True Story: I decorated my house around my family photos

It’s all Tiffany Farley’s fault, really.

At least that’s what we say when we are on the 47th gallon of paint and are reminding ourselves why we are doing this.

But really. I redecorated my house to accommodate the family wall that I had envisioned since we moved in. In 2006. I know. It’s awful I waited so long.

Our first apartment was ALL white and we weren’t allowed to paint the walls, so I had associated white walls with restricted apartment living and I automatically cringed when I thought about it having white walls again.

At 22 years old, we purchased our first actual house and spent the next 7 years making it our home.  We painstakingly hand painted everything we could from trendy faux finishes to custom murals for Harmony’s nursery.  Making everything so NOT WHITE. We gutted and replaced the kitchen, we gutted and replaced the bathroom, moved walls, landscaped the yard, built a back porch, everything. It was totally our home. It’s funny how tastes and styles change, because looking at these pictures now, I chuckle. A purple couch? Really? This is what happens when you are 22 years old picking out furniture. lol

It was the home where we became a family. Where my daughter took her first steps, when we put our blood, sweat and tears making this “house” into our home. I cried when we sold it. But we knew it was time to move on and eventually our new house, would also, someday, feel like our home.

 

Our first house. 

So building a new house, from scratch, was daunting. And the thought of going back to white walls made me want to hurl. So before we moved in, we hired painters to paint every single room in the new house. I was overwhelmed with decisions and had to pick them ALL at once and it was just too much. I shouted out “BEIGE” because that is all I thought “neutral” was at the time, and since we had a really open floor plan, it had to flow from one room to the next. I figured I could change it out at any time when we were more settled in. So the painters moved at lightning speed, and started painting every square inch beige until someone convinced me to add a “splash” of color.

The left picture below what the house looked like when we first moved in. We proceeded to paint it ALL beige except for the “splash” of toasted nutmeg here and there.

See. THIS wall (below, left) was going to be our “Family wall”. It was supposed to have a fireplace smack in the middle. And two windows on either side of it. But as you round the corner of the foyer and into the kitchen/dining/family room combo, I didn’t want to stare at a fireplace wall with windows looking into my neighbor’s house. I wanted to look at my Family Wall.

It’s a large wall – almost 15 feet wide. So hanging anything on it looked super tiny. We painted it toasted nutmeg, threw a (large – 3 foot by 5 foot) tapestry on it (and whatever those other things are – I don’t even know – yikes) and went about our life. Until one day we would make it our Family Wall.

Fast forward 6 years (and + 1 new child into the family) later, and there that wall sat. In all of it’s BURGUNDY glory.

 

We had made time over the past 6 years to build a large deck, landscape THIS yard, move walls, add doors, remodel the living room/play room to make a studio, and then some. But sadly, we never did make time for the Family Wall.

Finally, we had an opportunity to be photographed by my dear friend and talented photographer Tiffany Farley. I longed for a series of black & white canvases and I knew that those black & white canvases would NOT be living on that BURGUNDY wall. And of course, after seeing the beautiful photographs she took, I wouldn’t be doing them any justice but slapping them up on that wall as is.

 
So when the canvases came in, we painted. And painted, and painted some more. Suddenly, the freshly painted beautiful shade of restoration hardware grey, didn’t match the beige kitchen. So we painted that. And then once the kitchen was painted grey, the cabinets looked so…. BROWN. And so we painted those too. And then, we never did put knobs on the cabinets, so we did THAT as well. And THEN no new kitchen would be complete without a new stained glass backsplash, or a new faucet to replace the construction grade one it came with, so we did THAT too. You get the idea.

 

And so – for the last year, we have been slowly remodeling just about the entire first floor just to showcase the Family Wall.

 

 

After

 

 

I am a huge fan of displaying family photographs in the home. To get the images out of the computer and into the hands (and walls) in a tangible way. I talk to my clients about this all the time and I urge them to show off their family portraits. And I was such a hypocrite, because I had not done the same for my own family. For years and years, everything else came first.

 

Above is a series of 30″ x 30 ” canvases. They are rather large up close, and it definitely took some getting used to, but they fit so perfectly onto that large wall. There is still so much we’d like to do to our “house” and it will be never ending –  because really, we are DIYers at heart. Thank you again, dear Tiffany, for the wonderful gift you have given my own family.

 

Because now, it finally feels like home.

 

(Especially with the giant tower of lego drawers next to the couch. :-/ ) Yes. It is home. 

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East Coast Fine Art Lifestyle Family Portrait Photographer Angelsea Urban 

Angelsea Urban is a photographer and entrepreneur helping women use their creative gifts to nourish their homes and cultivate their businesses through practical stewardship. Her  photography work focuses on Redefining the Family Portrait Experience by telling the story of each family through personalized foundations while intimately creating a space to strengthen family bonds. Angelsea has helped the careers of photographers, restaurateurs, musicians and general small business owners. Her ministry work focuses on fostering creative gifts in women entrepreneurs to prioritize family and discipleship. She has photographed for families, brides, Bravo TV, NFL Films, and more and has been featured on multiple blogs and magazine print for her work in photography and in business. Angelsea teaches in various engagements across the United States, and resides with her husband of 17 years, their two children, and their barely 3 pound Yorkie, near Long Beach Island, New Jersey.  

To book your session with Angelsea Urban, please visit www.angelseaurban.com

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