Art you need.

What's hanging on your walls right now?  UNLESS YOU SAY ICEFLOE PHOTOGRAPHY, FORGET IT!  I was hoping to convey a threatening tone; do you think it worked?  Anyway, I'm a huge fan of Dianne Tanner's photography and the soft, dreamy quality of her subjects captured on film.  Some of my favorites include...

I'm lucky enough to have this one and this one grace my walls, and I'm thinking I'm really going to need to go ahead and add the Skullz print to my collection.

Find the prints above here: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

bright, clean, and not so much crap.

Every now and then (let's say once a month) I get in these mindsets where all I want to do is go through closets, drawers, and anywhere else Chris and I may stash things we no longer use or need, and THROW THEM OUT!  Of course, the fact that I have a minor addiction to interior design blogs doesn't help my downsize and redecorate mindset, but it never hurts to purge your life of clutter, right?  My house is definitely not cluttered when compared to, say, my Grandma's house, but I think everyone has their limit of knick knacks, and I've passed mine.  I've also discovered the problem(s): first, I don't necessarily like to display a lot of things, I mainly just like hunting for them, and then knowing that I have them; it's not conducive to simple living.  Second, Chris and I seem to be a dumping ground for stuff.  I don't know how it came to be, but we became the people that family just gave their unwanted stuff to, and it's not that we want it or asked for it, we just seem to accumulate it, and then we feel guilty for throwing it out.  BUT, if I can stop feeling guilty and throw things out, keeping only what I really like and will actually use, I wouldn't mind my house looking a little more like this...

I've already got good colors on the walls (white in the kitchen and bedroom, the palest, crispest green in the living room and den, and a dark, sophisticated slate blueish color in the dining room), an overstuffed, modern style sofa, good vintage pieces, retro lamps, and plenty of art for the walls - I just have to refine my collection and then decide how to arrange and display it.  I know some people think spending time or money on your house and the way it's decorated borders on (if not complete falls into the category of) shallow, but I have to disagree; being a homebody, my house is somewhere I like to feel comfortable and inspired, and being surrounded by things you like or like looking at just puts you in a positive mood!

When your life starts to feel cluttered, how do you de-clutter?  And how do you put sentiment aside and get rid of things you no longer use or need?

*All images from Pinterest.

hello.

How have you been?  This summer has been busy and awesome, and it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon!  Sometimes though, when I have a slow day and I can stop to play with my camera (and still try to figure out how to use it with all those settings and switches and buttons), read, thumb through old magazines looking for painting inspiration, watch Buffy on Netflix, or just sit outside with Flojo and watch the birds, it's nice, and I try not to think of all the work that's waiting on me...

So how has your summer been?  What do you like to do when you get a quiet moment to yourself?