for some reason, don't want wedding mementoes and pictures everywhere in the house, so I've gone crazy in the bedroom instead.  Outside of it are a few nondescript decorative items and two pictures.  But our bedroom is only ours, so we fill it with all that is us.

So ... I'm not sure about the faux flowers (doesn't faux sound so much classier than "fake?") in the wreath.  The wreath I love.  It is the raw vines of the wreath that hung over us in our wedding ceremony.  The flowers I chose are primarily greenery and ranunculus (mimicking the actual flowers in the wedding wreath), but how do I feel about faux flowers in general?  They would be easy enough to remove.  So, I wonder, how do you feel about them?

 

And what about this rack of pretty clothes in neutrals and metallics?  I chose it because this space of wall needed something large, and I didn't want to spend any more money on furniture ... but I'm not sure that a $20 rack from Bed, Bath, and Beyond was the answer.  In fact, Jared is sure that it isn't!  I've seen this concept done well on Pinterest.  But I'm not sure I pull it off here.  What should I replace it with?

 On the other hand, my nightstand is an old end table from Goodwill that I painted black and cream stripes on.  A simple succulent, a modern lamp, and a gold airplane in honor of my grandfather are all it needs.

Jared's end table ... is tiny.  All that fits on this Target piece is a small frame and this AMAZING ram's skull lamp from Home Goods.  But he only uses it for his glasses, so nothing more is needed!

Finally, my beautiful dove gray velvet headboard form Grandin Road goes beautifully with this Antrhopologie bedspread that I got off of EBay.  I love the gray and cream together, and I especially love that they were both at reduced prices!

What is your favorite room in your house?  And what does it look like?  What design concept from your past, on the other hand, are you glad to be rid of?

The Attempt

This is another attempt at art.  If I am not something - it is a photographer.  I have no schooling, formal or informal.  I have no experience.  I, admittedly, know nothing about a camera.  Oh, but I have an interest ... and I have subjects I wish to capture ... memories I wish to last.  So I will learn, simply because a professional does not live with my family - cannot capture the everyday - doesn't get to see what I see.  True, it is all play for me ... but why not play?  Is a camera only to be held in the hands of a professional?  Can my eyes not see beauty as well?  I will always turn to true and talented photographers for memories so precious that I need the eye of a pro.  But I also want to capture the common.  And for that, I am here.  In painting, portraits have always been my favorite ... so I think I will begin there.  In fact, I will start with my favorite beauty - my husband, Jared.

The Wedding

I love weddings.  I think most of us women do.  We dream about them.  We plan them.  We put so much heart and effort and care into them when they are finally ours.  And then we remember them, treasure them, keep and hold the date, the photos, and the tokens for the rest of our lives.

They are so important.

And yet, they are judged so immediately by most of us.  We may not say it to the face of the one whose wedding we attended, but we go home thinking:  "I liked this but not that."  We even watch shows like TLC's Four Weddings - shows that are, in their very nature, judgement based ... I mean, they literally "judge" each others' weddings!

Confession ... I like the show.

But, I cannot let it turn me into a woman who judges others' dreams come true with such eagerness.  The truth is, everyone's aesthetic style is individual and personal.  Why can't that be one of the things we look forward to and love about weddings - it's a glimpse into the desire, the personality, and the design of another couple - a glimpse, in so many ways - into their heart.

And so, in lieu of submitting my wedding photos to the popular blogs, who may reject them, I'll put them on my own ... because I think they are lovely.

Flowers by Moonflower Design at 3 Porch Farm, located in Athens Georgia

I was a pain when it came to flowers!  I requested wildflowers with minimal to no red or white ... in February.  Apparently, that's typically not a thing.  Winter colors are, in fact, red and white.  But my florist, Mandy, was such a good sport.  She imported the flowers from California and arranged them in a round, but loose and organic bouquet.  At the suggestion of my friend Kristen, she wrapped them with the handkerchiefs I had given my bridesmaids when I asked them to stand beside me.  They were EXACTLY what I had pictured.

