As of Monday, John and I have been married for seven years. Or a hand and two fingers, as Clara likes to joke (“what’s seven?… A HAND AND TWO FINGERS!” *maniacal laughter*).
As you can imagine, when you get married on 7/7/07, your seventh anniversary feels like a special one. The golden birthday of anniversaries, if you will. We went to Hawaii for our fifth anniversary, and have always thought we’d end up going somewhere awesome for our seventh (Australia is the ultimate dream – maybe for our tenth – but for lucky seven we were thinking about somewhere in the Caribbean). But as this summer approached we realized the last thing we wanted to do was load everyone up on an airplane. We’re definitely still adjusting to life with two kids, so we decided to save some of our trip money for next year when we’ll hopefully feel more settled/brave/wanderlusty, and we bought a painting with the rest of it.
At $850 it was a HUGE splurge for us, but we figured getting a painting that we both loved (of the beach no less) as an anniversary gift to ourselves was sort of a nod to taking a vacation without loading up the pack & play and pacing the aisle of the plane waiting for someone to fall asleep. And we hope to have it forever. Heck, maybe it’ll hang on the walls of Clara’s house someday.
It’s a 30 x 30″ painting by Teil Duncan, whom we’ve been giant geeky fans of for a while. We resisted our initial instinct to get a smaller (less expensive) print, and decided that our first large original painting would be the best seventh anniversary present we could think of. And when it arrived, it was even more glorious in person than it was online. We had it up on the wall in about five minutes. Really, these photos can’t capture half the magic of an in-person stare-session.
It looks great next to our blue front door, and it’s one of those scenes that you can look at for hours.
As for what wall color you see on the wall behind it, it’s our favorite neutral paint color: Edgecomb Gray by Benjamin Moore.
Every time I walk by our new painting I notice something else. We even caught Clara admiring it (“I like that pink chair! We need a pink beach chair!”) and Teddy’s eyes catch it over my shoulder when I carry him up the stairs sometimes. Burger hasn’t shown any interest yet, but there’s still time…
The funny thing about hanging it in our foyer is that we realized we have two other paintings in there too.
Remember these smaller ones by our friend Lesli? They all have those soft blues and bright whites that make them feel related, but not too matchy. And they’re all of things we love: the beach, John’s Granny’s house, and Burgdorf Goodman himself.
You might remember that we originally hung our Samantha French print in the hall next to the door, so we carried that into the office and held it up over the desk. We actually tried our anniversary painting there first, but ended up liking it better in the hall, so that switch was pretty simple to make. It’s nice to have some art on that wall of the office too.
While hanging that over the desk, we realized we have a few more small paintings on the shelves in there (one of our last house, one of a pear that I found for $4 at an estate sale, one of two bees from Etsy). We always hoped to slowly amass some “real” art, so it’s nice to realize that over time you can inch up the ol’ collection, both with inexpensive finds and a splurge or two, and suddenly you have a hand and two fingers worth of it.
And of course we have all of Clara’s creations on the cork board over her desk. Priceless.
I think no matter how easy you know nail holes are to spackle (so easy! we’ve done it a thousand times!) there’s this instinct in a new house or a freshly painted room to hold off on hanging art for a while. I don’t know what that phenomenon is (Nail Hole Neurosis?) but we definitely aren’t immune. This is a very real issue people. Just kidding, but really, it took us TEN MONTHS to add some nail holes after painting our bedroom!
It’s weird that we hold back on the whole art-hanging thing when we know how much it can take a room from house to home (our bedroom feels 100% more us than it did with blank walls). I’m certainly inspired to get some stuff hung in our upstairs hallway and a few other walls of our bedroom now. What the heck are we waiting for?
And to all of you other 7/7 anniversary peeps, hope it was a happy one!
Lily says
Congrats on 7 beautiful years! and on that spectacular piece of art! :)
x Lily
http://whilemyboyfriendsaway.blogspot.com/
Jess says
Happy Anniversary! I so need to make/buy some artwork for my house and hang it. We’ve been there like 4 years and there ain’t much on the walls. Working full time and studying (again) will do that I guess. Hope you get to come to Australia eventually, it’s a beautiful place. Plus, if you come to the Western half and are having Burger withdrawals I have a couple of little fur babies that love making new people friends. :)
YoungHouseLove says
So sweet! Might need to stop in for a cuddle!
xo
s
Paula says
Happy Anniversary! When I read that Australia was your dream destination, I thought, once your DownUnder readers wake up, you’ll be deluged by a chorus of Giddays! But we must all be catching up on some snoozing – following the World Cup and Le Tour means serious commitment down here coz they’re on overnight.
