Home Adornment

I've slowly been working on this foreclosure house to make it into a home.  We did a lot of painting in the downstairs this spring and I'm hoping we can do the same in the upstairs living areas this fall.  I'm daunted by the area over the stairs but I think we'll be able to tackle it with the right equipment.  In the meantime, Mother encouraged me to frame one of the prints I bought in St. Petersburg years ago.  This is Bargemen On the Volga by Ilya Repin.  I just loved the picture and the colors.  All the men are so dark, pathetic, dirty and ragged but there is a blonde light colored boy in the center of the composition.  I was just sure there was a story behind the painting but all my research says it is just a bunch of men pulling a barge on the Volga.  Alrighty then!  I have to put a punt in for Joann's because I got the frame on sale with a coupon and then got the custom matte with a coupon.  You can get coupon mailers or have coupons sent directly to your Smartphone.  Between using those and waiting for sales, you can do a lot at Joann's!

This is the deco in the downstairs bathroom that I painted this spring.  I got this $80 shelf for $20 after it went on clearance and I used a 20% off coupon at Joann's.  This hangs over the toilet.  I had a French savon metal sign that I hung up on one wall and then put all my Frenchy souvenir nic nacs on the shelf so now I have an official French powder room!  Here it is decked out for Halloween.

I shouldn't call this an adornment but in a way it is.  This is the door frame out to the garage.  We painted the entryway, the hallway and the family room this 'gadget gray' color in the spring and now that we had a finished wall, I could finally hang my mezuzah.  It is a holder for a traditional Jewish prayer and house blessing (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21).  I am Lutheran but if you believe in the Old Testament, you share heritage with Judaism.  I had mezuzah's in my old apartment, but I forgot to take them with me.  I literally sat up in bed one night shortly after I'd moved to Minnesota when I realized I'd forgotten them.  Not only were they mezuzahs, but they were souvenirs from trips I'd taken.  I was just sick about it.  I am happy this one will be in place for years to come.  I have another beautiful brass one I got in Poland and I'm very excited to hang it next to my front door once we get it painted.  Every room other than bathrooms should have one but I will need to amass a lot more before I can do that.  I really like the idea of remembering a thankful prayer every time I leave the house to get into my car.