Toward the bottom, right corner of this photo, you can see the edge of a small, yellow rose.  Mandy placed it in my bouquet in memory of my little sister, Morgan, who passed when she was four.  She loved yellow roses.  Later, my friend Kelsey put the bouquet in a shadow box for me ... and the little yellow rose is front and center.

Jared and His Groomsmen

I toyed with having each groomsman wear something different but decided against it for a few reasons.  First of all, the bridesmaids were eclectic enough, and some order was called for.  Secondly, his friends and family wouldn't have enjoyed the process of finding separate but coordinating outfits at all.  They were good enough sports to wear the "butterscotch" shoes and belt I asked them to wear! Their outfits were classic:  gray suit, white shirt, black tie, camel colored shoes and belt.  To add a bit of interest, every boutonniere was different, another request of mine Mandy so graciously entertained.

The Handsome Husband

My Bridesmaids and Me

I like a lot of things ... perhaps that's why my taste is so eclectic - I just can't decide!  I have three favorite colors:  emerald green, gray, and gold ... and, who says they can't all go together?  So I decided that they would.  And I think they did.  Every maids dress was under $100 ... most found on sale from places like BHLDN, LuLu's, The Loft, ModCloth, and David's Bridal.

My flower girl had to be eclectic as well.  Gracey wore a dress decorated with a stag head adorned with flowered antlers from Zara Kids, pink Minnetonka moccasins, gold tights, and floral crown put together by Mandy.  She looked like a princess.

I wanted a different dress, of course.  Really, just because I am so very different.  This dress by Jenny Packham was the one I chose from Kelly's Closet in Atlanta, Georgia.  I tried on white dresses, of course, but everyone kept saying that white just "wasn't me."  This one had a gray slip covered with a silvery mesh overlay adorned in gold and silver crystals and sequins.  It was, indeed, "me."

Our Entire Wedding Party

Floral Wreath by Moonflower Design at 3 Porch Farm, located in Athens Georgia

Cakes by Cecilia Villaveces' Cakes

Cecilia's is a stapel in Athens, Georgia.  If you want good cake, you get Cecilia's.  We chose Spanish Lemon and Tiramisu.  Mandy decorated the top of one with fresh flowers, and we spray-painted a stag and a wolf (that one's me) with gold glittered spray paint, and topped the other.  Jared originally wanted a dinosaur instead of the deer, and I kind of wish that's what he had chosen!

Our ceremony was short, but oh so sweet.  Our officiants, my bosses and mentors Bob and Clay, knocked it out of the park!  I think I got more compliments on their words than any other part of the wedding!  What a blessing!

In the end, I don't expect anyone else to want her wedding to look like ours.  After all, it was ours.  It isn't your dream.  Your's is or was equally personal, equally unique, and equally beautiful.  So I ask you, what is your favorite picture, memory, or detail?

The Dreamer

I've always loved art.  Not just admiring it (though I do) - creating it.  Yet, I've only ever tiptoed into a few of it's different sorts:  welding, painting, drawing, photography, floral arranging, writing, designing.  Perhaps it's an insecurity ... no ... it is an insecurity.  While on the one hand, art is in the eye of the beholder, and therefore, what I claim as art is, in fact, art ... I want other beholders to view it as such as well.  While on the one hand, I love creating ... why would I create something that no one wanted?

But I'm too old to not do what I love doing just because I fear that some may not find it beautiful.  After all, everyone has different tastes; I, for one, certainly don't find even all world-renowned art aesthetically pleasing.  So, from hence forth, I shall create because I enjoy it, not because others might.  Am I an artist?  No ... but I'm someone who plays with art, who creates artsy things, and who claims art as my own.  I may not be a photographer, but I can take pictures.  I may not be a painter, but I can put paint on paper.  I may not be a designer, but I can arrange things to my liking.  After all ... I enjoy it.

So on this blog, I will, at times, display my aesthetic; and, because it is my blog, it is art ... because I claim it as such.

So for now ... paint:

Avocado Half:  Acrylic on Canvas

For Mama 

Skull and Flower: Acrylic on Canvas Paper

For Jared

Hummingbird:  Acrylic on Canvas and Tissue Paper

For Jared

So, I ask you?  What fear are you saying "no" to now?  What will you do despite it?