During Doors Open Milwaukee 2016 in mid-September, I visited 15 sites and took nearly 1,000 pictures. I shared a sneak peek in my September highlights post as well as a brief narrative of the two full days over on Niume. Now I’m sharing longer posts covering a few of the sites.
My first longer post highlighted Calvary Cemetery. Today I’m highlighting Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. It’s a little-known fact that the church is designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright has roots in both Wisconsin and Illinois. As such, Wright buildings and tours are promoted heavily in both states. But Annunciation isn’t discussed nearly as often as more iconic Wright buildings, such as Taliesin and the Oak Park home and studio. I had been to the church once as a kid but hadn’t been back since. I don’t ever find myself in that area of town so I’d never even driven by it during my time in Milwaukee. As it is a bit out of the way, I had to allow a big block of time for it during Doors Open, but it was well worth it.
Annunciation gave talks on the hour, spending half an hour talking about the church’s history and the changes in the Greek Orthodox church over the past 60 years or so. Then Doors Open attendees had half an hour to ask questions and explore the church on their own before the next tour began. I knew next to nothing about the architecture and construction of Annunciation or the history of the Greek Orthodox church. Needless to say, the talk was fascinating.
The light fixtures are undeniably one of the coolest aspects of Annunciation. I could have taken dozens of pictures of them.
Frank Lloyd Wright incorporates as many functional building elements as possible into the building’s design. The cross is actually one of the church’s heating / air-conditioning vents.
I took this picture right before leaving the church. It’s one of my favorite shots from the entire weekend.
Today I’m sharing a tour of our entryway. We’re blessed with a generous entryway space in our home. It’s so nice when people come over or we’re getting ready to go somewhere not to be crowded into a tiny space, which happens so often because it seems like there’s never enough room in the entryway. There is definitely enough room in this entryway, which is awesome. In our previous residence, we had a lovely three-season room entryway, which I did decorate. I’ve expanded on those decorations and also added some furniture for this entryway.
The entryway started with the “Clearfield” frame, open white frame, and Monument Square print. We received the “Clearfield” frame as a wedding present and finally have a place to display it where everyone sees it when they enter the house. I made the open white frame right before we moved. We received the frame with a canvas print as a gift that we hadn’t asked for…and never displayed. I removed the canvas, painted the frame white, and strung up the twine. I switch out the items in the frame for different seasons and holidays. The leaves template is available right here.
While were living in Milwaukee, I designed a Milwaukee gallery wall. I still have all of those prints up around the house (and will be sharing them in future room tour posts). But I wanted some prints for the entryway more centered around the new location. The Monument Square print is a reprint of a vintage postcard, and it got me searching for more vintage postcards. (It also led to me finding the lighthouse print for the guest bedroom.) I’ve since hunted down several dozen Wisconsin postcards and again, will be sharing more of them in future posts.
Both of the frames on the console table were gifts. None of the openings are standard so it’s a pain formatting, printing, and cutting images for them. The last time I’d switched out the pictures was when we were showing our Iowa condo (2011). Needless to say, I was way overdue to switch them out again. The frame on the left is black and white prints of our boys and Angel. The frame on the right is pictures of us with our good friends Joe and Melitta.
I mentioned in my kitchen art tour that I split up my glass jars throughout the house. Since we’ve lived here, I’ve added a few new pieces, too. I bought the mini pumpkins for my pumpkin muffins post and am now enjoying them in the living room and kitchen.
The coat closet isn’t very exciting, but it’s very functional. It was in need of a coat of paint so I gave it a fresh coat of my default neutral for this house: Baby Chick by True Value. The previous owners picked the gray and white shades in the room, which we really like and aren’t going to change anytime soon.