You’ll have a ball when you do come – there’s so much to do and see for families, the beaches are great, though you’ll need to go north for it to be warm enough to swim in July, the coffee IS the best in the world, and the food’s fab too. Add in koalas, kangaroos, wombats, and possums (ours are cute, if they’re not in your roof), and you’ll love it!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that would be amazing!
xo
s
AJ says
I live in Australia, come and stay with me!!
YoungHouseLove says
Deal! Haha!
xo
s
Danette says
Congratulations!! It doesn’t seem like 7 years ago that you were organising your garden and getting ready for the big day! Time flies. Let us know if you ever do get to Australia, we can give you a tour of the Nation’s Capital (Canberra)!
PS You should do 7 days of celebrating, go with the whole 7 thing…milk it for all it’s worth ;)
YoungHouseLove says
I like the sound of that ;)
xo
s
Jen says
Beautiful choice you guys! I love the idea of buying art for an anniversary!
I curious as to whether or not you guys ended up buying that big picture of Burger from your show home?
YoungHouseLove says
We haven’t yet, but we definitely think about it! Not sure where we’d put him… maybe in the future bunkroom?
xo
s
Sherri says
That painting is gorgeous, and you definitely found the perfect spot for it. So serene and peaceful. I was wondering if that beautiful painting Lesli did of Burger for the Showhouse is something you got to keep? If so, where did you put it? It’s such a stunning work of art and captured Burger so well.
YoungHouseLove says
So funny! Someone else asked that too (right here).
xo
s
Melissa says
7/7/07 is a special day for us too… it’s the day I found out I was pregnant with my daughter! I always thought of it as my “lucky day” after that :)
YoungHouseLove says
So cute!
xo
s
Betsy says
That’s a genius way to spend money. And anytime you run out of blog post ideas, you could just walk around taking pics of your house from a bunch of new angles. We never get tired of looking at fresh rooms, but sometimes you only give us one angle. Inside and out, love house looking!
kim says
I like the painting. But I think you should just buy a beach house, decorate that, and give up this colonial nonsense!! You work at home. You can live anywhere. Go live there instead of buying pictures of it and planning trips too it!!!
YoungHouseLove says
A lot of our family and friends live here, and we love the school system, our neighborhood, and Richmond in general – right along with loving the lack of traffic and the home prices. Sure we could live on the beach and pay more and be further from our family and have tourists/traffic, but I think we’ll stay here ;)
xo
s
Cynthia LaPan says
Dear Happy Anniversary Folks:
Are you still keeping up with your anniversary capiz frames? If so, will you share your newest picture and frame location? I always loved that wall in the bathroom you did in your last house–what a sweet reminder of your relationship. :-)
<3 Happy Seventh!
–Cynthia
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! We just got this year’s photo printed and I have been meaning to get the old frames up on the wall along with our newest one. Will keep you posted :)
xo
s
Shruti says
Happy Anniversay!!!
I am not sure who follows your blog from back here in India. But i have been totally hooked.. i wait for all your posts and finally i have been able to go through each one of them. Its really inspiring, both; your work and your journey with the blog.
I have been planning to write to you but somehow could not manage.. But today after reading the post, i thought this would be the best day to write.
Thanks for inspiring all the way. I hope we would be able to do something with my ever evovling home also.
Shruti
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Shruti!
xo
s
v says
Congrats! Could you share where you got your daughter’s desk and chairs? They look sturdy and comfy. :)
YoungHouseLove says
The chairs are yard sale finds and we actually made the desk from an old door! More on that here.
xo
s
Heather says
I’m currently catching up on your blog sitting in Australia. You guys should definitely come! It’s a beautiful country and I’m sure you would be inspired if you came to visit.
Jannean says
What a wonderful piece of art and a fabulous way to celebrate your seventh anniversary.! This reminds me of the time my husband showed me a beautiful, one of a kind armoire in a furniture store we liked to browse in. He asked me what I thought of it and when I said I loved it he said I could either have that or a piece of jewelry for our 10th anniversary. It now takes center stage in our dining room as a liquor cabinet and ever since has been referred to as the “10th anniversary armoire”.
Celia says
Happy belated anniversary.
Love the painting and it works so well where you hung it.
Another great choice.
So funny about the nail holes.
