A STORY WORTH TELLING...CHAPTER 1

As most of you know by now, I have a passion (okay...obsession) for home decor. I can look at home decor photos, read home decor blogs and books, watch home decor shows, decorate my home, offer advice to others, sell home decor items...and I'm still not over it. I don't exactly know why I love it so much, but I'm beginning to figure it out.

Last weekend I was browsing through some photos of our first home, good memories....and then I started looking around at our furniture and decor elements in our current home, which is a completely different style. Our first home was very traditional, while our current home is more of a transitional/modern/chic. Anyways, what I soon realized is that almost EVERY piece of furniture or accessory in the house has a great story attached to it. What I've discovered, is this just COULD be THE reason I'm so darn OBSESSED! What I'm trying to say is....Your home (and our home) is your book and the treasures in your home are small chapters!

For the next few posts, I'm going to share some of my chapters with you. I would love to hear some of yours too.

Chapter 1- Souvenirs

I've never been interested in buying mugs, snow globes, spoons, t-shirts, etc. while on vacation, because I couldn't figure out what to do with them. They were never quite as impressive as the memories we've made while on our little adventures, not to mention, I had nowhere to put them (meaning, I didn't want them integrated into my decor). So, what I do instead is take a lot of photographs. Not just of us, but photos of landmarks, historical monuments, and things that we know are unique to that particular city, country or place in general. Once we return from vacation, I go through all our vacation photos and select a few to keep in full color, some to make into black and white and once selected, blow them up into a much larger size. Then I mount them in gallery frames with matting and hang them in our house. What we get...are decor accessories, memories, one of a kind artwork and endless stories to tell. Below are a few examples, which hang proudly in our entryway.


Introducing... Manhattan, NY. And the most famous building in this shot is the
Empire State Building. In summer of 2006, we had the opportunity to visit this
gorgeous skyline.



Public Market Center in Seattle, WA. I was lucky enough to end up in Seattle in 2007. This is where all the fish throwing happens! Pike's Place Market is one of the most popular places within the Public Market.



Monterey Canning Company, located in Monterey, CA. In 2008, we drove to Carmel, CA. for our Anniversary and took a detour to Monterey for a little sight seeing.This is the where all the sardines used to get canned, right off the boat! Now, it's a very popular landmark and the address is the same as our Anniversary date...7/11!



Jack's Fish Spot and Crab Pot at the Farmer's Market in Seattle, WA. Also located in the Public Market, they had some very unique sea creatures! This entire area was so full of life and local culture. Everyone was so friendly and having a blast.

And....here are some of those photos displayed in my entryway. I feel so fortunate. Everyday I can reminisce about the amazing places I've captured in these photos....a moment in time, but a beautiful memory. The icing on the cake- it's such a great conversation starter when guests come over. Not to mention, it was an inexpensive decor project!