Family Ties

At some point or another, we all hit an epiphany in home decorating.  It might be to try new colors, or take a chance on a bizarre piece of furniture, or to just go green.  As for me, my light-bulb moment has been staring me in the face for years (I'm just slow and didn't catch on quickly).  And once it hit me, there was no way to go back to my old way of decorating.


But enough of the round-the-bush talk, here's what I mean.  


I was walking around my house the other day (taking inventory of what STILL needed to be done), when I started noticing my "favorite" things in my home.  Overwhelmingly, the scale was always tipped towards a hand made item...or a hand-me-down.  I'd never really noticed it before, but the more I thought about it, the more special each of those items became.  Just like taking pride in the hard labor work we put in the house, these items had special meaning to me.  


And yes, I am a huge sentimentalist when it comes to family history.  I love the steamer trunk that belonged to my great-grandmother (Colton calls it his "special grandmother's"!!), the set of books that Casey's great-grandfather once owned, or the side table my Dad built...these items are the ones worth keeping and passing on to the next generation.  


Which all ties into my latest decorating project:

 If you remember (from some previous post), I had found these forgotten prints in my office when I was doing some Spring-purging a few weeks back.  They were part of a coloring book set (pictured below), and had once belonged to Casey's grandmother.

I never got to meet Casey's grandmother, but I've heard enough stories about her to be drawn towards her.  She was an artist (like me), as well as a art teacher at the school I would eventually attend (small-world side note:  some of my parent's friends actually had her for a teacher).  And although Casey doesn't remember a lot about her, he always talks about her with the greatest affection...which makes me love her that much more!!

So it was a huge honor to be gifted, not only with these prints, but one of her paintings as well(which will eventually get framed in the office...more on that at a later date).

Getting back on topic, I knew I wanted to showcase these adorable prints...and so, after some planning and a new set of frames,  I finally found the perfect place for them, in my bathroom:

I love taking a bath now, and glancing over to see this beautiful arrangement.  It totally makes my day!

And if your wondering how this-whole-shebang changed my decorating style; it helped me to realize that hand made items and hand-me-downs are going to be my new go-to's.  I don't think I'll ever want to go back to store bought decorations again!