Sunday, February 6, 2011

The Beginnings of a Grouping

I've had a wall grouping in the works since Trish @ This Life of Ours posted inspiration pics for her impressive arrangement back in October. I loved all of the inspiration photos she posted (including Trish's), but one in particular spoke to me. Behold:


Our couch is the same shape ( a little longer, actually) and I have an adorable chalkboard left over from the wedding that I am obsessed with and mention often in posts. We also had nothing on that particular wall of the couch, which was bothering me. Having no money, I started shopping around the house and came up with not only a variety of cute options, but lots of items in the same color scheme. Obviously, it was meant to be. I'm a big fan of shopping around the house.

Andrew and I hung a few things almost immediately after I showed him the inspiration photo, but our little grouping has been half done for some time now. Then, back in November, I won Trish's giveaway (her first to host and my first to win!) and got to pick out a cute alphabet print from fontsupply, an Etsy shop run by designer/artist Arian.

Being Queen of Taking Forever to Do Things (unless you give me a deadline, which I am programmed to meet), I took about a month or more to choose my print. (I was in a battle between gifting the print and keeping it for myself ... conveniently for me, I waited to order it until after the holidays.) Plus, there were six pages of options, all of them cute. Don't believe me? Check out Arian's shop.

Trish chose this print for her grouping, which I love:

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Observe it in all its grouping glory (at the bottom left):

 
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I ended up ordering this one, and it arrived on my doorstep in early January:
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I loved it not only because the bluish-green border matches the outer edges of the chalkboard, but also because the oval behind the "A" is newsprint, and Nurse A and I both have backgrounds in newspaper.  I was trying to find a print that he would enjoy as much as I did. (Andrew, by the way, loves it and even chose the frame!)

So now that I've taken up this much of your time, I bet you're expecting me to show you my wonderful wall grouping, right? Not yet! It's a work in progress, so I'm going to wait to unveil it. It also does not help that Andrew has hijacked my grouping (he has hung it in a triangle formation) and we don't exactly see eye-to-eye, design-wise. I will, however, show you a few of the things we want to include in our arrangement. Four items (the print, of course, included) have officially made the grouping cut. (All the decor in my house is sweating right now, y'all.)

1. The print
2. The chalkboard
3. Framed wedding invite
Number four is a framed engagement picture, but I haven't completely chosen the photo yet. Right now it's this one, because that was the photo already in the frame, and the bluish color scheme continues in our shirts.


If we use one of the photos in the red telephone booth,  we can incorporate some more red into the grouping, namely our Coca-Cola sign.

I'm not gonna lie, I kind of love awkward prom pose.


Currently, we have a naked girl sketch by my brother hanging in the grouping, but I ultimately like her in the bedroom best so I'm looking for something to replace her. You can't tell in the picture, but she fits the color scheme too (bluish gray).


Our next step is to incorporate some shelves,  like this simple one from Target.
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That way, I could arrange fresh flowers, framed photos, ceramic items, some of the milk bottles from the wedding and random things like these BodyShop oils on the shelves, which for some reason I think are really cute.

Green tea, Cotton Flower and Clear Water oils.
I'll keep you updated as the grouping comes along! And thanks to Trish and Arian for the lovely ideas and the lovely print!

Happy Sunday,

4 comments:

  1. LOVE what you picked and what you have going so far. I cannot wait to see it complete!

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  2. Love the one you picked! So cute. SO Perfect with the newsprint!!

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  3. Where do you find the time? I have so many things to hang up (flying cats, sweater-wearing fish). Things to buy (giant map of DC for our wall). I have a bike to mail to my sister. Books to read.

    And, of course, decor projects get pushed off when you're being creative or S is attempting to read physics textbooks on Google reader. Lol.

    Zac Wilson once posted about doing a grouping based around a corner. I want to try it in one room. And I definitely want one wall that just has a ton of stuff on it, similar to a grouping. Must finish furnishing my apartment!

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  4. I need to do this very same thing...love the choices you have made so far!

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