Art Inside Our Havenwood

Welcome to our new home! :)

Here we are in April, and we are finally having our first week of nice weather this spring! We have all been itching to enjoying the outdoors... and this gardener has been going a bit crazy for it, honestly.

But one nice thing about all of our bad weather in March was that it gave me more time to be inside our new walls, wondering what to do with them. (... Seems like winter unleashes some of my craft craziness... like last years' coffee filter flower wreaths...)  I was finally brave enough a few days ago to take a try at at stairway photo arrangement and was able to use some of my favorite new craft-making techniques too! Would you like to take a walk around with me?

This beautiful staircase did not need much embellishment, but I tried to create some interest with some family photos up our wall. It really got going when I placed this canvas print of Monet's landscape, Seine at Vetheuil, at the bottom; it was perfect. I am going to try drawing out the mood for the whole living room from this painting.  There is lots of info on how to create a nice photo arrangement on Pinterest, like how to use paper cut outs to plan before hammering and hundred of different types of layouts (my favorites here and here).

a few photos of my little ones when they were little-er...

This is one of my creations. I bought a cheap wooden oval, cut out a piece of kitchen waxed paper to fit in my ink jet printer, and transferred these vintage images on to it. Easy peasy... really. It is amazing. The crafty people call it a Waxed Paper Transfer. And these lovely images came from a wonderful site called The Graphics Fairy, where all of the images are royalty free.

This pot shot from Stan Hywet's gift shop found its way into the current photo gallery... and yes, that is me in my wedding dress :)

This was another crafting triumph: my first Mod Podge photo canvas. Another super easy project... actually even easier than the wax paper. This photo was printed on my ink jet on normal paper. I painted it up with Mod Podge like glue and layed it on a small painting canvas. I added a layer of said MP on top and painted the edges black to conceal the paper. Instant art that echos the Monet canvas in this arrangement!

This pretty stool was an inexpensive find that I added some french typography to using, yet again, a wax paper transfer. I have collected quite a few images to choose from on my Sewing & Crafting Pinterest folder if you are interested.

And then there is the top of my stairs... My husband said there is a bush growing on the ceiling, which is fair I think. But he still wonderfully installed this beautiful light for me. It is quite shiny :) And the mirror, which was also a bit of a stretch for me, is just the thing to break up these very rectangular doorways. I am not sure what you all will think of this hallway decor, but I love it! It makes me smile every time I walk up the steps to help clean up a child's room or run for my scarf/slippers/phone. It is starting to make this lovely house a home. :)

Did you enjoy a peek into the house? :) It already looks much different than it did in November at closing, that is certain.

There were a few more things that I wanted to share, so hopefully I will get another moment this week to do that. Thanks taking a still-winter-in-PA walk inside the house... I cannot wait to get out!!!
~Julie