The North half of the living room

I’m not even gonna show you the other half unless it’s to ask for help. I’m quite happy with this half. The redheaded girl print is “Too Shy” by Rosie Music – www.rosiemusic.etsy.com. The posters on the shelf are, from left to right: a London busline tourist poster for Booxmoor, a page from a 1950’s National Audubon Society calendar and a picture of my sister lying on the grass outside of the Shedd Aquarium. I bought the fancy frame from Goodwill – which is where I also found the green table lamp – and spray painted it a matte silver. I got to use my handy dandy new staple gun to affix the (delicious, taupe, grosgrain) ribbon. The other frames were reclaimed from other gifts and/or projects. I sprayed the one silver and left the other black but sprayed the matt silver because it had been black and white polka-dot.

We LOVE our huge window and can’t wait to get new blinds and curtains. I’m thinking just long drapes for decoration, nothing to block any of the light. The quilt on the couch is not home-made, it’s from Wal-Mart from a long time ago. Sorry…I don’t shop there anymore. The branch, complete with authentic moss, is from my parents’ woods. Henry was kind enough to strap it to the top of our Volvo and drive it home for me where I fought it up the stairwell and tied it with twine to hooks screwed in the ceiling all by myself. It wasn’t that heavy, just unweildy. Funnily enough, no one stirred outside their door to ask me what in the world I was doing with that branch. Or for that matter, to be poked in the eye or mangled by a surprise branch in their face.  It was so worth all the work, though. It makes us feel like we’re sitting under a tree.

I got the idea from a store in Millford, where we also got our huge cage. For two or three days after we put them in their new home, Merry and Pippin stayed at the bottom, not quite sure what to do with themselves. They have since had Harry (short for Harry Potter, The Chosen One because he’s the only one of their offspring who hatched AND lived) who is a real bird now. Three weeks from start to finish – it was crazy. They have laid 4 more eggs as of this morning, so we’re trying it again folks. The teacups I’m using for water and food dishes are from a local antique store: Off The Beaten Path (Henry calls it The Back 40). The white one is a real antique, I’m told. The finches don’t care. As soon as there is  water in the white teacup, they take a fluttery bath, soaking the window and floor all the way around their cage. If you’re a neat freak, don’t get finches, I’m telling you.

OK. I’m done for today, I think.

Jenn