Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Trading places

This project began during the summer, when I was purging every nook and cranny
of my house. I found my old suitcase, which I had hauled on countless business trips
in my former life. I hated traveling, but I loved my suitcase, though it was 
absurdly heavy even when empty. (My traveling days preceded the invention 
of luggage with wheels.) Anyway, this suitcase was too nice to toss,
so I gave it an update and turned it into an ottoman.

My beloved suitcase finally has wheels.

Making room for the ottoman lead to a rearrangement of the furniture, 
which lead to moving the tv, which lead to a ridiculous number
of other projects involving spackle and paint.

 Now my chair and ottoman and tv were all in the right place,
but I had a mostly naked wall to deal with.


What if I moved my print collection?


 That sort of worked...but I wasn't crazy about the black and white canvas in the middle.
I wanted more color. So I decided to make something that would fit the space.


I started with these images...


 and turned them into these...



 which I then had printed on metal.
Whew. Finally. Naked wall problem solved.


Just around the corner is one I'm calling "Pin the Tail on George,"
because every parlor needs a parlor game.

 







28 comments:

  1. I love it! Great job on everything. It's nice yo change it up sometimes and it looks terrific.

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  2. Love the new art and choice of colors! Makes me think I need to upgrade my wall art. Lisa G in TN

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  3. wow, what a lot of work. love that ottoman idea.. and you can use it for storage to. beautiful idea on the metal printed donkeys.

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  4. Linda, you are soooo talented....what a great idea with the suit case and the pictures of the kids. Looks refreshing...have a blessed day and hug the kids for me.

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  5. are your decorating skills for hire? :-) looks wonderful

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  6. The ottoman is inspired brilliance. The art wall is stunning. (I'm so impressed with your picture hanging skills...I just hung a 'layout' of sconces...it's not easy.) You have MAD skills in so many areas!!! Ever thought of running for President? I may just write you in this year.... :)

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  7. Cheery! Nice job. Your ex-suitcase is a Hartmann -- I lugged one of those around for too long too; felt like it was full of cannonballs, even empty. A stool is a very good role for one.

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  8. Nice! Love them both! (Pictures and ottoman)

    Sydney NE Okla.

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  9. Well, aren't you the crafty Miss!? Love the ottoman and the prints and how they are arranged.

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  10. It's always such a good feeling to change things up. Great job on all of the different parts of the re-do. Dun good

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  11. Wow. This looks great! Clever use of a nice piece of luggage.

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  12. How did you change the photos into the colored pictures and where did you get them printed on metal. I love this idea and would like to do this with my son's dogs as a gift. One of the dogs has passed on and the other is his new puppy.

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    1. I used a combination of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to create the illustrations, then uploaded them to pictureitoncanvas.com for the printing on metal. If you sign up for pictureitoncanvas's emails, they're always offering huge discounts - like 75% off.

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    2. Thank you!

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  13. I'd never pay attention to what was on TV if I could decorate like that. Then again, maybe I need to decorate. There isn't anything good on anymore anyways. Lovely job.

    Emily in NC

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  14. Northern AB gal11/2/16, 2:03 PM

    You have been busy, company coming?? The re-purposed luggage is sheer genius, love it!

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  15. i agree - sheer genius. looks great

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  16. Awesome repurpose of the suitcase! And, you know I love your herd, in whatever form they take.

    I've been off the blogging circuit for a while. I'm back and am officially Following you, so I can hear all the lastest from the ranch.

    Carolynn (Tin Rooster Farm)

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  17. Love the metal prints! Perfect for that wall. The ottoman is lovely and very nicely done. Great repurpose! George, LOL!

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  18. Love it all! Isn't it funny (or not) how one thing leads to another? I decided I wanted last year's Christmas tree in a different location than the usual, in which ensued a three-day chaotic & hideously messy re-design of the layout of my living room, dining room, and 1 bedroom. I was so traumatized by the whole thing, after Christmas when the tree was taken down, I left everything as is. The feng shui of my place has been totally off all year, but I just couldn't bring myself to move everything (including wall pictures) yet again.

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  19. Love all the color and photos! Beautiful!
    I didn't know the ottoman was a suitcase in its former life...very cool. I did notice the initials ;-)

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  20. Wow, everyone else has already said it, but you amaze me with your ideas and creative pursuits! Everything looks fantastic! Your next guests are luck dogs!! :-)

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  21. Hahaha, Jane! :-)
    And I meant, of course, *lucky* dogs
    lol

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  22. An American in Tokyo11/3/16, 5:51 PM

    I love everything!!
    You are so creative!!

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