Last week I (RE) painted the Dining Room Farrow and Ball PINK GROUND

BUT before I do the FULL REVEAL..I have a few adjustments I wanted to make to the room and show you…..

FIRST – the SIDEBOARD MAKEOVER

MY FIRST change was to (RE) paint the aqua sideboard a more neutral color….

…and to FINALLY I completed a DIY “Lithographs”project ,  the makings of which I have had for over a year…and installed it!!!! TA DA!

The framed Bird’s Nest “lithographs” are  from a book …entitled

“America’s Other Audubon” by Joy M. Kiser.

(from Amazon) “America’s Other Audubon chronicles the story of Genevieve Jones, her family, and the making of an extraordinary nineteenth-century book, Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio. At the age of twenty-nine, Genevieve Jones, an amateur naturalist/artist and daughter of a country doctor, visited the 1876 Centennial World’s Fair in Philadelphia, where she saw Audubon’s paintings in “Birds of America” on display. His artwork inspired her to undertake the production of a book illustrating the birds nests and eggs that Audubon neglected to include in his work.” 

The story continues….. her family, at first is reluctant for her to take on a project of such magnitude BUT after a broken engagement and Genevieve’s subsequent depression and despondency …they encouraged and supported her endeavors. Then only a small way into the production of the book…Genevieve died tragically young of typhoid fever. Her family dedicated the rest of their lives to finishing the book and the meticulous illustrations. There is so much more depth to the story than I am going into here… but the book, which was initially bought as a pretty coffee table book...has mesmerized me…the story is so touching and beautiful and the illustrations are each works of art in their own right. The author, Joy Kiser’s story and how she came to find these lithographs in the first place is in itself an incredible story of perseverance and love. What it took to complete this book is beyond our imaginations and such an inspiration to me.

I knew I wanted to frame a few of these lithographs and found some great frames at Target…on sale for under $20 with the mats included.

I invested in the Art hanging hardware a few months ago for installations of my artwork, and have also used them extensively in our home as we have fragile plaster walls and picture rail in every room. I got the hardware at Walker Display

I use these hooks…you can see in this photo the grass cloth wallpaper which has been painted over in the dining room. We tried to remove it when we first moved in and the walls behind were too fragile and decided to leave it alone.

I love how this piece looks now!

 

NEXT MONDAY MAKEOVER – THE NEW DINING ROOM REVEALED!