Design with Meaning - Part 1

My cousin and I have been talking recently about how our generation (30 somethings) is a "throw away" generation. We don't buy to keep. We buy to have right now. Our homes are all looking the same. Everyone has the same "stuff" that we got at the same store that we saw on the same internet site. Hand-me-downs from our parents and keepsakes from our grandparents are tossed aside. We would rather sell them and make a few bucks then freshen them up and make them work for our homes.

This is sad.

When Husband and I moved, I made sure our home was "us".  It said something about us. It spoke to us. It felt good to work in, play in, cook in and relax in. It felt like us. I designed with meaning.

One of my biggest goals was to make sure Husband liked the decor in our bedroom.  It's his space as much as it is mine and the poor man does not need to be draped in flowers every night (well, neither do I to be honest). So, I made sure our bedroom was masculine enough for him with just the right amount of feminnity to make it sing.  I made this happen by choosing to hang important pieces on our walls. Wanna see?

Wedding Wall
We had the most fabulous Holly Wilmeth as our photographer for our wedding.  She doesn't do a lot of weddings and I loved that about her because our pictures don't look like traditional wedding photographs.  We took some of her photos and mixed them with our framed wedding invitation (great wedding gift!) and some fabulous hand painted sketches of me in my bridal ensemble done by my dear friend and super fab veil designer, Francesca Bianco. She worked for many years as Saks Fifth Avenue's veil designer and designed Vera Wang's veil. The best part about her though, is her. She has fabulous stories from her life, is a gourmet baker and sends notes with rosemary sealed in the envelope. I want to hug her right now just thinking about her. We took her sketches and had them framed at The Studio in Phoenix, AZ. They always do a perfect job and they're quite fun to work with too! Take a look.

Wall O' Wedding

Collection of coordinating frame

My favorite wedding photo:
The back of us listening to Dad's toast

Another favorite

Hand painted wedding sketch by Francesca Bianco

Our Other Walls

My folk's gave us this fabulous mirror that hung in their home for years. It's an antique. I had it refinished to fit our motif.  It's a lovely reminder of home and quite useful when I'm picking earrings in the morning!

Antique mirror - refinished from my parent's home

Isn't the detail superb?

Husband gave me these for Valentine's Day three years ago. They are first edition pages by architect, Owen Jones from his book, The Grammar of Ornament. They are fabulous ornamental and design motifs the architect found on his travels and through his studies.  Husband picked one out that reminded him of himself and one that reminded him of me. He's so romantic. I had them framed by The Studio of course!

So happy together

His 

Hers

On each side of our bed, I hung something that means something special to each of us indivdualy.

Old family photos: Mora, New Mexico

Rose by Leonard Bianco
A wedding gift I treasure
given to us by friends I treasure

And lastly, as you walk to our bedroom, in the hallway, you see this.  My father sung the Irish Blessing at our wedding. He sung his own rendition of it and had it written out for us as a wedding gift.  It is one of my fondest memories of my wedding. He even got through it without a tear! Nice going, Dad.

The Irish Blessing by Dad

Love the Irish flair!