Moving paintings around – like a room makeover!

GALLERY WALL

It’s easy to keep everything where it’s at. You know, furniture, lamps, paintings – I simply cannot do that. Since I was a kid, I would work hard at changing my room around. Often. I loved moving furniture and creating a completely different looking space. It’s so rewarding. I know we aren’t all wired that way.

Too much moving can be a bad thing I suppose. Like the time my sister and I thought we could bring the love seat from the living room (like it wouldn’t be missed), up the stairs (very old house) to my room. It got stuck in the staircase. I don’t think my dad was too happy about that. (Thanks Dad :) ) but aside from your furniture getting stuck somewhere I can’t see a downfall. We have been known to change entire rooms. Living room one day… Dining room the next.

I have even changed a few kitchen cabinets around. Hmmm, I don’t totally recommend that. For years you will go to the wrong cabinet out of habit, ha ha… I say it’s good for the old brain, ha!

This is our gallery wall (click that link to see previous post regarding). This is a big wall that is difficult to make right with just a few paintings. It needs a statement. So a gallery wall solved that. Then all that gold started to get to us. So we made some changes. Exchanged some for floater frames, and took some out of the frames. They look fabulous! Now our gallery wall is in a different room.

Painting by Carol Bass

This painting is by Carol Bass. She’s a great person as well as a stunning abstract artist. We feel very fortunate to have one of her paintings. The frame on this painting is even beautiful with pegs (not nails)! Hand made by her husband (also a super nice guy).

The chair on the right had a striped slipcover, that didn’t work with this painting, so we had a white duck cloth slipcover made for it. Love it! Need a white/off white pillow to tie in the other chair that is the ultimate in comfort! A modern chair near a cool abstract painting… love it! Do you move furniture around, or are you one that believes it should stay put?

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Paintings on gallery wall (top photo):

ARTISTS: (FROM TOP LEFT TO RIGHT): DAN COREYALISON HILL, DAN COREY (MIDDLE ROW): TIM BELL, TIM BELL, ROBERT ABELE, TIM BELL, TIM BELL, (BOTTOM ROW) BJORN RUNQUISTDAVID KASMAN

Valentine’s Day…

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Happy Valentine’s Day to each and every one of you!

What do you normally do on Valentine’s Day? Go to a nice restaurant? Stay in and make a nice dinner? Read a good book? Do nothing special?

There are a lot of nice restaurants to visit in Charleston, that’s for sure! This weekend is also SEWE (Southeastern Wildlife Expo) – so the city will be crazy busy.

I think we’ll find something nice to make ourselves… or maybe something from Goat Sheep Cow? Enjoy your day!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Regular frame vs. floater frame and how to…

Regular frame

Painting by Ken DeWaard

A regular frame or a floater frame? Ah, the dilemma!

Above is a painting with a regular frame, which is fine, but when you have many paintings the frames start to compete for the attention, especially when they’re hung in close proximity to each other – I think the painting (rather than the frame) should be the star!

We have four paintings that we wanted to redo the frames on, two by Ken DeWaard and two by Tim Bell, all painted on canvas panels. We had them in regular frames, but with all our other frames it just got too much. So we ordered some floater frames from Franken Frames. Great company. We had a good experience and I would not hesitate to order from them again, they were wonderful!

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See how more of your attention is on the painting rather than the frame? I really like these! It looks even better on the wall! But this gives you an idea.

This is how we put the painting in the frame. We didn’t want to use glue because we tend to change frames out, so we opted for Velcro. We placed Velcro dots on each corner of the back of the riser (photo shows back of frame how we received it from Franken Frames). Then we marked the center of each Velcro piece with red marker and quickly placed the panel, lined up how we wanted it, on top of the back of the frame (back to back). You can then (faintly) see the red dots, so you know where to put the other piece of Velcro. After that simply place it, lined up, into the frame. Tada!

Painting by Tim Bell

Frankenframes. Woohoo!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Paintings… and frames!

Gallery wall

Artists: (From top left to right): Dan Corey, Alison Hill, Dan Corey (Middle row): Tim Bell, Tim Bell, Robert Abele, Tim Bell, Tim Bell, (Bottom row) Bjorn Runquist, David Kasman

We have got a lot of paintings. Wonderful paintings. We have so many that we have started to hang them gallery style on a few walls (it’s either that or store them, and we just cannot do that). The frames became too prominent. We wanted to see more of the paintings, less of the frames. So on four we switched to floaters… I know that those of you who are traditional might want to keep the frame, but for those of us who can go both traditional or a bit more modern we were all in for the switch.

