weekend fun and wall decorating dilemma

Remember my friend that moved away a couple of weekends ago? We met up for

breakfast on Saturday morning. These zinnias in front of the restaurant caught my

attention. They're one of my favorite flowers.To me, they are the epitome of cheer 

 and summer and I smile whenever I see them.

On Sunday, me and my aunt spent the day in the city of Elgin, which is about 35 miles

northwest of Chicago, on the Fox River. We walked around the downtown area, going

into different shops (spent a lot of time in a bookstore!) and having lunch in one of

those American pub-type restaurants.

 One of the shops we went into was Retro A Go-Go, which carries cool things from the 

1940's - 1970's. It was a lot of fun to look around.

The only thing I bought was this Snoopy jelly glass for Brian ~ he loves the

Peanuts, especially Snoopy.

Moving on to household stuff...I had showed you all how I put a shadow box on

the wall space beside the front door. I decided after I hung the shadow box

up, that I didn't like it in that space after all.

So, I played around and here's the new look I decided on. I'm not 100% satisfied

with this arrangement either, but it'll do for now. I at least like it better than the shadow

box. My "Big Plan" for this area anyway is to get rid of the console table and utilize

a storage bench instead - the kind you can sit on to take your shoes on and off.

 Then, I'd like to hang a long piece of reclaimed wood on the wall and add different 

kinds of hooks and knobs on it to make a coat rack.

All items were things I had on-hand and all were thrifted.

The fireplace wall is driving me crazy. I've had two black and white pictures hanging

there for over a year. I never did like them. They're not my taste. My cousin had 

purchased them for me, thinking I'd like them and that they'd be perfect for the

fireplace wall. Well, I guess they are in regards to size and fit. But they're too stark

and modern for my taste and decor; plus the photos don't mean anything to me.

I don't have any connection to New York.

In my last post, I had showed you the picture of the mirror that I thought might look

nice over the fireplace, but I wasn't sure if it'd be big enough. I had Brian hold it

up while I took a couple of pictures.

Poor guy, lol.

 

Whaddya think? Too small, isn't it?

But I don't want to hang those black and white pictures back up! And Brian

wants to keep the mirror because he really likes it. He said, "Surely we can

use it somewhere!" Ever feel like ripping an entire room apart and starting

all over again?!

inspiration from friends: a shadow box and glass bottles

 Inspired by a shadow box display next to a door at a friend's house, I decided to try

somewhat of the same thing at my house. My friend had several shadow boxes, but I only

 have one. I took down the piece of artwork I had by the door and put up the shadow

box. Turns out I like the display itself, but not the location. Good thing I used 3M 

Command strips and not nails!

 The piece of artwork that I had taken down was this metal bird piece on the left. Again, 

not crazy about the new location, but that's OK...you can play around with moving artwork 

on the walls when nail holes aren't involved. 

Notice anything different on the top shelf of the bookcase?

 I'm always inspired by the fun decor at Art and Sand. I love her collection of glass

bottles and how she hangs tags and charms from them. I found wire-wrapped flowers

and vintage keys in my stash of home decor and used those to decorate my bottles.

I used a lone glass bottle as a bookend on the second shelf. 

 

I love the cover of this Birdsong book. I found the book at Savers and bought it

for the beautiful artwork on the cover. 

I hope you find joy and inspiration all around you and carry it home with you, too. 

Partying with Green Willow Pond ~ What We Accomplished Wednesday.