My Great Great Grandmother was an artist. She penpaled with Liberace and he helped her publish a few hymns. She wrote poetry and lived an artful life.

Her daughter had 13 children and didn't have much time for poetry and hymns. Her home was decorated sparsely and my only memory of Maggie was that she had an orange lava lamp and she liked to pin curl my hair into tiny ringlets all over my head when I was in grade school. I would sit on her hardwood floor staring at the lava lamp watching the beads of wax float up and down in the light mesmerized by the fluidity of molten wax in water while she would work with bobby pins behind my head to created a 1920's masterpiece. I loved my ringlets and wished I really did look like Shirley Temple as she claimed. She was the sweetest lady and always had perfect hair!

Her daughter is my grandmother, who is the queen of crocheted toilet tissue covers. The artistry of hair that my great grandmother inherited from her mother was lost on my own grandmother who seldom shaves her chin, let alone bothers with a bobby pin. She has the tackiest home ever- surrounded by dancing Elvis dolls, crocheted toilet tissue covers, oil fountains, a fake fireplace that makes crackle sounds, and her multiple furniture throw covers which never coordinate. Her only inspiration in decorating is curtains of which she must have 5 sets per window. She does love a good drapery. My grandmother loves all her things and has a cement goose in her front yard that she excitedly dresses for the season. My mother recently put her little gooses summer frock on. My mother also bought her a light up pink flamingo for her yard last Mothers Day. Perfect!

Its amazing then with this example of decorating that my mother manages to make tacky look wonderful. My mothers home is a mixture of vignettes of all her favorite things. The best one is the wall by her (real) fireplace where she has some vintage Christmas tins hung with her childhood wooden sleigh and my fathers scooter from when he was 3. Anyone that walks in my mothers home inquires about it, and remarks on how lovely such an interesting display made on her wall. In her guest room she has a vintage door plopped up against the wall with a display of old hats and purses. And in her bathroom she has a hodge podge of vintage tins and dried flowers that look like they were snagged straight out of a country magazine. She buys nothing to make these things, its all stuff she finds places, and things other people might have cast away.

So why is it that I can't create small romantic vignettes? I can compose poetry. My twins would say I can write songs (of course they are 9 months old, I can put two syllables together, to them thats impressive!), and I do believe I can decorate. But, I fail miserably when I try to create the same small eye candy centerpieces my mother does, and things I put together either look forced or sparse.

Here is the little area above my china cabinet in our living room. If anyone has any ideas on how to make it more "full" let me know!