Alternative Art for Metamorphasis Monday

It's Monday, so it's time for Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.

When hanging art, I like to have a mix of different types, framed prints, art on canvas, mirrors, sculptural pieces, etc, for interest.  Therefore, I'm always on the hunt for unique and inexpensive wall decor.

Last year, I fournd these great solid doors on the street and snagged them:

I turned them, which the addition of legs left over from another project, into benches:

When I was working on the doors, I noticed the latches were still attached and had developed a great patina.  I put them aside for later use, and recently had a brain storm:  they would look great mounted in a shadow box or on canvas.  I actually had a couple of primed canvases on hand, so I gathered supplies and got started:

Since the latches are light weight and had holes, I decided to stitich them in place.  You could also use hot glue.

A few minutes, and a couple of stitches later, voila, art:

The original white of the primed canvas actually worked best for me, but they could always be painted or covered in fabric to coordinate with your decor.  This would also be a great way to display interesting keys, pendants, brooces, and buttons.  Just adjust the canvas size to fit the proportion of the item.

 

Metamorphasis Monday: Midway mantle redo

I blame the Lemoncino for my failure to finish my Metamorphasis Monday project  (sponsored by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch), which was to redo the mantle in our "media" room (I use the term loosely, because media room seems a bit grand to describe a 2nd floor 12 x 14 den that doubles as a guest room, but technically it is where we watch tv and dvds and play video games), which we call the Morrocan room because of it's over the top color scheme and stenciling.

Anyway, I was about halfway through the current project, which is to marblize the mantle and paint the 90s countrystyle mirror above it.

Before:

My inspiration for the mirror paint was this Wisteria beauty below.  In fact, I just received the Wisteria catalog and, between it and the new Lonny, felt I had to go to work styling my own home.

Inspiration mirror:

Mantle after  (not finished...I still need to polyurethane and style.  I also plan to eventually have a mirror installed in the boarded over mantle box):

Detail of mirror:

Anyway, I ways about ready to poly and finish mirror when my partner's brother shows up with Lemoncino and fresh tomatoes and mozzarella for caprese salad.  That all looked so good, I stopped work on the mantle and whipped up some homemade bread and carbonara with homedmade pasta.  For dessert:  blackberries and necatrines with a dollop of the cream cheese icing left over from my ill-fated cupcake experience.  The best part, aside from the food and family, was the chance to enjoy the backyard for the brief period in New Orleans that outdoor living is pleasant.

Inspired: Metamorphis Monday

Today, I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the porch (here)

for my first time participiating in her Metamorphis Monday. I really needed this incintive, because I have guests coming for dinner tomorrow night, and the downstairs is a wreck. This corner in my office/library which is open to my living room (our house is a classic shotgun with all of the downstairs rooms opening to each other with no hallways). this corner invariabley becomes a collection of debris. It's partly because we have so little built in storage; there are no closets downstairs. But mainly it's because I'm a natural slob. I've tried using a coat rack, and that just became a huge dumping ground for coats and hats that hung there for months. I then tried leaving it empty--and you see the result. It just became a place to dump client items and things that i've brought home to work on. Look--a piano bench I need to slipcover for a client. Canvases waiting for the client's bedding so I can do some paintings, and, in a fit of optimism, the vacuum cleaner I brought out two days ago.

So I became inspired for a fresh start. First up, a clean up. I moved the piano bench to my sewing station and the canvases to a more hidden spot. The lap top backpack which I kept in the office for transporting the computer, I moved to an empty spot in a bookcase in the room. Since I never actually use the umbrella, I put it in the closet upstairs. A quick vacuum (seriously, sometimes when I consider the amount of pet hair one dog and two cats can produce in the course of a week, I am amazed they are not bald). Second, I lined the panel of a discarded pantry door with cork to make a long slender inspiration board that is perfectly scaled for the narrow space. I then decided to move a table in the corner (in this house, an empty corner quickly becomes a junk site--if something there, maybe I'll start putting things away when I come home...I can always dream, can't I. It's the perfect spot to drop the messenger bag and paint swatches I use almost daily. A tropical leaf from the yard in a vintage vase, and voila, organized chaos that won't embarrass me if clients and colleagues drop by (I no longer worry about trying to impress friend, relatives, and neighbors--they have already seen my worst and know what to expect if they come by without giving me time to clean.

View Susan's and others' transformations at Between Naps on the Porch 26th Metamorphis Monday (here).