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See the Rainbow

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Personal goal #1 : get some art on the stairway

Personal goal #2 : make said art reflect Jer and I

Personal goal #3 : spend under $10 on all of it

 

The stairway frame gallery needed some art and I’ve been feeling fiesty lately – so I really wanted the wall to be a little less ‘classic-neutral-Katie” and more “spicy-colorful-Katie”.  It’s out of my typical comfort zone to use color but to be completely honest with myself, it does makes me happy to see a rainbow of hues and lately I’ve been feeling like this house needs to be more ‘us’.  Plus I think that the fact that this stairway is the beginning of my day every single morning, well, a little infusion of color could put a smile on my face when I in a ‘why-the-heck-won’t-Will-let-us-sleep-in-and-now-demands-the-novelty-of-food” kinda mood.

As you may remember – the stairway frames were in place…

And now, after the color-infusion, it looks like this:

First of all – the picture above is much more accurate in terms of our tooth-paste colored walls (which I have no idea what color they are so please don’t ask.  I promise to color match it one day and let you know!)

The first part thing I did was print some 5×7 photos to include in the wall…spending under $6 for all of them.  It was really important to put pictures of Will up because well, he’s kindof a big deal.  And when I asked Jer the crucial question of “What is our mutual interest?”, he was quick with the answer “water”.  yeah.  we love water.  it’s true.

That love is well represented with a sea fan that I picked up when we had a work-vacation in Grand Cayman.  I blogged about framing that a long time ago.  It’s like Betty White and resurged people!

I also loved the ‘cedar chest’ sign because it was from Tennessee…Jer’s hometown and the place we met.  Above the green cedar chest art (that I found in this old chest that I scored at a yardsale ages ago), I made a little sign with one of our favorite CS Lewis quotes which goes

“I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen : not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

and a bit of an old envelope cut into the shape of a sun.  And next to that is a little homemade illustration of our first baby.

Yeah…it’s not perfect and looks like a fifth grader drew it but it was free…and it reminds me of all our good times in that house 🙂

On the second part of the half wall is a bit more of our pictures demonstrating our Will-love and our H2O love.   First, we included some fish on a string – yeah, random but literal 🙂

There was some button art that I loved on The Little Green Notebook and told myself that I HAD to make it myself.   It was free because I have a giant jar of spare buttons.  Plus it makes me happy.

I really was stumped by what to put in this frame.  REALLY stumped.  Like more confused than when I look at every calculus problem I’ve ever seen.   Or basically anything Lindsay Lohan has done in the last three years.  Enter one of Will’s books.  While I was reading his nighttime routine, I saw a sea urchin illustration.  I mentioned a while back that Jeremy always looks for sea urchins for me when we go to the beach.  It is silly but those delicate little things mean the world to me.  Plus, this sucker is made from cut up paint swatches (which is soo me).

The last wall!  Yay!  Sorry about that little frame at the bottom corner – I took the photo before realizing the picture had fallen 🙂

First up – the “B”  – leafy and free…I switched up the mat by putting some scrap striped fabric on it.  Jeremy liked it.  I’m on the fence 🙂  I think it would be cute nursery art but here it looks a little off to me for some reason.

I dug out our old boarding pass stubs from our honeymoon.  Yup – we newlyweds sat next to each other on the plane.  I know you’re shocked.  What’s shocking to me is that Jeremy had two bags and I didn’t have any 🙂

The littlest frame got a big job by representing the good ole US of A.  The little wood cut out is a twenty five cent piece from Hobby Lobby.  And I was thisclose to throwing out an old Missoni box (we bought Clara Petersik some ballet slippers to give to her when we went to visit) and since the box didn’t have a lid, we put them in a gift bag and the box narrowly escaped the trash by being recycled into a backdrop for our country.  Funny – because I consider myself an Italian American 🙂 Get it!?

In the big center frame we used at our wedding as an autograph piece, I took out the photo.  First of all, neither Jer or I loved the photo.  BUT I do love this little needlepoint piece that belonged to my grandma.  It reminds me of her and I dig the layered frame on frame look…especially since the proportions are similar.