I am that way too with freshly painted walls!
Sally says
I have a huge fear of putting holes in my walls. I moved into my new home in March, and have yet to hang a thing…even the toilet paper holder is waiting to be put up. I’m on vacation, so I’m hoping to get some things hung up and some gardening done.
I love how the artwork you’ve selected works so well together – it looks so cohesive! Happy anniversary:)
Christine says
Go to Australia!!! It’s ahhh-mazing! I went there in 2006 for a month after grad school, before officially going into the “real world” and it was the trip of a lifetime. I didn’t even scrape the surface despite traveling all over the east coast for a month, but I will never forget what I saw. The views at the Whitsundays, the Great Barrier Reef, all the beaches, the people, and not to mention Sydney was such a fun city. Definitely start saving for that one for your 10th! Your new art could easily be of one of the amazing beaches in Oz :o)
Lauren says
LOVE that painting and all the gorgeous colors in it! Do you guys plan on having it framed? I only ask because the sides of the canvas aren’t painted which makes me think it’s meant to be in a frame. Such a beautiful painting! Happy Anniversary!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, we’d love to!
xo
s
Rosie Rose says
Happy Anniversary,
Never forget that you have so many Aussie friends when you make it to our shores…
Anytime you want to house crash in Melbourne just sing out.
My six year old would flip out to have his special friend Clara (who he has grown up watching) actually appear for real. Although he has only recently stopped asking to visit her as he now understands where America is so we’d totally confuse him all over again.
Btw his all time favourite Clara video is when she gets the Santa balloon one Christmas
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, I love that! You’re so sweet!
xo
s
kari machal designs says
SO SO SO great to see you supporting real artists and not mass produced pieces… that is beautiful! We have a few pieces of original art here, and hope to add to them…. Love Samantha French – she may be next on my list to buy!
Chantal says
Love the painting — it’s perfect for that foyer and with the blue door, it looks like you planned this whole thing, even if you didn’t.
I know this might sound nutty but be sure you check with your homeowners insurer on whether you need a special rider to cover the painting (and any other artwork). Oftentimes, jewelry, art, and firearms aren’t covered the same way as furniture and other home items, so you want to be sure that if anything happens to that lovely piece of art, that you’re covered. And again with the weirdness — if anything happens to the artist and the value of her pieces goes up, be sure you inform your insurer.
YoungHouseLove says
Such a great tip! Thanks Chantal!
xo
s
JenB says
I’m a day late responding, but WOW! What a gorgeous print. I love this artist, too. She was featured in Southern Living(?) a few months ago. Really cool stuff.
Off topic..a wonderful kids’ band called Big Bang Boom will be playing at 11:30am on Saturday at Richmond’s Uptown Alley event. They’re from my town and they’re AWESOME! Clara would love it!
YoungHouseLove says
Love it! Thanks for the tip JenB!
xo
s
Lee Ann says
It is beautiful! You will enjoy that forever! Original artwork is one of the most special additions to a home, I think. I will not hang a piece of art in my house just to “fill” a wall. The art must be special to me. One place I’ve found some great art is the senior art majors’ show each May at a local college. The art is always cheap, and I feel like I’m supporting budding artists. I also look for special art when I travel. Granted, I can’t carry home anything large, but thanks to sidewalk and market artists in Italy and France, I have beautiful little etchings and paintings to fill bookcases and small walls in my home. These are great memories of wonderful times, just as your beach painting will remind you of fun beach times (and maybe the “Virginia is for Lovers” commercial … I still smile every time I see it!)
jeannette says
off topic, a thousand pardons, but your FB page wouldn’t let me post this.
I got turned on to Jocasta Innes by the Gentle Author at Spitalfields Life. I think you all would be electrified by this book of hers, which tells you how to make everything from caned chair seats to fringed borders to repairing broken china and old books and refurbishing $2 furniture, making rugs, children’s toys, pompoms and your own peasant smock. I think she invented faux finishing, or popularized it.
http://www.amazon.com/Paupers-Homemaking-Book-Penguin-Handbooks/dp/0140462244
Her house in London’s east end is the palace of 60s DIY. Here are the Gentle Author’s posts about Innes.
http://spitalfieldslife.com/?s=jocasta+innes
YoungHouseLove says
So cool! Thanks so much for sharing, Jeannette!
xo
s
Chris says
Love the painting, any plans to frame it?