Since I had to take out all the shelves and hanging bar, I used the opportunity to rearrange them and bring in my two shoe racks from our previous residence. I also keep some footwear in an upstairs closet and switch out items for different seasons. At some point, I may try to keep more footwear upstairs year round so this closet isn’t quite so full. But for now, this system has worked okay. Jake keeps most of his footwear and outerwear in the mudroom by the back door. When we have a lot of company, I move my coats into the laundry room.
Before we moved, I almost ditched the wooden basket because I had no idea what to do with it. (It was another random gift.) Somehow inspiration struck at the last minute, and I picked up some silk flowers for it. Perfect. I have a tiny “home sweet home” cross-stitch to hang up under the flowers. Of course, I forgot about it before this shoot. #fail There’s always something. You can see my office to the right of the entryway. I still have a couple bigger projects to tackle before I give a full reveal of the office, but I’m so excited to start showing off little bits of recent progress.
I made the canvas art. I switch it out for different seasons and holidays. Currently, I have about nine canvases. I may add a few more this year, but a dozen will be more than sufficient to keep the space fresh and fun. Not surprisingly, the bench cubby is a very popular cat hang out. I’m displaying my two current favorite footwear items, which you can find here and here.
Finally, you can see the living room to the left. I’m going to paint it, and then we’ll get some frames on the walls before I show off the room in full. We have settled on the light green color you can see sampled to the left of the fireplace. I’m so excited to lighten up the space and put up some art.
Sources:
Console table: Target
Bench: Target (shell)
Throw rug: IKEA Doormat: Menards
Monument Square print: AllPosters
“Clearfield” frame: Wedding gift
Seasonal / holiday canvas art: DIY
Seasonal / holiday open frame: DIY
Silk flowers: Michaels
Glassware: Crate and Barrel, Michaels, and World Market. The glass votives were a seasonal item. You can always find Ball jars at Michaels and World Market.
I’ve bought most of my vintage postcards through CardCow. I’ve also picked up a handful of cards from Etsy and eBay sellers. The postcard and large print frames are from Michaels. The other frames in this space were gifts.
I also have home tours of our guest bedroom, kitchen art, and powder room. Check them out if you haven’t already! I’ll continue to share one or two home tours monthly.
The Fall Harvest Festival floral show is taking place at the Mitchell Park Domes through early November 2016. The domes always do a fabulous job putting together their seasonal shows. The current show is no exception.
The Domes reopened the Tropical Dome last month. I have dozens and dozens of pictures of the Tropical Dome, but of course, I couldn’t resist taking a few more.
The waterfall in the Tropical Domes is one of my all-time favorite spots in Milwaukee.
The Fall Harvest Festival show runs through Sunday, November 6. The Mitchell Park Domes are always free on Monday mornings from 9:00 a.m.-noon except major holidays for Milwaukee County residents. Due to the continued limited Domes access, general admission is just $5 until all three domes reopen. Children age 5 and under get in for free.
Did you miss my feature about the Summer on Olympus floral show? Check it out right here.
When you’re trying to step up your photography game, sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. You know that there’s room to improve, but what elements will take your images to the next level? While there’s no limit to the number of ways you can improve your photography, I’ve selected just a few of the most common photography mistakes photographers make and how you can avoid or fix them.
This month, China Lights is right here in the Milwaukee area at the beautiful Boerner Botanical Gardens. The Pabst Theater and Marcus Center have been promoting it for weeks so I’ve been excited about it for quite a while, even though I didn’t really know what to expect. Blown away. The exhibit is expansive, filling a large section of the gardens, and it’s so colorful. The event also includes food, drink, live music, and other special happenings such as parades and cultural demonstrations.
China Lights runs through November 6, from 5:30-10:00 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Milwaukee experienced China Lights record-breaking attendance the second weekend it ran here, which is pretty awesome. It also means you should prepare accordingly, particularly if you visit on a weekend. Purchase your tickets and familiarize yourself with the parking options in advance so you can get into the exhibit as quickly as possible. Visit the official China Lights site for more information. On Milwaukee also has a helpful article about the logistics of the event.
