New years resolution...unblank the walls

I made the pretty standard resolutions this year...eat healthier, exercise, spend more time with family, yada yada yada. I also stuck a fun one in there, and I'm expecting my bloggy friends to hold me to it. My big resolution is to spruce up a blank space in my home EVERY week this year.

You see, we have a lot of bare walls/windows/doors in this house. It is a good-sized 50's era contemporary split level, and it has a great open feel about it. When we moved in, it kind of absorbed the decorative stuff that filled our tiny antique cottages and bungalows of cities past. Even though Spartan decor has been easy and requires little dusting, blank spaces bug me. So this year, I'm going to make the time each week to do something to make a space look better. It won't necessarily be innovative, but it will be an improvement.

I started with my studio wall. When I set it up, I didn't put a lot of thought into decorating it. I just threw up some things that are special to me (a baby dress, gifts from sewing friends, a thimble collection, Lou's artwork, collages of Lou by the awesome artist Shelly Pint, and a big bird painting from my childhood room). I always love looking up from my monitor and seeing such happy things, but that foot of space above is just a sea of boringness. I've been wanting to put something cool up there for a long time, but it had to be something that would fit the space.

My sweet sister-in-law Margie and her family visited us over the holidays, and they gave me one of the coolest things possible...DOLL CLOTHES!!! They picked several cases up at an auction, and lots of styles and eras are represented in there. The 50's era full-skirted dresses just blew me away. They are tiny things, some labeled with Ideal tags, and some handmade. I think they were made to fit Little Miss Revlon. I decided to put them on my wall.

For my "clothesline," I nailed rick-rack to the wall. I spaced the nails every two feet (and I cheated and inserted them into the rick-rack before getting on the ladder, so they probably aren't perfectly spaced).

I picked up some tiny clothespins in the woodworking section at Super JoAnn's. I then hung the dresses at the position of the nails. After that, I hung dresses in between. The weight of the dresses made for a bit of a staggered effect.

Above is (almost) the full panoramic view from where I sit. When I need to avert my eyes from cutting layouts and yardage calculations, the beautiful little dresses are a pleasure to view!