Golden Girls rock

I have this sort of high-minded belief that you shouldn't buy art to fit a particular space or because the color-theme matches your couch. It seems like if you only obtain things you love, they all seem to work together somehow. However, I've amended this creed somewhat and have come to realize that sometimes the perfect piece for a room can make the entire room a work of art. 

This is my bathroom: 

Note the pink tile. It's not 50's bubblegum pink. It's more of an 80's mauve. The walls were previously a pinkish beige, which was fine with the previous owner's decor, but didn't really suit us.  When it came time to paint, let me tell you, we struggled to find a paint color that we liked with the mauve that didn't make it look like it belonged on the set of Golden Girls (click on the link to see a blogger who was totally inspired by the idea of modernizing the Golden Girls' style). Come to think of it, their couch was about the same color as these tiles. 

Then, I found these:

and inspiration struck. I would do a painting of river rocks for the bathroom, bringing in the pinkish color of the tile and paint the walls a beautiful river rock greenish grey! Perfect. So and painted the walls greenish grey, and I painted this:

And it sold before I even got to try it out in my own home! Not that I'm complaining at all. It sold to Energen, Birmingham's Natural Gas corporation, for their collection of Alabama artists.  I've painted a couple of smaller ones, too, but none have made it to their pre-conceived spot. Again, not complaining! So, I started a new one. I gave you a sneak preview of it here. Here it is now:

Stay tuned for more progress. 

The moral of this story? Inspiration can come from anywhere. Even pink tiles.

How about all of you out there in computer land. Ever been inspired by anything totally weird and random (a la doorknobs and faucets)? Tell me about it! Send me pictures and let me know if you would like me to share them on this blog. 

...and the art of life

I live in an older house. Not so much older in the "charming details" sense, but older in the "this house has had several owners and every one of them has done things differently," sense. We're slowly (very slowly) but surely adding touches and changing things to make it our own. It's amazing how satisfying the tiniest changes can be! So since this blog is not only about "A Life of Art," but also, "The Art of Life," I've decided to share a few little glimpses into our home. 

Perhaps my favorite, shall we say quirk, about our house was the florescent office light on the bedroom ceiling. 

Forgive the awkwardness of this photo. I took this before we even bought the house and way before I had this blog. What you can't see in the photo is that there is another, regular light fixture about 10" away from this one. Kinda random, huh? So, we took the florescent light down and this is what we found-

                                                                       

Popcorn ceiling under that one strip of the ceiling. Wild! I'm sorry to admit we actually went to sleep staring at this view for the better part of a year thinking that removing the popcorn was going to be a HUGE deal. Luckily, we were wrong! All it took was a spray bottle of vinegar and warm water, some plastic sheeting to protect the floor, and a rag. Seriously! It's messy, but easy. I hear it's not always this easy to remove popcorn (sometimes called acoustic) ceilings, so we really lucked out. My father-in-law came to help us with some home improvement projects and at the end of a couple of days we had this:

A fresh paint job, new light fixture and a beautifully smooth ceiling. You can't even tell there was ever popcorn there. It makes me happy every time I go into our room. I swear I even have sweeter dreams. Next step- crown molding!

What have y'all crossed off your to-do list? Any tiny changes that have made a big difference in your state-of-mind?