this hawks nest: salon wall : part three, see it all together

Morning! Happy first-full-week-of-December!

We had a fantastic weekend with Ace's first birthday party, a laid-back Sunday morning, and an exciting Packers' win. I'll do my best to get you the birthday update from the invitation to the decoration and cake-consumption. I also hope to show you the party in two steps, the first being what went well and the second being goodness, what didn't!

But for today, we're back at the salon wall. Last week, we started with a blank wall and moved up to this:

Not pretty, remember?

But after these steps, we finally produced this much-needed improvement:

But wait, there's more. Nothing ever works out quite as we hope. Here's what didn't go according to plan:

I'm pretty happy with it, though. I realize that object placement is rather like art; subjective. So you may look at this and think, love it. Or not so much. Totally understand. I think that's what makes the salon wall concept so great---there is enough cohesion to make it sensible and universally interesting, but it is personal enough to keep thieves at bay. Right? Who want's to worry about thievery? Not this gal.

Some highlights. First, the clock, set at the time Ace was born.

Next, the frame that was supposed to contain those latches I found in the basement, but instead contains this cute photo from our most recent family photo shoot.

The Christmas fabric I found at Ikea. That was hard to frame. I hadn't realized how much of a difference one section presented from another, and I want to make a pillow out of it so I couldn't cut from the middle.

The Michael O'Brien painting, painted for me and given Christmas 2005, next to the engagement postcard we received from close family friends in summer 2008.

A printout of Michelle Armas' work next to a printout of a vintage postcard.

Well, my toddler is awake gosh, we have a toddler now. Hope you've enjoyed the update and the how-we-made-this-work.

Have a wonderful Monday morning friends. We're going to enjoy the first stays-on-the-ground snow of the season, head to the library, and play with some birthday toys.

icj,
~j