If These Walls Could Talk

We’ve lived in this house for nearly fourteen years. Our family room, where we collectively spend the most time (hence the name) is home to an awesome and comfortable sectional couch, a bookshelf, a mission-style recliner, a chest full of quilts, and the television with all of the accessories that go along with it. We “finished” this room back in 2005, right before D became a Bar Mitzvah.

“Finished” isn’t really the best way to describe it, though. It has felt decidedly unfinished to me for a long time.

It’s the walls.

The wall color is great. We painted it a light taupe a while back.

I see too much of the wall color if you know what I’m saying and I think you do.

There are a few things on the walls:

~ my two book covers (which Jim framed for me: so sweet!!)
~ a gorgeous black and white poster print of Mount St. Helens that I framed back in the day when I did custom framing as a job (triple matted with two openings: fancy!)
~ a custom canvas that I gave to Jim for our 25th anniversary that has names of our kids, the dogs, city names, and other pieces of our story
~ a photo canvas that Momo ordered for me a couple of years ago, with a picture of one of my favorite public sculptures in Chicago, Magdalene

(Sidenote: I still crack up when I think about the phone conversation I had with Momo after I received the canvas in the mail. I thanked her profusely for it and after telling her how much I adored it, she said, “OH MY GOSH, YOU TOOK THE PICTURE.” I knew that, of course. As if I can’t love it on a canvas that my friend was so thoughtful to order for me? Hilarious. I guess you had to be there. Never mind.)

The 25th anniversary canvas is all by itself above the couch on the biggest wall and looks like a little island in the middle of a light taupe ocean.

The wall over the television looks like a gaping hole.

I have solutions. Two years ago I bought a set of different sized frames so I could make a photo collage around that 25th anniversary canvas…and they’ve been sitting in my basement ever since. I also intended to have one of my favorite pictures of the boys enlarged and made into a canvas for over the television…and never did.

I’m getting closer, though. I brought the set of frames up from the basement about a month ago and even took them out of the boxes. The only thing I need to do is decide which pictures I want to put in them, and then order prints. That’s it.

I ordered the canvas for over the television last week. I’m glad I waited because custom canvases are way, way, way cheaper than they used to be. (I think I paid thirty bucks for a 22″ X 22″ canvas.)

It occurred to me that the canvas might be lonely on that wall so I bought a set of three small shelves to hang next to it, and I’ll put more framed pictures on the shelves. Pictures are my favorite.

Planning? Totally my forte. I seem to have a problem with execution in this case.

I’m not sure where in the recesses of my mind I have a task blocker in regards to this project. Perhaps the idea of choosing less than ten pictures from thousands and thousands is secretly-not-so-secretly daunting.

At any rate, I expect to receive the photo canvas of the boys next week. Maybe that will give me the push I need to finish this once and for all.

Maybe.

All I know is, if these walls could talk they would say “OMG WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? JUST DO IT.”

Good thing they don’t. I don’t like the idea of bossy walls.