Re-direct

You know how sometimes you get so fixated on one thing, you sort of forget about the big picture? Oh yes, I think they call this "not seeing the forest for the trees." Well, I was running off to see this Chinoiserie console yesterday, when all of a sudden I came into the dining room from the front entryway, and I suddenly saw that accent wall anew. And it became clear that the console, mirror, and stools plan was not going to work. It would just be too busy. What this wall needs is a very large piece of art. As in, this large. (oh, the many uses of kraft paper!)

Preferably something not super colorful, with more of a focus on texture and detail than shape or pattern. Preferably, if money were no object, one of Ghada Amer's incredible embroidered paintings, with the threads hanging from the canvas. Kind of like this:






That last one is done on wallpaper, so there's an idea.

And so I wonder: do I dare improvise some kind of DIY? I know I can get artist canvas cheap at my oh-so-favorite fabric warehouse (and I happen to be heading there later this week in service of the nursery I'm working on), and I could build a frame. Or I could buy some vintage wallpaper panels on ebay and frame them out. And, you know, I'm committed and all, but is it insane to think about embroidering a piece that is approximately 54" x 68"? Yes? Well, I suppose that never stopped me before. And while of course I could never touch the kind of perfection Ms. Amer achieves, I might get some of the textured effect that I am after.

Oh. Just to wrap up loose ends. I did go look at the console, and really, it's a sofa table and therefore too short for a dining room, anyway (22 inches). It would be very cute painted, in someone else's house. The woman who was selling it clears out estates and sells a lot of the salvageable pieces, though, and now we're friendly and she might be a great source of future finds, so all was not lost.

But somehow the dining room accent wall is now further from complete, instead of closer. Don't you just hate that?