Back in the saddle

Howdy ho, partner. Hope ya'll had a fantastic Thanksgiving - ours was super low-key and relaxing. And I think we'll have leftovers for the next month or so. Delightful.

Anyway, since we're prepping the house for potential buyers, today we're venturing for the first time into...our bedroom!

DUN DUN DUN

You may be wondering why you haven't seen our bedroom on the blog yet - well, folks, that's mainly because it's the one room of our house that typically isn't on permanent display, so it can get rather messy. Trying to keep a house clean with a toddler is like trying to prevent a puppy from eating every pair of shoes you own. So, in an effort to keep the rest of the house somewhat tidy, our bedroom was often left in a perma-messy state.

Since there will be prospective buyers tromping through the house soon, we figured it was about time to spruce it up a bit. I've been debating how to decorate it - did I want it to be tranquil? Exciting? Crazy? Traditional?

In the end, I wanted a mix of tranquil with a splash of our personality (so, that would be quirky) - plus, I need it to be on the inexpensive side, since we're saving every penny we can for our down payment sometime early next year.

I'm thinking about either a gallery wall (we have a TON of wall space above the dresser on the other side of the room) or an eclectic mix of art related to some of our favorite music/movies (i.e., Queen, Van Halen, AC/DC, Star Wars, etc. - by the way, has anyone seen the new Star Wars teaser trailer?! Have to admit seeing the Falcon fly again was pretty heart-stopping!). Here are some that I found online that I'm thinking about:

Led Zeppelin "All of my love" Poster, Etsy (via SouthernSassArt), $12+ (depending on size)

Queen Poster, Etsy (via Posteritty), $13+ (depending on size)

Star Wars Rebel "Hope" Poster, Etsy (via tkbdesigns), $19+ (depending on size)

Star Wars Han and Leia "I love you/I know" Poster, Etsy (via CreativeSpectator), $21+ (depending on size)

Any other ideas/thoughts on how to spruce up a bedroom with quasi-personalized flair on a budget?

Somewhere...beyond the sea....

So, I totally meant to post this on Tuesday but with Owen's birthday over the weekend coupled with a busy work week pushed it back a couple of days.

But now I'm back (yay!) and I want to share one of my DDS (code for Dirty Decorating Secrets). You’re probably thinking this is where I share some of my hard-won design wisdom, but alas this is not the case. It’s more about my decorating guilty pleasures….so, I guess this should probably be called DGP? Meh, either way…I think you get the gist.

Anyhow, I have always had a thing for nautical design and décor. Don’t ask me where it comes from, because I barely boated (is that a word?) when I was younger - heck, I think I’ve actually sailed all of twice in my entire life - but I like the idea of a nautical lifestyle. It just seems so relaxing and peaceful, being out on the open water, the waves gently lapping on the side of the boat, feeling the wind gently spraying sea mist onto your skin....

This is probably a more accurate description of sailing. Needless to say, I’d rather continue residing in sailing fantasy land, thank you very much.

Source

So, with all of that said, for the longest time I’ve been obsessed with bringing nautical décor into my home, but am at a loss of how to implement it without it looking cheesy and/or out of place. Right now we have a model boat and a lighthouse sitting atop one of the Billy bookcases in our living room, but that’s about the extent of it.

While I look for a proper location/way to show the nautical love, I’ll console myself by drooling over nautical-themed décor, particularly on Etsy since I enjoy supporting artists directly.

Teal Mirror, Pottery Barn, $99

Burlap "Sail" pillow, WhimsySweetWhimsy (via Etsy), $35

Coral Wall Print, PrintosaurasRex (via Etsy), $18

Sailing Wall Stencil, DIYstencils (via Etsy), $25

Compass Floorcloth, PattersonFloorclths (via Etsy), $379

Rope Bowl, OYKNOT (via Etsy), $45

What about you? Do you have any DGPs? Any other nautical decorating ideas? Share with the class! :)

That random huge freaking blank spot on the wall.

So there's this wall between the living room and the dining room that I'm struggling with. It's a large space, but it straddles two "areas" (we have an open-concept house so there are no natural boundaries between the rooms except flooring and lighting) so I want to make sure that whatever gets placed there can conceivably work in both spaces.

Plus it has to be pretty. Duh.

Source: https://www.etsy.com/listing/91978665/i-like-making-pretty-things-typography

Originally I was going to hang a photo frame there with a picture of our adorable little family but it wasn't big enough - it would have looked awfully lonesome and awkward all by itself.

So I started brainstorming. And here's what I came up with:

Option A: 
Buy/make three large framed posters that represent the three states/cities we've lived in so far and space them evenly apart. 

After trolling around Etsy for a few hours one Saturday, I found some possibilities that could work.

I like the idea of this one, but I'm not sure about the colors. I feel like they clash - big time. That would make my eyes hurt, and we don't want to injure my pretty little retinas.

Source: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PineShore?ref=l2-shopheader-name

So I really, really like the design of these two (and the colors don't make me want to stab my eyeballs!!), but I couldn't find a matching one for Cincinnati and/or Ohio. However, the Etsy shop owner mentioned that they're willing to do custom jobs, so perhaps I could coerce him/her into making a special one just for me. :)

Source: https://www.etsy.com/people/VassiSlavova?ref=pr_profile

These are kind of cool (although upon further reflection the two intersecting lines make it look like they're bombing targets) but again I could only find two locations out of the three!! What is with these shops and not representing all of my 'hoods?! Blah. At the very least I could request a custom one from the shop owner...

Source: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MrCityPrinting?ga_search_query=milwaukee

Option B:

Make/buy one humungous statement piece and/or painting.

This one would likely be the pricier of the two options. Big paintings cost lots of $$$$$$$ and ones that I like are super-duper hard to come by.

Although this one is kind of cool (love the textures!):

Source: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MurrayDesignShop?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Even if I make something myself, it will require a significant sacrifice of time. Like any true arteest, I need to be inspired to create something magnificent and will settle for nothing less. I actually did end up buying a large canvas, but inspiration just hasn't struck me yet. Until it does, it will continue collecting dust in our office.

Or maybe I could get one of my many photographs super-sized and put on canvas. Wouldn't that be something?

What do you guys think? Option A or Option B? Or is there a whole 'nother option I haven't even thought of yet?