Living Room Artwork

When Andrew and I bought our house the thing I was secretly most excited about was hanging artwork on the walls. So long, shared college dorm room! Adios, apartment living! This was going to be the place we could make ours. I had plans to decorate the walls with all sorts of goodies.

Little did I know we'd spend the first six months of home ownership just trying to get the wallpaper down! Haha! Getting artwork on our walls has been a work in progress, like most of this house. :) 

I feel like we've finally crossed the finish line with the wallpaper removal, painting, spackling, etc. Now on to the fun part...artwork! I'm a big believer that it takes time to make a house a home. I'm not looking to throw just any old artwork on our walls. I want it to have significance for both Andrew and I, and reflect the life we're building together {I don't have high expectations for it at alllll ;)}.

Several months ago Andrew and I popped into a print store in Charlottesville, Virginia. We stumbled across some maps from the 1873 edition of Gray's Atlas. There were dozens of prints from the atlas, but the two we fell in love with are featured below. One depicts a map of present day Oklahoma (labeled 'Indian Territory'!) and the other is a map of the Dakotas. My Dad was born and raised in Oklahoma, and Andrew's Dad hails from North Dakota. These maps reminded us of our dads...two incredible men who have had such an impact on both of our lives. I don't think Andrew and I would be the man and woman we are today had it not been for the fathers we had. We put the maps up in our living room, and every time I glance at them I think of the legacy of love that has been passed down to us. I hope it's a legacy we can pass on to many generations!

{We framed the prints with a rustic barn wood material. Seemed fitting as both of our dads grew up in farming communities! I like the masculine feel it brings to an otherwise pretty fancy feeling room.}