As of Monday, John and I have been married for seven years. Or a hand and two fingers, as Clara likes to joke (“what’s seven?… A HAND AND TWO FINGERS!” *maniacal laughter*).
As you can imagine, when you get married on 7/7/07, your seventh anniversary feels like a special one. The golden birthday of anniversaries, if you will. We went to Hawaii for our fifth anniversary, and have always thought we’d end up going somewhere awesome for our seventh (Australia is the ultimate dream – maybe for our tenth – but for lucky seven we were thinking about somewhere in the Caribbean). But as this summer approached we realized the last thing we wanted to do was load everyone up on an airplane. We’re definitely still adjusting to life with two kids, so we decided to save some of our trip money for next year when we’ll hopefully feel more settled/brave/wanderlusty, and we bought a painting with the rest of it.
At $850 it was a HUGE splurge for us, but we figured getting a painting that we both loved (of the beach no less) as an anniversary gift to ourselves was sort of a nod to taking a vacation without loading up the pack & play and pacing the aisle of the plane waiting for someone to fall asleep. And we hope to have it forever. Heck, maybe it’ll hang on the walls of Clara’s house someday.
It’s a 30 x 30″ painting by Teil Duncan, whom we’ve been giant geeky fans of for a while. We resisted our initial instinct to get a smaller (less expensive) print, and decided that our first large original painting would be the best seventh anniversary present we could think of. And when it arrived, it was even more glorious in person than it was online. We had it up on the wall in about five minutes. Really, these photos can’t capture half the magic of an in-person stare-session.
It looks great next to our blue front door, and it’s one of those scenes that you can look at for hours.
As for what wall color you see on the wall behind it, it’s our favorite neutral paint color: Edgecomb Gray by Benjamin Moore.
Every time I walk by our new painting I notice something else. We even caught Clara admiring it (“I like that pink chair! We need a pink beach chair!”) and Teddy’s eyes catch it over my shoulder when I carry him up the stairs sometimes. Burger hasn’t shown any interest yet, but there’s still time…
The funny thing about hanging it in our foyer is that we realized we have two other paintings in there too.
Remember these smaller ones by our friend Lesli? They all have those soft blues and bright whites that make them feel related, but not too matchy. And they’re all of things we love: the beach, John’s Granny’s house, and Burgdorf Goodman himself.
You might remember that we originally hung our Samantha French print in the hall next to the door, so we carried that into the office and held it up over the desk. We actually tried our anniversary painting there first, but ended up liking it better in the hall, so that switch was pretty simple to make. It’s nice to have some art on that wall of the office too.
While hanging that over the desk, we realized we have a few more small paintings on the shelves in there (one of our last house, one of a pear that I found for $4 at an estate sale, one of two bees from Etsy). We always hoped to slowly amass some “real” art, so it’s nice to realize that over time you can inch up the ol’ collection, both with inexpensive finds and a splurge or two, and suddenly you have a hand and two fingers worth of it.
And of course we have all of Clara’s creations on the cork board over her desk. Priceless.
I think no matter how easy you know nail holes are to spackle (so easy! we’ve done it a thousand times!) there’s this instinct in a new house or a freshly painted room to hold off on hanging art for a while. I don’t know what that phenomenon is (Nail Hole Neurosis?) but we definitely aren’t immune. This is a very real issue people. Just kidding, but really, it took us TEN MONTHS to add some nail holes after painting our bedroom!
It’s weird that we hold back on the whole art-hanging thing when we know how much it can take a room from house to home (our bedroom feels 100% more us than it did with blank walls). I’m certainly inspired to get some stuff hung in our upstairs hallway and a few other walls of our bedroom now. What the heck are we waiting for?
And to all of you other 7/7 anniversary peeps, hope it was a happy one!
Chris says
Congrats on 7 years! We’re coming up on 7 this November but the date definitely isn’t as cool as yours. Great painting. Seems to fit your home perfectly.
Fee says
A lovely piece and perfect spot!
You mentioned your dream would be to holiday in Australia…well that is where I’m from and have also recently bought my first piece of art from a unique place down under called ‘Broken Hill’. Broken Hill is a mining town which also has produced some amazing artists like Pro Hart.
Whenever you get a chance to holiday here, you might like to visit Broken Hill and their quirky galleries.
Cheers :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Fee! We’d love to!
xo
s
Holly says
Happy Anniversary! 7 is my favorite number.
I love that piece nearly as much as I adore Clara’s joke.