Last is a little bit of me and a little bit of Jer.  The Monet inspired lily pad art (water? check!) was actually part of a three piece series in my little studio apartment in college.  It’s painted with cheap paint on a bit of cardboard (I dare say it was a pizza box)….and it still makes me smile.  The empty frame got a little pom-pom string with a bicycle clipped to it.  Jer’s obsessed with bikes…so it kinda works…although I wish I had more pom poms to add to it.  There can never be too many pom-poms 🙂

So there you have it folks – us.  in rainbow form.  I must say that I pause a little longer in the hallway now…it is simply smile-inducing…and that is exactly the way I want this house to be.  Out with the whole “needs-to-appeal-to-the-masses” mentality and in with the “if-it-makes-me-happy-that’s-what-counts” kinda decorating.  Now to save my pennies for a new runner – any suggestions on how to do that for cheap?  I’m thinking stripes 🙂

Oh and did I mention that Will loves it?  Yeah…obsessed.  He gets on the stairs now and points at everyone and tells me who is who.  Of course it all sounds like “Eee” or “Grrsh” but hey, art speaks differently to different people 🙂

Have you guys infused your walls with homemade art lately?  Anyone love the water as much as we do?  Or perhaps you are more of a mountain person?  Or maybe you’ve been painting on pizza boxes lately?  Have any leftovers?  Because I’m kinda hungry 🙂

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  1. Your so creative Katie, It looks great! I do agree that the ‘B’ looks a little nursery-ish, but you seriously painted that Monet inspired piece?? Amazing! You should paint more! 🙂

  3. I think the stairs would look great with no runner at all. Why don’t you try it for a while and see how you like it? (If you’re worried about traction, I can tell you I have a high-powered 3-year-old and wood stairs with no runner, and he’s never slipped.)

    I’m really enjoying seeing you inject some of your personality into the new house — is it beginning to feel like home yet?

  4. First off: LOVE our new stair gallery 🙂 …the sea urchin/paint chip art you made:
    1. genius
    2. ..that’s gonna be all over Pinterest in the morning…I can sea 🙂 it now.

    You are one creative chick…so creative! You should have your own craft show…serious!

    We’re constantly updating and changing our frames, on our floating shelf in our living room..quite a bit….it’s an obsession….almost.

    Water: I heart the water. Swimming…one of my all time favorite things to do! As soon as winter kicks in here, in Vancouver bc…..I head to the pool…and long for the days to swim in the Summer.

    ….another great post Katie. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: your blog is my all-time favorite.

  5. That looks amazing and I love how each piece is now individual and expressive of you guys. I loved reading this and think it has completely transformed the space. Well done!! PS That pic of Will and his dad at the beach makes me melt…just beautiful.

  6. Hi Katie, I think it looks great! Especially love the buttons – did you just hot glue them onto some card? Think I’m going to steal that idea… I’m on the fence about the B as well though. I dunno why, I like it on its own, but not in the grouping I think.

  8. I can’t believe you got it done so quickly! I hung my frames a couple (few?) weeks ago, and have yet to change the art. And I daresay I’ll be copying at least two of your ideas. I promise to give full credit, though. 🙂 I love it!

  9. That table looks like it was MADE for that space. Did you buy it specifically to go there or was it sheer luck that it fit?

  12. Love it! But I am even more astonished you don’t need a baby gate on your stairs! We have an 18m old and we have the height of home decor style going on on the bottom of our stairs with our ugly white metal gate.

  13. Thing 1. Have you considered just taking off the runner until you find something new? Who knows, you may like it without a runner.
    Thing 2. For our last home we bought runners from Kohls and cut off the short ends and glued them together with carpet tape and glue. Can’t beat their sales!

  15. I love it – I mean I thought it looked great before but the difference with the color infusion makes me realize how much more fun it is now. And you should stop to stare at yourself in the stairway, makes everything a little sweeter. Well done!

  17. Katie,

    Your gallery wall looks wonderful… love the personal touches and the cohesive theme. 🙂

    And I second the fact that that Monet is amazing! You painted that on a pizza box… SERIOUSLY? Wow.. there should be what you’re doing! People are paying good money for paintings on old MetroCards… to get a Bower painting on pizza boxes? Priceless!

    The reuse of the Missoni box looks terrific. Nice recycle!

  18. LOVE the new art! So fresh and fun. I’m planning to put up a gallery wall in my foyer too and you are totally inspiring me to really make it reflect my hubby’s and my personalities.

  20. Katie, I like the green and yellow hues in the new gallery. Looks like your love of water extended to your color palette, it’s beautiful. Nice job.