This is an example of a lot of frames, too many for my eyes… we have since reconfigured this wall, and there is one large abstract 60×60″ painting by Carol Bass. Some of these paintings have come out of the frames entirely, and I like the look of them hanging with no frame. I like it a lot! Two on this wall have been put into floater frames (MORE ON THAT NEXT WEEK).

What do you think about floater frames? Is there ever a time when there is just too much frame for you? I know there have been problems getting frames off and on. We found some great floaters at Frankenframe!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

 

Stunning architecture – The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist – Charleston, SC!

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist - from the back

Rear view of church

This is such a stunning Catholic church. The inside commands attention. It is full of history. The architecture is so beautiful. This is a photo from the BACK of the church. Just look at that golden light! Stunning.

The history is fascinating, for example, the church originally cost $103,00 to build… in the early 1850’s! Read more about this church’s history

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Charlie – Photo of his laser goggles…

Charlie ready for laser treatment

Charlie with his googles on (reminds me of Snoopy) ready for his first laser treatment (Companion Therapy Laser by LiteCure) at West Ashley Veterinary Clinic. (Thankful for this fine group of doctors)!

Charlie had surgery seven weeks ago today for a torn CCL (like an ACL in humans). He has progressed so much. After surgery, these laser treatments were recommended. They speed healing, help with inflammation and pain. I swear that he healed faster and with less pain than if he didn’t have them. It only took a few minutes (depending upon condition and dog, etc.). This was the only time he wore the Doggles, darn cute, glad I snapped a photo! The other visits (he had ten), Fred just held him with Charlie’s head facing the opposite direction of the laser (we had special goggles on as well).

Interested? Click HERE to find a practice near you that offers laser therapy. In Charleston, there are quite a few that do offer it.

To read more about all this laser can help, visit the Companion Therapy Laser website!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Kitchen Gadget: SNAPI! You will want salad every night!

Snapi and a nice big Greek SaladThis is something I received for Christmas that I absolutely adore! This little gadget (inside the salad bowl) is called a SNAPI “the single handed server”. It will make you want to prepare a nice big salad each and every night, just so that you can use it! You can hold your plate with one hand and use Snapi with the other. You only need one hand, it does the work. Then with the press of a button it locks closed for easy storage, then just squeeze together and it open. It picks up so much better than ANYTHING I’ve ever used. What fun!

You know how when you get to the bottom of the salad bowl that’s where all the “good stuff” is. Not with Snapi. It picks up from top to bottom, nothing is left at the bottom. Read more about it HERE. Snapi is available at many locations…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Riding in Style!

 

On the trail again...

Yes… A dog stroller.

Sometimes you just do what you have to do!

Charlie (dog) is on the mend from a torn CCL (like an ACL in humans). No running, jumping, etc for quite a while. WE need to walk and so… The stroller, that way he can get out and get some fresh air too. I do wish I had one of those cameras to show you video of the looks 😳 we get. He will be back walking like normal at some point, just not yet.

What fun!


 

Catch you you back here tomorrow!

Looks like a before and after shot – Dog CCL (ACL) tear…

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For any of you out there who have yet to meet Charlie, let me introduce our six year old Jack Russell Terrier. He hasn’t been able to do this for quite a while, he tore his CCL (like an ACL in humans) and had surgery on Dec 8., so we are closing in one month – woohoo!

This almost looks like a “before” and “after” shot (actually more like an “after” and “before” shot! One leg shaved, and the other with long curls. Yesterday was the last day of his laser treatments. I swear they were amazing! More on that in another post. It’s news worth sharing!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Treats in Wiscasset, Maine…

Treats | Wiscasset, Maine

I love to take photographs of this place. Treats is a wonderful location to STOP at if you’re riding through Wiscasset, Maine. If you’re staying there it’s even better, you can keep popping in, breakfast, lunch and dinner! They have such an interesting array of merchandise. Their food and coffee is out of this world good. Soup like you can only dream of… I took this photo last fall. What a dream this place is!

Treats of Maine – A place to gather, eat & share… their logo, love it!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Portland, Maine and Charleston, SC…

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Exchange Street in Portland, Maine. All that cool brick and those beautiful buildings. So many interesting shops. Coffee shops, bakeries, bookstores, boutiques of all kinds, wonderful food.

Charleston, SC and Portland, ME have so much in common. They really are quite similar in many ways. Artsy, classy, beautiful and interesting! I could live here and be happy.

Funny, most places we go we say that we could live there, with very few exceptions (high traffic areas excluded)… Charleston, SC is such a charming town with so much to offer. You would be lucky to land in either location!

Catch you back here tomorrow!