Photo wall installed, the power of TWO and Burton

I had another busy day today. But thanks to my sister it was easier than it should have been. My sister, who is talented and creative on her own (the photographer) assists me with installs from time to time. She is wonderful and helpful and most importantly, makes every job more fun!

I have this little issue with staying up too late and not getting enough sleep. It is not good for me. I stayed up too late again last night and so when morning came I was dragging. I should have been up early to put together the 10+ frames I needed for today. But I didn't. And so I was running late this morning and put in a distress call to my sister. "Can you come and help me with a small art wall today?" I asked her. She said, "Yes ... when? "Now," I said. And she did.

It wasn't a big job but I needed to be somewhere else in the afternoon and having a second set of hands made that possible and less stressful.

Here is the wall before:

Okay, I know what you are thinking. Why didn't I change the wood wall. I couldn't. Not in this phase of the remodel. The wall extends upwards to the second floor and throughout and it was too large of a project to tackle. We will deal with that another time. I put the same wood in my bedroom when I was a teenager (another story). It is not easy to remove. Ask my mom! 

The wall is just beyond the entry and one of the first things you see when you enter the house. We have just finished remodeling the kitchen and dining area (see the posts about that here and here) and I wanted to bring a little more of the client into the space (make it more personal). So we decided on a family photo wall.

I selected frames last week and came up with a preliminary design of the wall based on the measurements of the space. What I didn't take into account was the light switch right in the middle of the wall (oops). So I had to adjust it a bit. I also decided I wanted a lighter look so I eliminated one of the larger bronze frames.

My sister (my assistant, the talented photographer) will photoshop (restore and resize) the client's photos and then they will be placed in the frames. Here are the frames installed:

Most of the photographs will be changed into black and white. There are a few that will stay 'color' but we are going to mute them so that the overall look is more subtle. 

I want the wall to tell a story, but I don't want it to detract from the incredible view that is just beyond it:

And speaking of views, a friend sent me this tonight ... apparently her cat, Burton, reads my blog! ;)

Smart cat! (How cute is he?!!)