  21. Love it!! Heck, it makes me smile and they’re not even my family members. Sitting here scanning my house now, looking for any place that I could do something similar. And, I second (or 3rd or 4th or however many times it’s been said) the no runner or purchase cheapo runners at Ikea or Kohls and then fasten them together somehow, maybe in the joints where the treads and risers meet?
    My hubby and I love the mountains and the woods…trails, yes, please!
    Oh, and btw, that toothpaste color…blech, don’t know how you can stand it. I would be painting it pronto, even if it’s only a tiny section at a time! We just moved as well and it is a slooooow process getting things done. Let’s just say that I have orange shag from 1970 in my family room and an avocado green stove. Speaking of that, I better get busy working…lol.

  22. I love seeing people’s gallery walls. It takes so little(for some, myself not included) to put together something so inspiring, but when you actually stop and look at each piece, you realize your looking at a family’s life…who they are. LOVE it!

    I have been working on my gallery wall for a while now, I just can’t pull it together. I think I might have to tackle that this weekend finally.

  25. I love the button art too! But when you click on the link to “Little Green Notebook” you go to some weird sponsored site. Is this right? Love the gallery! And I’m with julianna about the stair runner. Try naked stairs, you might like them!

  27. So…..I totally stalk your blog. I’m like the neighbor that lurks around, but never says anything. Until now, I love the wall and I found you the perfect beverage and website. It’s Diet Coke with Bacon…. 🙂 I sent it to you on Pinterest! It’s over at http://bacontoday.com

    haha, thought you may enjoy a glass!

    Kari @ The Sunset Lane

  29. Love the wall. The color really lights up the space! I think I am with you on the leafy B. I really like the print, but the stripes make it look a little nursery-life. That said, I really do like it with the fabric. Funny how things sometimes work in one space but not another.

    Anyway, AWESOME job!!! I have a gallery wall that I have been working on for a couple of weeks and am stumped as to what to fill in the gaps with. This will definitely help to inspire me. Thank you!!!

  30. The art looks great!! I can’t decide if I like the buttons or sea urchin paint chip piece the best. I love all things water related too. In the winter I like to go to the gym and splash around in the pool there. 🙂

  31. I love wall art that has sentimental value to it. I keep trying to persuade the BF to let me frame some mementos. But he is more of a photography on the walls kind of guy.

    For the stairs, a look that I really love, and would add a lot of drama and posh to your stairwell would be white runners and spindles with dark stained steps and banister. Which is kind of close to what you have going on. Ha!

  32. I’m in the process of doing the same thing to my stairwell and am in need of some frame advice. You mentioned most of your frames came from other places around your house but do you have tips for inexpensive frames or way to re-vamp frames that are not-so-stylish?
    We’re expecting our first right at Christmas and I want to get this project done before she arrives (and before my family gets here for the celebration!)

    Thanks so much!

  33. I love love love your wall and intend on doing that someday in the future. I saw the first post and agree with her. You should try removing the runner on your stairs… it would be interesting to see what it looked like!

  35. I love the colors! It looks so great! And you can really see the green in the wall color in these pictures, maybe the color from the art brightens it up a bit? I’d love to do a gallery wall when we get settled in a house! Can’t wait!

    As far as the runner… do you really insist on having one? A friend of mine recently pulled their runner up and refinished the stairs underneath and it looks phenomenal! It really helps the stairs flow from the hardwood on the first floor to the hardwood on the second floor.

  36. I love this. It reminds me of home, because growing up, my mom always had all of these old, family photos going up the staircase.

  37. You are TOO creative woman! Love it all. The ticket stubs gave me a great idea. I have the hotel room key cards from when Ry & I got engaged and got married that I should frame. Love it – thanks!! 🙂

  38. I’m pretty sure it should be littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com instead! That should get you to the great blog she was referencing.

  40. Oops! Late night link mix up! I’ll fix that right away…but to answer the question – I actually sewed them onto the paper 🙂
    xo – kb

  41. Total luck. It was actually a table that we used in the old house in our living room in front of some windows and it just so happen to work perfectly there 🙂
    xo – kb

  43. Katie! So cute with the homemade art! You make me want to pull out my box of honeymoon stuff and frame it up. Loving on the sea urchin art…my husband stepped on one last year in Maui…so painful but they are neat to look at. Thanks for the inspiration, girl!

