TRANSFORMATION TUESDAY: MY WALL OF GROWTH

This week’s Transformation Tuesday comes from me, a terribly pesky blank wall in my room, and my inability to spend my Spring Break relaxing. I’d like to preface this Transformation with a warning of my clutter problem: I really enjoy cluttering my walls. So if you’re someone that enjoys a blank wall, this transformation might not be for you. I feel more at home when my walls are covered with paintings, pictures, knick-knacks, and whatever I feel I can fill a blank space with.

My inspiration for this wall is A Year of Encounters and Growth. Everything I posted up has a special memory and is connected to a special growth I have had in the past year. This theme really felt perfect to me because this particular wall is right above my bed. What better place to remind myself of where I have been and where I would like to go?

I started with an antique shelf, which belonged to my late grandmother who passed last summer. Her passing was very difficult because she was truly the matriarch of our family and helped raise me. She is a big part of who I am and there are reminders of her all over my house. Today I choose to celebrate her rather than remain upset about her passing. I also grappled with painting this shelf, but I have decided to leave it because it is a beautiful shelf the way it is and it holds a lot of memories. I have to force myself to be content with certain pieces of furniture. Sometimes change is not the answer, and in this case I’ve come to the realization that it certainly is not. I hung the shelf, which I had to do off to the side in order to make sure it was hanging on two studs. This was not part of my plan, but I actually really like how it turned out. Another lesson: sometimes veering off the path produces beautiful results. My other plan for this wall was to make sure I can hang pictures from some traveling that I have done. While traveling was a great experience, it was the cornerstone of a lot of growth I had this year. I learned more about myself and the way I interact with the world around me than I ever thought I would. If you haven’t experienced yourself as a traveler and have the opportunity to do so, it is a wonderful experience that I believe everyone benefits from. I placed an antique brush of my grandma’s on this shelf along with a photo from my boyfriend, a plant (keeping up withgrowth), a candle holder from traveling, and a gift from my father.

From the antique shelf I took two frames that I found at Goodwill to frame two birds that were also my grandmothers. As you can see in my picture one was already on my wall. But I had further plans. I used a staple gun to staple three strings of yarn between the frames, and I made them tight because once pictures would hang on them, they would pull down a bit. I had to hang the frames off center a bit in order for them to look centered from the yarn pulling in between them.

It was then time to hang the pictures. I used a pack of 50 mini clothespins that I bought at Michael’s for less than $3.00 to hang the pictures. I ended up scratching one of the yarn strings because it looked too cluttery even for my taste. I then took a drawing that hung in my grandma’s house for years and hung it in that empty spot between the shelf and the crazy looking painting. My end result looked like this:

I included some Alice in Wonderland postcards in my picture cluster with quotes such as "I can't go back to yesterday -- Because I was a different person then" to further tie in my theme of growth.

I’ve been waiting to decorate this wall for quite some time, and now that I finally have, it is apparent that I was just waiting for the right inspiration. Now I have a wall full of memories and reminders of growth, strength, and happiness whenever I walk into my room. I recommend this technique to anyone that’s looking to transform your room! Find an inspiration in your life. And a big thing I learned in this process is that I shouldn't change furniture that doesn’t need to be changed! I love the refurbishing techniques that Pinterest has to offer, but I have also learned when to leave something alone. If I had touched this shelf, I would have been messing with a perfectly good memory. That’s just unnecessary. Until the next Transformation Tuesday, I hope all of your transformations go smoothly with wonderful results.