Wall Art with Meaning

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Published by TJC

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When I made myself vulnerable and showed you a few pieces of art I have in my kitchen and guest bathrooms, I received lots of funny messages. People either love or hate cluttered walls, especially signage as art. Have you seen the Progressive commercials where Dr. Rick helps people not become their parents? The one where he makes the woman throw away the “Live, Laugh, Love” sign cracks me up! “Do we NEED a sign that says this?” Everyone nods yes and he shakes his head no and makes her toss it. Dr. Rick would not approve of my house, because I have signs all over plus a lot of other wall hangings which I consider great art. My style could be described as eclectic, or as some people I know call it – cluttered.

It’s not the style for everyone, but it’s perfect for me. Each of my art pieces speaks to my heart in one way or another. Some remind me of things I love or ideas I believe in, and some simply make me laugh. A few were gifts, but most of them were selected by yours truly.

I decided I’m going to slowly unveil the “art” in my home and let my readers decide whether I should spend some time decluttering! Or maybe you’ll want to come over and hang out to admire each piece in person and have the chance to pepper Dinner Table Doctor with some medical questions while we sip on cocktails.

I won’t immediately update this post with every piece, and you won’t receive a notification when I do. The best way to see them all is to go to my Facebook page where I will regularly highlight a piece of “art” on my walls. The link is at the bottom of the page, and you can also search “Dinner Table Doctor” on Facebook. Feel free to like, follow and share! I will eventually include them all on this post as well. Enjoy!

I cut this out of a magazine and framed it for my bathroom. I giggle every morning and every evening when I brush my teeth.

In my kitchen – such wise words that I simply had to buy it!

In my laundry room and cracks me up whenever I venture in there.

Not as catty as the last one, and hanging in my family room.

This is in our kitchen year round and goes along with my recent blog post about nonalcoholic drinks
In the guest bathroom – keeping people busy when they’re on the pot 😊
Hangs right inside our garage door
Hangs above the garage door so we see it whenever we leave the house. A good reminder to make the most of your day!
In our sunroom
Hangs by our fireplace during the month of March
Our 2nd print by Brian Andreas this also hangs in our family room. Both are prints of watercolor and ink drawings. You can see more of his work here: StoryPeople
This hangs by our wine bar
Another one I cut out of a magazine because it made me laugh and is so true!
This sits on the shelf where we put our car keys
This hangs in the kids’ bathroom
This hangs above the kitchen sink, but has not inspired the kids as much as I hoped…luckily my husband loves to do dishes and receives plenty of
thank-you kisses!
This hangs in our foyer and is an Irish phrase meaning “a hundred thousand welcomes.” Dinner Table Doctor is half Irish
This was a gift from my aunt and hangs in our sunroom.
This hangs in our basement and was created by our friends’ daughter. She was six years old at the time and the “honored hero” for the Light the Night walk, a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We are both leukemia survivors and now she is a lovely young woman! Every time I look at this it warms my heart.
These hang in my laundry room. My dad calls me petunia and my husband calls me sweet pea, so they seemed appropriate and make me smile.
This hangs in our guest bathroom. I fit a lot in that tiny space! I highlighted this in a recent post titled “Guest Bathroom Ideas”
One of the cards we received when DTD and I got married 26 years ago.
Technically not wall Art, but Art with meaning nonetheless! This pillow greets our guests in the foyer and makes me chuckle.
This comes with quite a story. Basically I accidentally melted baby bottles, but the whole saga is on my FB page.
We have collected many crosses through the years, as gifts or from places we have visited. Some of them are consolidated on one wall.
An idea I stole from a friend. This hangs in our foyer. You know all those beautiful prayer cards you get at funerals and don’t know what to do with? All you need is an old frame!
These prints hang in our foyer and were gifts from local artist Hilary Sheeter. He was not only an accomplished artist, but also a wonderful tap dancer! He was a patient of DTD’s, but I met him separately through tap dancing classes. He was much older than me, but could dance circles around me just the same😂. (I took lessons after I was diagnosed with leukemia because, let’s face it, you are automatically in a good mood when you’re tap dancing! Just another lesson I could add to my post “Lessons from Leukemia”
Many of Hilary’s works were Hudson related. You can see the sweet note he wrote to us. He was very kind and we have a few other prints I’ll share soon. When I see these, I smile and sometimes dance a little shuffle with a ball change for good measure💃🏻
This hangs in our sunroom and is another Hilary Sheeter print. It is a lovely illustration of our home town marching band in the Memorial Day parade. Our youngest plays the trumpet in the band! We love watching them at every game and of course, during parades as well. Hilary did a great job capturing the band in the center of our picturesque town. ❤️
Not exactly wall art but nonetheless prominently displayed in our family room. There is a funny story to go with this deranged squirrel.
Many years ago my dear great uncle Chico brought a box of “priceless treasures” to give to my mother (obviously his favorite niece!) Needless to say the box held some unusual items which didn’t seem to have value sentimental or otherwise, so mom gracefully accepted with her sincere thanks and tucked the box away to deal with later. My brother happened to be visiting and found this crazy squirrel and they all had a good laugh.
Mom thought it went to the Goodwill, but lo and behold, come Christmas it was gift wrapped as a special “priceless” present for her under the tree. Since then every single Christmas the squirrel is passed to a new unsuspecting family member along with a note explaining how it is a priceless family heirloom and must be well cared for and prominently displayed in their home for the next year or they will be cursed!
DTD and I were lucky enough to receive this and, due to COVID our family hasn’t had the Christmas party, so we’ve treasured this disturbing work of art, along with a cute pic of uncle Chico who was a great sport and has since passed, and the threat of the curse for nearly 2 years now!
Silly family traditions are truly a wonderful way to create memories. If you have one, please share ❤️ and consider memorializing the tradition with some kind or artwork in your home to make you smile😁
Years ago we had some cabinets in our basement and put a piece of particle board on top of them so the kids had a big surface for arts and crafts. We let the kids paint the board as well. Then, when we finished our basement (because of the snake issue! Read my post “Intense Exercise vs. Snakes in the Kitchen”) we couldn’t bear to let the countertop go, so we hung it on the wall.
Since then I added lyrics from a Queen song, because why not?
This is an oil painting created from a photo we took on our dream trip to Italy a few years back. You can send any digital photo to a company called instapainting.com and they will create an oil painting for you for a surprisingly reasonable price. We have a huge wall in our living room just perfect for a large painting, and every time we look at it it reminds us of our magical vacation ❤️