  45. Spray paint cheap thrift store frames and other white matching ones can be picked up at Target and Ikea! Sometimes you can hit the thrift store sale just right and get a stash for less than a dollar each 🙂
    xo – kb

  46. Well, I really want one because 1. it helps little feet from slipping and gives them a soft place for knees and 2. I fall alot. and 3. otherwise we would have to refinish the steps (which costs a lot) and it’s just not in the budget 🙂
    xo – kb

  48. I loved your stairwell gallery before, but I love it even more so now that you have filled it with sweet memories and family photos. You’ve totally inspired me to do the same – thank you!

  50. this is such an awesome idea! it’s better than scrapbooking because everything is always out for you to look at and remember! i can’t wait to try something similar at my apt.! it’ll help make it feel more like home =)

  51. That looks great! I love that you inlcuded your plane tickets. I have ours in a shadowbox of wedding things and everyone always gets a kick out of the things I save….

  52. Looks great! I love all the creative and inexpensive things you added in there with the cute photos. I think my favorite is the paint chip one 🙂

  53. Hi Katie! Awesome job on the art – it looks fantastic. You are always so inspiring.

    I have to agree with you on the B, something is off. Trust your instincts (they are good!) Perhaps it is the fabric matting? It’s fighing with the B instead of complementing it?? Did you paint the B (much like you painted those eggs a while back?) Or is that some cool new font? 🙂

    Keep up the good work Katie B 🙂

  54. Hi Katie!! I love your blog!! How about trying a painted on runner?

    http://pinterest.com/pin/340008655/

    They look great and its cheaper than a rug….and a little modern-er…

    check out pinterest for more pics of this idea…just search “painted staircases”.

    Good luck in your decision! Love your new house!

  58. Your wall looks great – way to persevere on each and every piece. I particularly love the urchin! Unrelated question regarding WWW – What Will is Wearing. Those are adorable little PJs – can you tell me where they came from? Our little guy is also obsessed with staying in his PJs all day so it would nice to see something new.

  59. Love love love love….

    I have a hallway wall of the cottage that i’ve been eyeing to do this kind of wall display, but i’ve been struggling to find frames in the area I live in. I like the idea of buying a frame and painting and using just the frame! thanks for inspiring me!

    did i mention i love it!

  62. HUUGE improvement. I honestly didn’t like all the pictures on the stairs — the stairs are already kind of fussy with all the curving architecture and such, and then all the pictures were kind of overwhelming, but suddenly, it is all completely charming and cheery and I magically like the banister a lot now, whereas before I think I thought it was a touch dated.

    Yay stairs!

    I also think you should just do away with the carpet runner. Let the photos shine! I grew up in a house with VERY steep, uncarpeted stairs, and nobody ever had any accidents or falls or anything. Since yours are pretty winding, they’re already safer than our stairs ever were.

    Also, from a practical sense, stairs get a lot of action (read: dirt), which means that any carpet runner will never be truly clean.

  63. P.S. The only thing my husband and I have in common is our cat, which would make for a hilariously batty (or catty, rather) wall.

  64. Love the pictures and how you arranged everything. You are super creative! You’ve definitely given me some inspiration when it comes to hanging pictures up in our place.

    Also, you should make more of those paint chip sea urchins – because I would totally buy one off etsy!

  65. one of the things on my must-have-list when we bought our first place was stairs. i have always loved picture frames full of family and memories lining the stairwell. i have been working on mine for 3 years, adding things a little at a time. my frames are all the same color but different shapes and styles, and full of things and people i treasure!

  68. 1. Looks great and I thought that literally you were going to put art work in the frames in a rainbow pattern. Starting from the left, everything you have that is red, moving onto somepictures with orange in them, etc!! Lol
    2. I must make the button and paint chip sea urchin art, thanks for the ideas!!
    3. What about painting a stencil on the stairs in a runner pattern going down the middle? Or just painting a solid color going down the middle? Or maybe paint the stairs first then do a color over? Even painting multiple colors in stripes going down? Or maybe you like the carpet feel under your toes in the morning and none of these are a good idea!! Lol

  69. That looks awesome! Can you please tell me how you have the time to do all this stuff?? I know you stay home but a baby has to be time consuming. I work full-time (no kiddos) and we’re also remodeling our house…sometimes I think I’m drowning in my to-do list! Any tips?

  70. Well, to be honest, it’s overwhelming sometimes. And you guys just see the finished product right next to the before picture so it does seem instantaneous whereas it takes a full week of concentration just to get it done. I would say as my number 1 tip is to put one task on the top of the list and not do any other project until you finish it. Also, small daily lists can help …before you know it the week is up and you got a lot done with smaller managable chunks 🙂
    xo – kb

  72. Totally love it! Collage walls are one of my favorite things and I love how you made your $10 limitation into a fun thing instead of letting it hold you back. My favorite is the USA cutout with the Missoni background, simply because most people would have thrown that away and you made it work for you!

