home tour

i mentioned we cleaned our house like mad for open art studios. so i thought i'd let you in on a bit of a home tour!

 my studio, which i dubbed the green room, has definitely evolved these last few months. half the room is for printing, packaging and shipping items, and the rest is all about creating art!

i keep this little photo of me and brian in the built-in nook. and see that paper mache bowl on the left? that's one of the first projects i remember doing in school. i think it's from kindergarten. i just love that i used so many colors splattered on the inside. 

the little ox figure to the right of the bowl is a project i did last year during my arttist's way group. it was one of those things i did to get back in touch with the kid in me again. i went to the toy store and found some of that super colorful, bake-able play-dough. and the best part is, it glows in the dark!

i definitely recommend a project like that or even a trip to the toy store if you're looking for a way to have fun with art again!

i do a lot of my laptop work here at the kitchen table. when we first moved into the house, there was just one small door looking out to the backyard, so we knocked out almost the entire wall and filled the space with the BIGGEST sliding glass door!

now you can even be in the living room and have lots and lots of beautiful light!

straight out that giant sliding glass door, we put in this gorgeous blue stone patio-all ourselves! brian likes to say we were "totally ripped" that summer. i just remember sweating A LOT! but all the work was so worth it. 

 we even designed the steps coming off the house and the set heading into the rest of the yard.

 i just love being completely surrounded by lots of garden and it's really the best place to be in spring when all the little flowers and greens start to pop up from the ground. and a perfect place to paint!

it's definitely our favorite place to have breakfast on sunday mornings or sit pretty much anytime. right there on the right side of the photo is one of our Dr. Evermor birds. It has this brilliant long neck made from a spring and lots of giant scissors blades for wings.

and i think it's completely adorable that brian actually had this lovely wrought iron table and chairs before we even started dating!

he's also always kept this little sign hanging around, which tells me we were definitely made for one another.

just look at the juxtaposition of art and music in our home! it's really everywhere and a perfect balance between brian and i. 

the living room just might be where music gets played most often. we'll usually have a bunch of people spread out on the sofas and on bean bags, all playing music on guitars, drums, maracas...whatever we have around!

 

we framed lots of photos we've taken everywhere we traveled. and that sofa here has got to be the most comfortable sofa ever. it's one that if you sit all the way back on it, your feet don't even touch the ground!

we also have this giant window in the kitchen. on the sides, are two smaller windows that fit these stained glass windows I grew up loving (my mom found them at an antique store way back before i was born). 

on the wall there is our brian andreas print kindred spirits. it was an engagement gift from brian's sister and fits us perfectly (and brian's dad even made the frame!). 

brian's sister also gave us this little wooden mobile home. 

and that gorgeous candelabra was one of the first things brian gave me! he showed up with it and the next day we went to this candle shop around the corner where the owner handmade all her candles! 

i also like to keep lots of branches in vases around the house. there's something about it that makes me feel like i'm letting the outside in and living with the trees. it's a great spot too for hanging little ornaments, my favorite earrings, or fortunes you get at restaurants.

 

this clock is one of my favorite pieces! it's another thing i grew up loving- a nestle clock my mom got from baking lots and lots of chocolate chip cookies. it came with a cookbook and the moon moves at the center and shows you the perfect thing to bake on any day, depending on the season. it's all set up here for open art studios. usually we have the digital picture frame loaded with more photos we've taken on trips.

our entire home has a bit of a country farm house feel, like you should always smell apple pie baking in the oven. i just love decorating that spot up above the cabinets too.

 currently, there's lots of these ceramic bird candle holders. i picked up nine of them on clearance from pier one our first year in this house. i was a bit crazy for being all martha stewart and decorating our table for thanksgiving that year and so everyone got a little bird beside their place setting.

 photo by Beth McWilliams

everything in our home really seems to have a story. and so it's the perfect place to showcase my paintings. we originally put these shelves up to display all of our vintage cookbooks, but when i started painted again last year, it became the spot for me to step back and see what i'd created. and it's become a lovely little gathering space for when people stop by.

this is brian and i at what felt like the wee hours of the morning on the second day of open art studios.

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ps. i've been so blown away by all of your kindness about my big open art studios weekend and my curb interview + photoshoot! and to celebrate it all, i'm doing a GIVEAWAY on the lovely liv's blog choosing beauty on WEDNESDAY! stay tuned for more details!

pps. in case you missed it, the beautiful jan has an interview with me over on her blog hazelnut cottage! You can read it right here.