Luxe for Less: Artwork!

One big thing we've realized since moving into our new house is that we didn't have nearly enough things to fill up all of our walls!  We got advice to avoid rushing to fill every room right off the bat, and to instead invest in special pieces over time, but in the meantime, we don't want to live with blank walls so it's time to get creative!  We want to find things to put on our walls that will feel homey without breaking the bank, and then we can add nicer pieces into the mix as time goes on.

Enter Home Goods.

Let's call a spade a spade, I get a legitimate rush of excitement every time I am about to walk into a Home Goods store, I'll admit it.  The fact that I might stumble upon something great, at an inexpensive price, makes me really eager to start looking around to try and find some goodies!

One of my recent Home Goods finds was these gold frames.  I immediately loved their pizzazz, but they had matching watercolor quotes in them that said "EAT CAKE FOR BREAKFAST" which I wasn't too crazy about for our living room.  There were 2 important details I looked for:

1.  The openings were a standard 4x6 size.

2.  Their backs weren't sealed so it would be easy to put new artwork into them.

I decided to order two vintage postcards showing places that have sentimental value to us - one is from Nantucket and one is Biddeford Pool, Maine - and, voila!, they turned out great!  I found a wonderful selection of vintage postcards on a site called https://www.cardcow.com/    

Here was what they looked like before:

And here is what they look like now:

{close-up of Biddeford Pool, Maine postcard}

{close-up of Nantucket sailing fleet postcard}

Citrus Centerpieces!

This past weekend I went to my friend SM's bridal shower.  She's getting married in June and I can't wait to celebrate with her on her big day because I know their wedding is going to be so much fun!

Her wedding colors are green and orange and here are the great centerpieces her sisters made using fresh oranges and limes - I loved this idea!  This could also be a cute solution for baby shower centerpieces.

 

New Baby Gift Ideas

This past weekend I was in Chicago visiting my best friend CGP who just had a baby boy.  It was so much fun to finally meet her new son in person and get to spend some quality time with them!  Here are two of the gifts I've given CGP for her new baby that I want to share in hopes they might come in handy for you down the road.  Both of these ideas are from Etsy which has definitely become one of my favorite places to shop online!

Custom Birth Announcement Wall Art from mosieposies:

All you have to do is message mosieposies with the colors you want used, the new baby's name, and the
baby's birth weight/length/time/location and they send you a proof for review, it's so easy!

Monthly Baby Onesie Stickers from babycakesdesignco:

Just apply these monthly stickers to a plain onesie and take monthly photos to watch your baby grow and track the changes.  This would be a great baby shower gift for a mom-to-be!

The stickers don't need to be ironed on - you just stick them onto the onesie and then peel them off .

Sunday Afternoon at the MFA

Friends of ours, ND and KC, have a membership to the Museum of Fine Art in Boston and they invited PRG and I to go to the MFA with them yesterday afternoon.  We had a great day together and I really liked the work by one artist in particular, Jim Lambie.  He works with colored electrical tape in playful patterns and designs and, in the below MFA installation, he used cut up painted furniture and glittery purses on a wall - so crazy that his patterns are made of tape.  Talk about an accent wall or floor!

What I saw yesterday at the Boston MFA

Here are some other Jim Lambie installations: 

From the MoMA, 2008

From the Tate London, 2003

Courtesy Anton Kern Gallery, 2003

Also courtesy of the Anton Kern Gallery, 2003.  

From the Mizuma Gallery, 2006

This is an image of a Gramercy apartment that belongs to Tim Nye of the Nyehaus Gallery