  73. I think you should try to paint your existing runner. What do you have to lose? I am thinking dark blue with a brown stripe or two. Dark colors to hide dirt and the color of the existing carpet.

    Good luck!

  74. Ooo love the idea of framing your honeymoon plane tickets…now I feel validated in saving mine in my wallet forever. Add that to the list of things for my future wall of frames up the stairwell. 🙂

  77. Wow- what a great transformation. The colors add so much – it’s definitely a good change from the muted version. Thanks for the inspiration!

  80. I love your new frame gallery look. It’s so personal! I always want a frame gallery but I get put off by the cost of frames (maybe I don’t look in the right places?), I never know if I should have all the frames be the same color, and once I start collecting frameable things/pieces, I get distracted and forget! I need to stick with it!

  82. Hi Katie, the new art looks great! I also usually lean towards the classic, non-“rainbow” colors but this has inspired me to liven it up! It really looks awesome, great job.

  84. OMG! This is fantastic! It turned out beautiful! And the cutie looking out the window is awesome, too!

  85. Katie, it looks great! So colorful and full of nice memories for you guys. I love the photo of Will looking/pointing at it. Is it just me or does he seem super-tall here? (like, older than 19 months)

    I met your girl Sherry (and her guy John) at an event in Richmond today, for which I won tickets via their blog. They are lovely, I can see why you love her. 🙂

    Now I just need to run into you one day! 🙂 Since you live further, I can settle for waiting until heaven, if it doesn’t happen here on earth. But if it does, bonus!! In the meanwhile, God bless you, girl.

  86. Katie, I love how this turned out! It’s amazing and I love how you make it really reflect you guys. And the color is an added bonus! It’s really brightened up the space!! I want to do a frame wall sooo bad, but I’m waiting until I can figure out a way to get to an Ikea to stock up on frames! 🙂 The closet one to us is around 5 hours away…very sad. I absolutely love how personal you can make them and inviting too. I LOVE the drawing of your first house. It’s fantastic! I did something similar, but took the easy way out and ordered one from a girl that does custom renderings (because I can’t draw anything!). You are very talented!!

  88. Yeah – it totally distorts him and makes him look longer 🙂 It must be because I am so low! And yeah – Sher is the best 🙂
    xo – kb

  89. I don’t think your house looks drawn by a fifth grader! It is lovely. And I am absolutely adoring your sea urchin paint chip collage. 🙂

  90. So love it! We just moved into our new house and I am trying to decide where to do our friends/family photo collage. Ours is all different frames (colors too) – I love the mismatchy of it since that’s how we just are – but yours looks so clean and professional! And since our walls here are dark (they were on the only white wall in the previous house) the white would really pop. Thanks for sharing!!

  91. I have a runner idea! A former neighbor of mine did this and I thought it was so smart. She took FLOR carpet tiles and cut each one in half and affixed the rectangle of carpet to each step. It looked fresh and modern, and of course FLOR has a ton of stripes to choose from. My neighbor’s steps were very narrow so 1/2 tile did the job for each step, but if yours are wide steps, I guess you could lay the two halves side by side on each step. The only thing is you would not have carpet on the rise part of the step, but you certainly don’t need that for safety.

  92. Love the gallery wall and all of the personalization – it’s so much better than some i’ve seen that are full of just random stuff. Lots of inspiration for my own one-day gallery wall. I especially like the paint chip sea-urchin! 🙂

    I had a thought about your need for an el-cheap-o stair runner… have you ever thought of making a floor cloth? I have a pinterest pin (http://pinterest.com/pin/269512358919942216/)that sparked the idea… Canvas can be expensive, but i’ve also read lots about using canvas drop cloths for various things, as they come in huge sizes, they’re thick, durable and super cheap (and they can be purchased at True Value!) You could cut a dropcloth into strips wide enough for a runner, hem the edges and sew them into a runner. Paint your design and then roll on the poly. Lay it on the stairs and hide the seams under the runner rods. It could work!

    Just a thought!

  93. If you are thinking about the canvas runner idea, I have a large amount of canvas I would part with on the cheap! I’m in the ATL area. Let me know!

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