In January, Jason and I repainted and rearranged my bedroom. The top half of the window wall was painted a dark blue accent color meant to be reflected back by the drop mirrors opposite it. Since then, a few things have changed: the drop mirrors are up; there’s a new rainbow string waterfall behind the bed; my grandmother’s scarves and old costume jewelry hangs in the empty spaces from the photos in that post. I went with a very vertical theme and just ran with it. Then plan was always to turn the accent wall into an art wall – to curate a collection of paintings, photographs, drawings, antiques, and hanging sculpture, closely set, to fill the whole space. That will take time, because finding and buying the right art takes time. However, the first few pieces went up this weekend!

Of the seven items currently hanging on the wall, two were gifts, four were pieces I bought myself, and one was an accidental mixup by a shop owner who, when notified, immediately sent the correct piece while also insisting that I keep the first as well. Since it had been my second choice already, I’m happy to have both, and I’m definitely going to tag the shop (as well as the others, when known) below.

Over the weekend, Jason and I scoured thrift stores for frames. Frames can be very expensive, so if I could find fun ones that matched well enough secondhand, I was happy to go that route first. My favorite find was the 8×8 square frame, which matched in color and design as well as being the right size! I did have to find the larger square frames at Michael’s, but at least most I got secondhand.

I have a long list of art on my Gift List page that I send out to family around birthdays and holidays, and I’m on constant lookout for artists whose work I admire. I’m also on the lookout for items like an antique hand mirror, skeleton keys, and other dangling 3D works that I’d enjoy adding to the collection. Right now, the wall looks a little sparse and silly, with the items closely set as the rest of the wall is blank, but to me, this is exactly where I want it to be as it grows.

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Art featured:

• RebelDecorDesign: the two square vintage collage art pieces (A+++ for customer service!)
• Anne-Julie Aubrey at TheNebulousKingdom: the girl walking under the moonlight
• Lea Yunk at episodicDrawing: the large nighttime flower-moon-moth art
• treetalker: black, white, and orange forest with ghostly figure
• illustremayon: two women touching foreheads (and quite possibly my favorite piece!)
• Emma Tabachnick Pottery: I am not 100% sure that this is the store where the air-plant holders came from. It looks like the store I originally put on my wish list, but after my in-laws gifted it to me, I removed it from the list. There are a lot of stores on Etsy that sell similar items, but I’m about 85% sure this is the store I found before, and the one they would have ordered from.