{DIY drawings}

Sorry for the long silence last week. I was in way over my head. I threw two birthday parties for three of my children, my youngest daughter ended up having to get stitches and the upstairs bathroom sprung a leak which led to water all over the entry hall. All is well now and this week I hope to be able to get back to some semblance of normalcy!

Given that I have limited resources when it comes to time and finances, decorating our home has been a slower process than I might have hoped. There are days that I am okay with that and then there are days that I am just not. It is hard to live with incompletion but it is forcing me to be creative!

A few weeks ago, I lost patience with the multitude of empty walls in our entry hall and mustered up the energy after hours to take on a DIY project. I am not one that feels that every wall needs to be filled. I appreciate uncluttered spaces, with clean lines and balance. Sometimes, I think an empty space on a wall can be very refreshing. That said, my stairwell was feeling overly bare and forlorn and needed some love.

Fine artwork, can be extremely costly, and at this point in time it is what we my husband and I like to call NIB (not in budget) so I had to think creatively to fill the space. My project was inspired by a multitude of sources. I have always loved the collection of watercolors and drawings that Suzanne Kasler hung in the stairwell of her previous home. They add interest without overwhelming the passageway. I also was inspired last year when Mrs. Blandings, took on a brilliant DIY Rothko-esque project for her own stairwell. Finally, I saw these drawings, done by a "real" artist in the home Atlanta apartment of designer Phoebe Howard and felt that something similar might might be doable on our own.

I went the the art supply store and bought some fancy paper and pencils and gave them to my husband one night and asked him to draw. I did not want to do them myself, as I knew the perfectionist in me would critique them every time I travelled up and down the stairs.

We ended up with a series of five drawings in the collection. According to "the artist" the one below is a horse and rider.

I purchased the frames from Lyle Teague, a small wholesale frame shop outside of town and then matted and mounted the pictures myself.

All I need now is a colorful Oushak rug to add an unexpected flair to the neutral artwork and furnishings that now fill the space. Unless I can find a way to DIY I am afraid a new rug is NIB for now!

{images 1: suzanne kasler; 2- via mrs blandings; 3- phoebe howard via house beautiful; all others are author's own}