We Were Framed…?

When you’re married to a photographer, there is no shortage of beautiful pictures to look at. Unfortunately, most of Adam’s photos are trapped on a computer and a backup drive. At best, they’ve seen the light of day on Facebook or Instagram.

Until! Late Saturday morning, Adam suggested we go for it – choose a handful of our favorite photos, print them out, frame them, and get them up on the walls (he’s a go-getter, this husband of mine). Within a few hours, photos were selected, edited, printed, and framed.

After we started looking around at our wall space, we decided to make a big change to the focal point above our piano. Here’s what we were working with for the last couple years:

Those photos are special – Adam took them on one of his many, many trips up Borah Peak. However, as far as wall space goes in our main living area – those two big photos were taking up much of it. We took them down and started dreaming about the blank space (‘cuz we’ve got a blank wall, baby…and we’ll hang a lot of photos on it… #nailedit #tswift4lyfe).

First of all, if the following image doesn’t make your heart race, I don’t know how to reach you…you’ve crossed over.

Here’s how the whole thing went down. Buckle up.

Oh, the layout. Picking a layout took…so…much…time. Anyone who’s ever attempted a collage wall knows the struggle. I read this Young House Love post about putting together a collage for their little girl’s room and decided on that approach.

Though the “let’s just wing it” in me tried to rear her impatient head, I’m so glad we took the time to lay everything out this way.

Adam pre-drilled holes in our plaster and lathe walls (thanks, 1939) and then placed the screws right through the paper. We tore the paper down and got started.

A tip: Start from the bottom up. When you don’t leave a large amount of space between your frames, you’ll need more wiggle room to get your frames up over the hanger – I figured this out after much cussing and a couple arm cramps.

Without further ado, here are a couple photos of our new happy place:

Sigh. Don’t worry…that square photo in the middle has been adjusted and velcro’ed to the wall <eye twitch>.

We also printed off photos for the hallway.

A photo for Leo’s doorway…

…and a photo for Ivy’s doorway (just so we don’t forget where they’re supposed to go).

I keep stopping to stare at these babies of ours. The kids are cute, too.

-Layne

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The Rundown

Today, we start the drinking early. We buckle up. We look for something good.

Here’s the good we found this week:

Adam: In 2013, I was shooting two Nikon D7000 DSLR’s with huge lenses that I had acquired while working in Afghanistan. The whole setup fit into a backpack that weighed in at close to ten pounds. I would carry this everywhere. And like many event photographers, I was addicted to snapping five to ten pictures per second. And like many photographers, I spent hours upon hours sorting through the mess of pictures to find the good ones. Then I would spend even more time in Photoshop getting the photos to look like I remembered. It was exhausting.

So I turned to a new camera that had just been released called the Fuji X100. I got a used one a few days before we took a two-week vacation in Ireland, and I took only this new camera with me. It weighed in at less than 1 pound, even with an extra battery and memory cards.

After I got back from Ireland, I sold all my Nikon gear and purchased some slightly higher end Fuji equipment and I never looked back. These cameras are wonderful to look at, to hold, and to use. I eventually sold that X100 to fund a lens for my newer camera, but I never forgot how great that first Fuji was and how it formed some amazing first impressions of what digital photography could really be like for me.

So now, today, I pre-ordered the replacement for the X100 – called the X100F. Pretty much the same camera except it has improved features that make my life even easier. I could go on and on and on about it, but if you’ve looked at any of the pictures I’ve taken of my kids, my house, my friends, etc. and liked them, it’s because of how great these Fuji cameras are. Drop me a note if you’d like to give them a try. This little guy will arriving sometime right after Valentine’s Day!

Source: Adorama

Layne: I love hand lettering. I’ve been trying to improve my own for about three years. I generally default to the same old way of shaping my letters. The same tilt. The same spacing. Until! I happened on this amazing Instagram account this week. Introducing: P + H Chalk. Just watch this:

A video posted by P+H Chalk (@pandhchalk) on


Her letters are the prettiest letters. She has all the letters. They’re the greatest letters. You can follow her on Instagram (pandhchalk) and you can check out her shop here. She’s got me inspired to move pens around again.

I also SUPER appreciate our UPS guy. It’s madness (weatherwise) out here and yet, every time he makes a delivery to our house, he leaves treats for the dogs. He’s a part of the good in this world.

Ivy: Ivy just wants to paint this week. We snagged some new watercolors and some new paper and it’s game on! Thank goodness we’ve found another indoor activity to keep her going – I think cabin fever is starting to set in…

Leo: This kid’s got another tooth coming through though he continues to be just about the sweetest boy on the planet (see photo at the top of the post).

Sigh. Onward, friends. We love you.

-Adam & Layne

A DIY Kitchen Makeover

The cold temperatures have effectively put a halt to our progress here but I wanted to share with you my friend Megan’s beautiful DIY Kitchen renovation to help keep the end game in mind! Projects do start! People complete them – and beautifully!

Megan and her husband, Jeff, masterfully combined textures to give Megan what she refers to as  her ‘fancy farm kitchen.”

Here’s where they started:

Their renovation included knocking down the partial dividing wall above the sink, new floors, new countertops, paint, tile, and a few other updates.

Here are a couple sneak peaks of the finished product – for the full tour, after pictures, and an excellent play-by-play, head over to Megan’s blog for the full post at Motherhood and Make-Believe.

That butcher block…swoon.

-Layne