live with art

Source: allthingsstylish.tumblr.com via Cortney on Pinterest

true dat.

one of the (dozen or so) challenges with our new house was what to do with our emormous fireplace.  we moved from a house with no fireplace, and although we have a modest art collection, all of our small pieces would've drowned above our mantle.

enter my mom (always one to save the day).  she bought us an enormous frame soon after we moved in.  we were still far renovation-wise from being able to hang the frame, so we had plenty of time to decide how to fill the frame.

we had two requirements: it needed to be affordable and meaningful.  the photos do no justice to the giant scale of the frame.  once we gave it some thought, we knew that putting a picture of the boys in the frame would end up looking like two creepy, giant heads floating above the fireplace.

when in doubt, etsy.  i started searching etsy (which in case you don't know, is a website that specializes in selling hand-made wares.  it's rad.)  since the majority of our little art collection is comprised of pieces from our favorite city, i searched 'maps' and found exactly what we were looking for.

SummitRidge is the name of an etsy shop by an incredible artist who creates watercolor paintings of maps.  anne's paintings look like bluprints.  she meticulously paints every city block and natural landmark.  her work is incredible, she is affordable, and in addition to her inventory of gorgeous maps of well-known cities, she will work with you to create a custom map of the city of your choice.  we knew we wanted a map of new orleans, but she did not have the size we needed.  she communicated with me over a period of a few weeks, we settled on a price, a color scheme, and she even sent me pictures of her progress on the map made in the size we needed.  the whole process felt very special.  and now we have a stunning painting over our mantle that is a talking piece and reflects wholly who we are as a family. and like we do with most major purchases, chris and i turned it into our anniversary gift to each other. win-win.

check her out.  buy a painting.  

live with art.  it's good for you.