Dressing Up Our Living Room Walls

Welcome to What's on Your Wall Wednesday! This fun event is hosted by Barb at http://gritsglamour.blogspot.com/ so be sure to visit her to see what's on her walls and to check out what is on every participant's wall?

Let me begin by showing you what's on our living room's 3 bigger and 2 small walls. This oil painting is hanging above the sofa. It's quite big (36" x 48" unframed) and can you believe that I painted it all by myself? I came home from a trip one day and dh surprised me with a craft cabinet and table and this huge canvas sitting on a huge bamboo easel. Well, I did not want to waste the canvas so I went to work. I went on Google Image to search for a picture that would appeal to me and that would be easy for me to draw, something that would look good above the sofa since the wall was empty at that time. And this is what I came up with.

I have a pair of these hand painted ceramics that are held by strapped brown leather. I found them on Ebay and they are made in England and I really like what's painted on them. I placed them on either side of the sofa, above the end tables.

This is an oil painting of my father's family and my childhood home in the Philippines. I lived there (in the province) with my grandma (my grandpa passed away when I was 5 years old) until I was in 4th grade, while my parents and my other siblings lived in the city. Even after I moved to the city, I would still spend all my summer vacations there. A pastor from Oakland, CA who is originally from our hometown, painted it and gave it to me. I love this painting that is why it is the focal point, placed on top of the fireplace.
Here are photographs of the same house. It has a lot of history behind it. My grandpa had it built in the 1930's and it was used as a Japanese Garrison during the Japanese invasion.

It is a tradition in the Philippines that every Nov. 1st, which is All Saints Day, Filipinos go to the cemetery to light candles on their loved ones tombstones. I often wondered why the maids lit candles in the basement of the house and in the vacant land next to the house. I was told that if they did not do that, they would hear moans coming from the basement. I believe the basement was used by the Japanese to torture and kill people. I would never go down there by myself. For as long as I can remember, candles were always lit on Nov. 1st, maybe that's the reason I never heard such moaning.

The roof of the tower flew during an earthquake in 1991. I was already residing here in US then but my cousin told me that the tile roof came all the way down without a single damage. It was as if someone had taken it off and laid it carefully down on the vacant lot right next to the house. It came from a very high place and for it not to break into pieces is pretty amazing. My cousin also said that neighbors were all watching it fly while praying and hoping it would not land on their houses. My grandma and her children were very religious. We have a life size statue of the Sacred Heart and St. Margaret inside the house that they take out for processions every year. I believe They protected the house and the people during the earthquake.

The tower was built for my aunt who suffered from tuberculosis and passed away before I was even born. My late grandfather believed that the breeze blown freely through the tower would give her the fresh air to help her breath easier. Of course, this was before cure for TB was ever invented.

Today, the house still belongs to our family and we get to go and stay there when we visit.
We have a pair of these oil paintings on wood, framed in handcarved wood scroll and painted in gold. They are hanging on either side of the fireplace.

Here is a close up.
This is the wall across the sofa and I hung an Indonesian mirror, encased inside 2 doors. I added a wooden elephant family above it.
Two smaller walls frame the entry to the living room and on each side, a wooden wall shelf is hanging. Do you see my Scarlett O'Hara dolls wearing 3 different costumes, including the green one made from the drapery? Under each shelf is a cherub and mom plaque.
Here is what's on the other wall. A wall shelf with a Nike sculpture I bought from Athens, a small bunny painting, a vase an ex-co worker gave me before we moved from Florida and other knick knacks.

a close up of the plaques

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our living room wall. Thanks for coming and thank you, Barb,for hosting this wonderful event.