decor: above the table

For a long time, the wall behind our dining room table had been blank because I couldn't find any one piece of art that was big enough to fill the space. I thought maybe I'd run across one of those old pull-down maps of the United States or the world from schools, which would be the perfect size. No map has been found, however. (Except for the one that my parents have hanging up in their basement, but don't even bother asking to have it, guys. I've tried. They won't give it up.)

So a few months ago, I got out my Rubbermaid bins of miscellaneous smaller art and frames, and I started brainstorming what would go together. Then I got out a hammer and nails and got to work.

And I wasn't completely happy with it at first, but I lived with it for a couple of months to see if it would grow on me. And it eventually dawned on me that everything was hanging about six inches too high. So I recently got out the hammer and nails again (and some spackling to fill the old holes), and I moved the whole shebang down about half a foot. Much better. I'm really happy with how the collage turned out.

Here it is a little closer:

The pink birds in cages on the lower right and the tree trunks on the far left are wallpaper samples from Anthropologie. 

The mirror was cheap at an auction. Here's how I found it:

And here's how it looks after a couple of coats of white paint:

I bought the bird painting for Tony as a wedding present. It's from the Art League's gallery at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town.

I thought Tony and I could make a tradition out of it and every year for our anniversary, instead of buying gifts for each other, we could buy a piece of grown-up art for the house. Our first anniversary coincided with moving into our house, so we were overwhelmed, and it didn't pan out the first year. And then the second year, things kind of got away from us. So maybe we can finally get that tradition started this year...

Anyway, I'm really happy with how the art turned out above the dining room table. Here's how that part of the dining room looks now with the white dresser and typewriter: