moving art…

The kitchen reno is 100% finished and 200% awesome!  For the past nine weeks we have been living in relative chaos with art taken down and moved into carpenter’s dust-free environments.  Although there is still some reno going on elsewhere in the house I am in the process of moving and rehanging art, partially to avoid completely unpacking the kitchen!  Every time I think the clutter and chaos is done I turn and find it has relocated to another room.

My husband chose to repaint the hall this week because it looked so dowdy next to the new kitchen. So all the art work came down and then went back up.

This kaleidoscope has hung at the end of our front hall for at least ten years. Several times I have scratched my head in wonder as to why this would be the first thing people would see walking into our house? Granted the colors are beautiful. It was constructed from splatter painted cotton dinner napkins and table runner I bought in Hawaii. One day long ago I had the epiphany that if I made a quilt from these beautiful fabrics I could see them everyday as opposed to sitting in the linen closet waiting for a special occasion.  So I made this quilt, one of the last of the traditional quilts I ever made; and little wonder seeing as how I don’t sew straight! Yet I kept asking myself was this piece with someone else’s design was holding the place of honor in an artist’s home entry?

Meanwhile I was looking for a new home for this wonderful abstract piece made primarily of vintage Japanese kimono remnants.  I had designed it specifically to cover the back of our microwave in the old kitchen. The micro was mounted above the stove in a cabinet. We killed the cabinet with the remodel and moved the new micro to different wall. So I was left with this wonderful piece that had no home.

Last night it hit me that I could move this piece, that more reflects my work and style, to the front entry hall . Hubs made nary a groan when I suggested we put two new holes in the wall to accommodate a different width piece.  So we hung it there and it looked sterling. Of course as soon as it was hung I thought it was too low! So wise woman that I am (something one learns in long marriages) I waited until hubs was out of the house today and then moved it higher. He will never notice!

Which brings me back to the lovely kaleidoscope piece. There was just the right size spot for it in my office/guest room. And it looks fabulous there!