Chris
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, we’d love to! Someone suggested a thin white wood frame, which sounds great!
xo
s
Elise says
I love this idea. We got married in September and honeymooned in St. Thomas. Instead of a “regular” souvenir we bought a watercolor by a local artist that was the same view of the island/water as our balcony. It’s hanging in the hallway by our bedroom now. Every time I walk by it I get all those same happy feelings I felt when we were there. Plus, it’s happy beach colors that brighten up the hallway…and my day! I think I will adopt the art for anniversary tradition! :)
YoungHouseLove says
So sweet!
xo
s
Michelle says
Happy Seventh Anniversary. Love the artwork. As an Aussie reader I really hope you do get to visit us down under for your tenth anniversary!
Michelle
Hilary says
Be sure that you have UV-coated glass on your Samantha French print. With it facing those windows, it could fade and discolor pretty quickly.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Hilary!
xo
s
Cathy Ropiski says
Happy Anniversary Week to you both! I love the colors on your new artwork and it adds a lovely bright welcome to anyone entering by your foyer.
I understand the “new house/I can’t put nails in these walls” thing. I guess I have to live in a home for awhile to get a good feel for where things will go. The time finally comes when it feels right to put up artwork. I have found that placements are more perfect this way than if I put everything up right away just to get it done.
Linda says
For our 7/7 wedding anniversary we moved into a new house. My husband, the ultimate romantic, made my garage door code our anniversary numbers. We just celebrated number 30 together! I love your idea of art as a way to celebrate. Happy number 7 to you both.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! I love that!
xo
s
Julia says
Happy anniversary!
After my husband got me a beautiful piece of art for our first anniversary (and I got him something totally generic and lame that I can’t even remember), we started a tradition of buying a piece of art each year for our anniversary. We’ve done paintings, photographs, sculptures, etc.. We pick it out together and in some way, it is representative of the prior year. We also write up a little something about it – especially the why we picked it – and keep all of those in a little journal. It’s been a really lovely way to build an art collection and it’s great to move through our home and see 15 beautiful things that represent our years together. It may be my favorite of our family traditions :)
YoungHouseLove says
LOVE that, Julia!
xo
s
christine says
I clicked on the link for her work, absolutely lovely. She had a page for upcoming work, and lo and behold, there was a painting of a COW! I’m always looking for a great piece of art that is all about a cow, what can I say? I’m so excited. Happy anniversary and thanks for sharing this beautiful art.
Cathy Franziano says
I like the painting you purchased for your anniversary! Just a question though, you and John are pretty adamant that this home is your forever and ever home, so why have your recent purchases been so transferable? I get that big renos (like the kitchen phase 2 – can’t wait to see what you do!!) cost a lot more than a painting but you have been in the house for over a year. I know that you guys like to live in a space before you make any decisions (which I think is SO smart!) well it’s been a year!! You guys are making me nervous with these recent purchases that you are going to sell and move on because I really really really want to see what you can do to this house! I love colonials!! Have a great weekend guys!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Cathy! I totally get how someone might fear that we’ll move again since we weren’t in our first or second house forever, but this house/neighborhood is for keeps. We’ve wanted to live here ever since we moved to Richmond, so anyone who is predicting that we’ll move soon will be waiting for a few decades ;)
We’ve spent around 3K converting the sunroom (lofting/planking the ceiling instead of keeping it low, laying new tile instead of just painting the concrete floor, etc) and have made built-ins for Teddy’s room, hung crown molding in a few rooms, and invested in a bunch of electrical updates (all things that can’t come with us). Sometimes we just want to paint or hang a picture and other times we’re excited to do more of the heavy stuff (like the new bigger changes to the laundry room that we’re considering/getting quotes for).
We certainly have been planning the bathroom and kitchen renos forever because we want to get them right (the wait isn’t because we’re moving, it’s because we plan to be here a LONG time). We don’t want to rush that and hate those decisions for a few decades afterwards (or get cheap appliances now when we could get an awesome gas range if we waited longer). It took us around two years to begin redoing our first house’s kitchen and a few more years to gut the bathroom there, so that just seems to be our pace for that major no-going-back stuff. We’d rather over-think it than under-think it ;)
And now that I’ve written a novel… maybe this would have been a good subject for a blog post. Haha!
xo
s
Rick S says
Sherry & John,
Happy Aniversary. Your posting reminded me of how my wife and I used our first tax refund to buy a painting. It is a “copy” of Renoir’s Girls picking Flowers. Our front entry is very much like yours and it is in the same place too.
