So Many Updates!

I've made so many updates to the house! A very kind friend came and helped me unpack several boxes in the third bedroom and I've been hanging artwork and getting things organized. It is nowhere near done, but things are improving. Finally.

First, I put up some artwork in the bedroom. I've been collecting for a while and have been planning to create a couple of gallery walls. My first attempt is in the bedroom (probably the best place to experiment) and I'm really digging it. The Dolly Parton artwork is from a Smokey Road Press show from last year (I've got another one in the basement!).

The ceramic deer trophy was a Christmas gift from a lovely friend, and The Donnas print is one I've had since probably 1999 when I was a major, super fan. The Really Good Hair Club is from youwereswell (I ordered mine at the Pygmy Hippo Shoppe). The portrait of the boy and his dachshund is one I found at an antique shop (I really love dachshunds) and the shadow box contains my mother's charm bracelet.

Next, I rearranged the living room. I never loved the way it was set up before. Everything felt far away, strangely situated, and uncomfortable. So, this week I rotated the rug, moved the chairs to face the sofa, and found a new spot for the record player. Now, it's much cozier and when people are talking, they are facing one another (novel, I know). I also have big plans for my chairs. They belonged to my mother and, before her, they lived in the front room of my grandmother's house. They're original Danish Modern and I love them. Since the 1980s, they've been upholstered in some pretty ugly material (to be fair, it was very hip when my mother had them done). I'm gonna get those slipcovers off, though, and paint them with chalk paint. It's the latest thing and since I can't seem to find anyone who actually still reupholsters furniture--and I probably couldn't afford it if I did--I'm hoping it will be the solution to the ugly upholstery and slipcover problem!

I also finally got all of my paint-by-numbers up. Since I moved from my place in WV, I haven't had them all up together and the collection has really grown. I ordered a pair of matching floor lamps with a very midcentury vibe and moved the end tables (I think they're gonna go live in the third bedroom when it's finally finished). I'm more happy with this room now than I've been in all the time since I moved in. Birdie decided she'd model this space for you. She's such a great hostess!

To top off the living room, I decided to clear the top of the buffet (which, up to now, has been just a sort of storage space for all kinds of junk). I framed a couple of photos that my grandmother gave me last year and moved my ceramic lamp to spread some of the light around and to highlight my 50s-era fruit tree topiary that I found on my birthday antique shopping spree!

Here's a last few of my bedroom. I won this poster by correctly answering a trivia question at the last Flying Dog movie. Finally, my head full of trivia paid off!