His & Hers ...

In August, we'll have been in this house four years. It's taken that long to get some rooms, walls & furniture fully figured out. I am happy to say lots of progress has been made just in the last few weeks. Mine & Kyle's room has been low on the totem pole, but since the door is across from the main bathroom I finally decided it was time for its makeover. I painted our bedroom a year ago, but hadn't decided on what to put up on the walls.

When we did the construction in the basement, the painting I had done of the peony made its way upstairs [like everything else] & landed in our bedroom. I decided I liked it in there, I just needed to change the background color. Then, I got us an "R" & "K", but wasn't sure what to do with them [paint? cover with paper?] or how to hang them. Everything just sat on my dresser or end table for MONTHS. I was so proud of myself last week when I finally bit the bullet & got at least my side up on the wall. Not knowing what "Kyle's artwork" was going to be above his "K", I left his side alone. But my side was complete. I even thought I spaced it all knowing that eventually I wanted to get bigger / taller lamps. I've wanted new lamps FOREVER.

Wouldn't you know that 2 days later I finally found lamps that I liked. And. Well. The painting & "R" was not exactly where I would have put them had I gotten the lamps 1st. The shade kind of covers up part of the letter. But. Whatever. I'm still just happy I finally got them up on the wall. I'm not sure what we'll wind up putting in the lamps, if anything [they are jars]. I'm [obviously] not in that big of a rush. I might have it figured out in another few years. ;)

Next on the agenda was figuring out what "Kyle's artwork" would be. He is not artsy. Where he lacks, I more than make up for it. :) So it was kind of challenge coming up with something that was "him". I got to scratch off yet another "to-do", however, by coming up with a way to use one of his old flight maps. I had always wanted to do something with the flight maps from the places that had significance to us. I got out the one of the midwest & traced a big heart encompassing Kansas City [where he's from & where we live now], St. Louis [where I'm from], Columbia [where we went to college & met], & St. Joseph [where he is in the MO Air National Guard]. I cut out the heart, then traced it on to a painted 12x16 canvas. I painted the outline of the heart a little larger so that it would 'frame' the map. Then I took antiquing glaze & did a brush / blotting with paper towel thing to give the background a little more interest. Finally, I got out the mod podge to glue & seal the map onto the canvas.

Honestly. It is hard to knock Kyle's socks off, artistically speaking. But I surprised him by hanging it all up on his side [with his K] while he was on a trip. He had seen the big robin egg blue heart on the canvas & had his [serious!] doubts about what it was I was doing. For HIS SIDE. That involved a heart. :) HA! But despite his skepticism ... he truly hearts the heart. He even used the word "awesome". [I think it's what made him okay with the cost of the new lamps.] :)

P.S. Thanks Lindsay for showing me how to hang the letters! :) Brilliant. And TOO FUNNY. Look at my comment under your blog post. Apparently, I have you to thank for the nudge to complete our makeover, too!