Our library use to let you check out framed art and after checking it out 5 times we decided to buy our own. The original receipt is on the back.
I think Clara needs a pink chair too.
rick
YoungHouseLove says
Love it! What a cool library program!
xo
s
Natalie says
I also got married on 07/07/07 and I too felt like our 7th anniversary was something special! How funny that you wanted to go to Australia for your anniversary, we went there on our honeymoon for a month, it was AMAZING, a must see, definitely want to go back and take my kids but the longest flight of your life, be prepared for lots of aisle walking with your kids! Happy Anniversary to you both. Love the painting, the bright colours are beautiful!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Natalie! Sounds like so much fun (except for the flight).
xo
s
Zoe says
Happy Anniversary!
We just got back from the Dominican Republic, and I was surprised at the number of families with babies staying at the resort. When my daughter was a baby, I was overwhelmed by an overnight trip to Grandma’s! Never mind getting on a plane and leaving the country! But all the families I saw made it look so easy and I was starting to feel guilty that we’d waited so long to start exploring the world with our girl (she’s now 6).
Then we got on the plane to come home, along with 3 of those families, and the babies screamed the entire flight and I thought, “Oh, right. THAT’S why we stayed home for 2 years.”
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man! Clara screamed the whole way back from Hawaii. NIGHTMARE.
xo
s
Susan says
I didn’t realize your anniversary was 7/7/07! My youngest daughter’s birthday is 7/7/07, my oldest daughter’s name is Clara and my parents are John and Sherry! Kind of crazy, huh?
YoungHouseLove says
NO WAY!
xo
s
cathie says
Happy Anniversary! I love love love the painting. I also love the beach! We got my parents and beach original for their wedding 50th anniversary because my family spent many fun times at beaches!
Shauna says
Happy Anniversary! I think a piece of art is a perfect keepsake for the occassion. Love the colours too.
http://everdreamers.blogspot.ca
Julianne says
Really like how cheery your foyer feels. ‘Ocean blue’ is my favourite colour and is always reminiscent of travels to exotic places. Would certainly be handy to have at the front door in the middle of our good ‘ol Canadian snow storms to remind us of warmer places! ;O)
Sheri says
Congratulations on your anniversary! Your painting is pretty!
Gilit says
Happy anniversary and YAY for big art purchases!!! It’s sort of like you’re a real grown up now…. My birthday is 7/7 and I’m REALLY into it and think it’s the best day of the year so even if I didn’t like you, this would mean I would have to suck it up and be your besties anyway. But I do. So it’s a win-win :)
Kierstin says
It’s lovely! And I must say, I’m so glad to see that you’re finally buying “real” art. Happy Anniversary :-)
Sara says
I love Teil Duncan and that picture is awesome!! I have a print but I would LOVE a big canvas like that. Good choice!
Carrie K says
We are fellow 7/7/07-ers!! Going along with your beach theme, we visited my folks in Cali and had a beautiful brunch at a beachside restaurant. It definitely felt different being a “golden” anniversary. :) (And yes, it took us 1 whole year to nail some holes in our master’s freshly painted wall!!)
Ellen says
Wonderful art! Congratulations!
Speaking of art, I was wondering if you were going to hang your Awesome Things (from Funnel Cloud) print again. I haven’t seen it yet. I love quirky type art and when I saw the Awesome poster in your last house, I went to the site and bought one for myself. It is truly awesome!
Thanks so much for all you do!
YoungHouseLove says
You’re so sweet Ellen! We would love to find a spot to hang that again!
xo
s
Amanda says
I love the painting! The thing that caught my eye is the bag hanging on the chair. It appears to be a very light green on my screen.
I think I shared this with you last year, but I am married to John, our anniversary is 7/7/01, and our Clara is 7!!!
We are celebrating our 13th by taking a twenty mile bike ride together! LOL. We have to wait for our sitter to return from vacation before we can go though!
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds awesome! Have so much fun. And you’re right about that bag – it’s so cute!
xo
s
Ms. Weatherbee says
LOVE
Candice - Sydney girl! says
Congrats on your anniversary guys!
Woot! Yes, come to Australa, we’d love to have you visit! Plenty of beach to admire over here, though I’d definitely recommend coming in our summer so you truly appreciate it! Plus interior design really does have a different slant over here (Scandi-influenced, ‘cool’, modern/eclectic), which I think you guys would enjoy…
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds awesome! I would love to run around ringing doorbells and seeing Aussie homes!
xo
s