Megan says
We just picked out a paint color for our front door, and it ended up being very close to yours! However, we have a lot of browns, tans, greens in our house, and I’m not sure the color is going to go well on the inside. Ever heard of a door with one color on the out and one on the in? I hope it will work, becuase I love the blue, but it won’t look good inside.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, so many people keep the inside of the front door white, so that’s definitely an option! I actually think it’s more uncommon to paint the inside of the door the same color as the outside since it’s so commonly kept white.
xo
s
Michelle says
Love your pictures and paintings:) so bright, cheery and fun. I highly recommend you give command strips a try! Made by 3m. I use them for all my pictures and canvas’s. No holes. Easy to simply eyeball a spot. Place. And move if necessary:)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Michelle!
xo
s
Lissa says
You will never regret that splurge! My husband did the same thing 20 years ago for our 15th anniversary and have continued doing such every 5 years or so—or for a monumental birthday etc… Its something that is important to us and we are sooooo happy to have some special pieces that tell our story in a different way. I now encourage young couples who admire our pieces to do the same.
We are about to celebrate our 35th anniversary next month. Hmmmmmm, maybe that requires a new piece someplace.
YoungHouseLove says
I love that! Happy early 35th Lissa!
xo
s
Claire @ Claire K Creations says
Happy anniversary! 7 years on the 7/7/14 (which is two 7s!). I love love love the painting. Great choice and great idea.
Olivia says
Hi Sherry,
Long time reader, first time post-er! I really love that painting but I cant help but feel it needs a frame to finish it (like eyebrows on a face). Adding a timber frame that is flush with the painting would be really complementary – perhaps a John could whip something up like your bike artwork (but flush not raised.
And I also wanted to add I love your old house and your new house, congrats on the baby, great job on the houseorama creation and THANK-YOU THANK-YOU for your inspiration. Oh and I live in Australia, so let me know when you’re coming and I’ll out the kettle on ;)
xoxo Olivia Page
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Olivia! We love the idea of adding a frame – especially something flush like you describe! And as for Australia, we would LOVE that!
xo
s
Emily says
Congrats on the anniversary and the art! We just celebrated our first on July 7 :-) For us, it’s finally time to get real prints from our wedding and put them in frames. The computer print-outs aren’t really cutting it anymore…
Kat says
What a great anniversary gift. That cool blue is definitely your YHL signature color! I think of you guys whenever I see it.
Happy 7th…and here’s to many, many happy years ahead!
Angela Fehr says
THANK YOU for buying original art! I’m a professional watercolour artist, and sometimes it seems like decorators, in their emphasis on matching a decor rather than connecting with art & artists, suck the joy out of placing art in a home. I love seeing people connect with art, choosing pieces that will delight and inspire every time they look at them, and every purchase of original art is a vote of confidence in the artist who created it, which means so much.
Alys | Mundane Ecstasy says
Oh please come visit us Down Under! See if they will add it to your book tour we’d love to see you here.
The beach painting seems appropriate and it would be such a lovely thing to see as you leave each day.
Bobbie says
Over a year ago, we painted our kitchen which happens to house a big open wall that goes down the staircase to our downstairs family room. I still haven’t hung ANYTHING on the walls. One reason I suppose is the nail hole thing but mostly it’s because I can’t commit to anything. Nothing seems good enough. It’s really silly b/c if I hang something and don’t like it, I can always change it out or fill the nail hole but…. I just haven’t been able to do it yet! I’d also like to do a photo gallery down the staircase wall but again…haven’t found frames or pics I can commit to..lol
Jennifer says
Have you guys ever considered using the 3M picture hangers? I’m recovering from 5 years of Nail Hole Neurosis after introducing those into my life!
YoungHouseLove says
They scare us for heavy stuff but we love then for light little frames!
xo
s
Angie says
The whole look is gorgeous! I’d be like you- it’s a total splurge but it definitely makes the room! Worth it! Would you mind sharing the paint color on your walls in the entry? It’s a perfect neutral color. I’m sure you’ve shared somewhere in previous posts but I haven’t been able to find. Thanks! :) love your blog!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Angie! It’s Benjamin Moore’s Edgecomb Gray.
xo
s
Penny says
That is a great great picture, I love the colours, looks great next to the door. Happy anniversary too!
MelissaPurls says
I’ve been in my house for over four years and I have only put up a couple of pictures and no curtains. I want to, but my walls are cement and I haven’t yet bought the hammer drill I need to put holes in the wall to hang things.
Sarah says
The title of this painting is “Stay Awhile”… what a fitting place to hang it- near the door. Y’all seem like the type of people who welcome family and friends into your house… and encourage them to do just that- stay awhile. Cheers to you both!
Lala says
Please please share where the pot/planter for your fiddle leaf fig is from. I need it in my life! ????
Lala says
Ooops, the question marks were supposed to be an emoji. I wasn’t trying to be demanding :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, that was from Lowe’s!
xo
s
Kate says
This looks so beautiful – and the door just looks like it was meant to be that EXACT color of blue next to the art!
How did you guys decide to paint the inside of your front door blue – and have you ever painted just one side of your exterior doors in your previous homes?
Thanks! And gooooorgeous!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Never done that in other houses (we always kept them white) but for some reason here I thought it would be fun since we used such a tame color on the walls in the foyer but still wanted it to feel fresh and not too neutral.
xo
s