That’s A Wrap
Oh, we have such a cute little mini-makeover to share. John stayed home sick today (feeling flu-ish) but somehow I found the time to pull a little presto change-o while he napped on the couch. Since we love our new wall of frames in the third bedroom so much, we need an excuse to be in there more than once a year. So I swapped out the never-used-reading-chair for our old kitchen table that had been living in the basement, creating the perfect card-writing & present-wrapping station.
One of our hall closets was jam-packed with bags, wrapping paper, tissue paper, and ribbons while my desk in the den was overflowing with cards, stationery, and envelopes for every occasion. Making a little gift-wrapping and letter writing home-base with everything organized and accessible was the perfect solution. And John awoke to a whole new reason to visit the wall of frames in the third bedroom (and a much emptier coat closet, whew). But enough jabbering, how about some photos?
Here’s the ol’ chair-in-the-corner set up:
And here’s our fun new present-wrapping & letter-writing station (made completely with baskets, folders, cups, bags, and even a planter we already had… gotta love a free mini- makeover):
Now for some fun (and totally do-able) details. First, a planter full of wrapping paper (soooo much easier to take care of than any plant I’ve ever met):
And my bag basket! I turned a woven basket that used to be full of books into an organized gift-bag and tissue paper catch-all. I know it’ll save me mucho money since I can see everything I have instead of re-buying stuff that I can never seem to find.
And here’s my favorite part, the colorful (and über-organized) desktop. I love the old basket-turned-filing-cabinet I threw together (it holds printed manila folders full of envelopes and cards for all occasions).
And here’s another shot from a slightly different angle, just to show you how everything is at arms reach.
I’m so excited to go write some thank yous and wrap some presents. Bring on the birthdays.
Up Close & Personal
Ok, enough people mentioned that they wanted to see some of the photo collage items up close, so here they are. First of all, how cute was my man as a little man?
And now for the other open-mouthed shot. This time I’m the one catching flies:
Here’s a close up of the vintage Richmond map (found across the country at a Portland flea market by a friend):
And here’s that funny article about the insane popularity of weddings on 7/7/07 (sent to us a few days after our July 7th wedding by my dad):
And last, but certainly not least, an amazing photo of my father as an angst-ridden teenager, taken in 1964:
And speaking of things to frame… if you’re interested in fresh, original Young House Love art, click here to peruse our shop.
Nailed It
Thanks to some strategically placed nails, we finally got our little guest bedroom frame project up on that blank wall. And we were pretty happy with the result:
But from the moment we got the last frame hung we knew we wanted more. So, as you probably guessed, we darted out to Target one more time to pick up a few more frames.
Once home, I barely had time to put down my keys before Sherry had four new frames beautifully arranged on the wall. (She later admitted to creating some trial-and-error nail holes behind some of the frames in the process). Hopefully you’ll agree it looks much better with the new additions.
And what’s in those new frames? Well, we went with the “history” theme established by that vintage Richmond map and decided to dig up some old family photos. Here’s a close up:
Those two 8×10 frames feature baby portraits of Sherry and I (both with our big mouths wide open). One of the 5×7 has a pic of my momma walking my chubby baby body down the beach, and the other has the coolest b&w pic of Sherry’s dad from 1964.
We’re totally digging the growing wall of frames, and now we’re both itching to COMPLETELY fill the wall up over time… so I guess there will be more updates to come as we continue to do just that.
