Recently, the latest catalog from Pottery Barn hurled itself into my mailbox. So, like any normal busy mom, I plopped my little assiduous-self down and leisurely flipped through the pages, oooo-ing and ahhh-ing at all the prettiness that Pottery Barn has to tease me with, while sipping my afternoon coffee. Drooling over page after page, my mind began to wander off, and I dreamed of all the creative and enviable projects I could do, and all the Pottery Barn decor I could accumulate, if I had the time and money, just like Trump, except I don't want anything gold-plated, mmmkay? But of course, a kid quarrel managed to body-slam me back to reality, and I did a total pendulum swing, thinking about the dude who lives in a house the size of my kitchen. My kitchen is small. His house has no frills, or even room for a Pottery Barn magazine, I would imagine.
There is of course a happy medium.
So during this season of our life, we are living in an apartment, and forgoing all the frills and all the accouterments Pottery Barn provides, but, staring at white walls is much like eating dirt, or falling down the stairs. I don't like it.
Enter the local artist.
It probably all started during my mind-numbing daily routine of dish cleaning and laundry folding and vacuum wielding, that my daughter, unable to get my full attention, found the tape and began adhering her drawings to our cheaply painted apartment walls. She used copious amounts of tape, enough to cause me to kiss our deposit goodbye, because removing the tape she used means severe drywall exposure. Before I knew it, nearly every inch of my walls (up to about 3 feet high) was covered in her art, and enough tape to patch up the Titanic. The kitchen, living room, even the stairway was covered in art...and tape...mostly tape. Here's one wall:
So once I finally sat down from my endless cleaning to allow my fatigued body to recover, I realized, my house was decorated.
I have to admit, I wasn't thinking (I blame those smelly dryer sheets) when I started removing the pictures from the walls. Audge looked at me, like I was single-handedly destroying the Brazilian Rain Forest, and she said as tears welled in her big, brown eyes, "you don't like my drawings?"
In case you were expecting the "Worst Mommy in the World" trophy in the mail well, sorry, I already won it.
I mean, how could I? Here I was, lamenting the whiteness of my walls everyday, and how boring they were, and how I yearned to be able to afford color, dimension and utter JOY to be displayed on every vertical surface to help get me through the winters and confides of tiny living spaces!
And that is when genius sprung from my mound of guilt.
Admittedly this is a work in progress, but, I painstakingly peeled allllll the tape from the walls and her drawings, matted them on fancy stuff called construction paper, and started hanging them up in my living room. I think it's beautiful. Here is my favorite:
This is of our family on top of a mountain we climbed back in Alaska. It was a hard day, full of steep stairs, falling rocks, intestinal issues and Audge constantly screaming, "we are gonna diiiiiiiiie!" But, this is how she remembers it. Totally warms my heart.
Soon the whole wall will be covered in some of the rarest and most priceless art in the world, made just for me. I am richer than I know.
This is of our family on top of a mountain we climbed back in Alaska. It was a hard day, full of steep stairs, falling rocks, intestinal issues and Audge constantly screaming, "we are gonna diiiiiiiiie!" But, this is how she remembers it. Totally warms my heart.
Soon the whole wall will be covered in some of the rarest and most priceless art in the world, made just for me. I am richer than I know.
PS My son managed to draw a picture for me to display, even though he would rather fall down the stairs than draw...
8 comments:
first for later.
but i know i'll like this post.
pun.
i was right. sentimileyental. and good. i liked it.
gibb me a break! that's all i can do for that. we still need new words.
i like the picture of the big dinosaur. at first. i thought that was a church. the window, a cross. but now i see. it's a house. whew.
you forgot buns for the burgers!?!?!?!?
i like the artwork.
Ok, this post is pure genius. I absolutely love, love, love it. I am going to find the UK equivalent of this "construction" paper and I'm going to decorate my home exactly like this. Art is where the heart is. BRAVO!!!
Awesome post. It looks like you have a budding Picasso on your hands. Thought at first there was a bunny in a coffin with Donnie Darko leaning over it. But on second glance I saw that the bunny was asleep in bed. Just goes to show what a warped mind I have. Maybe its because I'm super sleep deprived and subconsciously resentful of anything able to rest? Hmm...
This reminds me of my son during his younger days. he used to draw and make sure was stick on to the fridge with a magnet. My fridge was quite full with it. From time to time when we look at those pictures it reminded us of how, when and why he drew it. Your kids room looks love with those pictures.
Hey Kim,
Are you coming to BlogHer? Shoot me an email if you are so we can connect. I'm putting together my party posse!
Tracy
Hey Kim.
Just wondering where you've been :)
Aww, I like how you kept the artwork and made it "fancy". :) Andrew recently decorated one whole wall in our bedroom with pictures he did and I felt the same way you did. And although I didn't come up with a clever idea like "matting" them, I did leave them up and he is quite proud of his work. :)
BTW, I am back to writing on my blog now. Yay!
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