In our entryway coming in from the garage, we have photos of people who have visited us – large celebrations, small dinner parties, etc. I tried to make it like restaurants where they put up pics of all the famous visitors. It is fun to look through and see how we have changed as the years pass. I’ve had about 30 different hair styles 😂 and have definitely changed, but DTD looks pretty much the same. Apparently there is something to be said for exercise and fiber!!
Many of the people on this wall started the conversations that inspired my blog. A medical topic always seems to come up when we’re eating and drinking with our resident doctor.
DTD bought me this gorgeous Don Drumm sun (dondrummstudios.com) for our 10th anniversary (tin or aluminum being traditional gifts).
I gave him a can of pop and a tie I made out of tin foil. Who is the more thoughtful person?? Still up for debate, but every time I look at this I chuckle…
There is NO meaning behind these twig wall sculptures except they give me immense joy! For over 20 years I have been searching for the perfect wall hanging to go in this spot. Our living room has a dramatic ceiling line and I always wanted something to highlight it, but also didn’t want to take away from the other art, particularly the painting of Venice. I was willing to pay big bucks for just the right piece of art, and one day saw these at our local grocery store @heinens – I knew immediately they would do the trick and $40 later here we are. What do you think??
In our dining room we have a wall of family photos, mostly wedding pictures, some engagement photos and a few others as well. It is referred to as the “wall of weddings.”
This is me and dinner table doctor on our wedding day. The cross stitch above is something I made him in high school. We used to make each other Christmas gifts, which means he has a lot of gifts I made for him, and I have a lot of gifts his mother made for me! 🤣😂❤️ It is lyrics from a Yes song because we once were kind of cool!
Our sweet dog Louie passed away when he was 16 years old. We have his paw print on our mantle as a reminder of what a special guy he was! This is a picture of him on his favorite bean bag chair so you can see how cute he was ❤️

This sign hangs in our garage as a reminder that getting lost can be the fun of a trip! On a dream trip to Italy, our guide Fernando started our walking tour of Venice with these exact words. It was a magical experience. Originally, we had the sign hanging on a plain, blue wall, but after we used this fun floral backdrop for our daughter’s graduation party, we incorporated it into our garage decorations.

The fan above is from a fabulous trip to New York City. We went to a drag show at a place called Lucky Cheng’s. The entertainment was wonderful and so was the food! I won the fan which is now appropriately in our bedroom😂

This mural is also in our garage and is a combination of all of the phrases that remind us of home. It’s great to pull into the garage and feel at home!

We recently inherited this picture from my parents who downsized. They are the proud owners of two highly spirited chihuahuas, so it reminds us of them, and it hangs in our entryway.

This also hangs in our entryway and was a gift to our youngest daughter along with a college scholarship. The award was for being kind to others and in honor of a local young man who passed way too young. It is a very special reminder of how we can all make a difference in the lives of others with our kind words and actions.

This is a leftover from a graduation party and now hangs in our basement.

Also in our basement and from a graduation party, this banner is definitely appropriate because all three of our kids are buckeyes!

The twig art above has been replaced! DTD and I found this when visiting our kids in Columbus. Can you believe, it was HALF OFF? It was difficult to get home and difficult to hang, but so worth it. We call him Pete.
This beautiful work of art was a gift from one of DTD’s patients. It is made from living materials and hangs in our living room.
These original portraits of our children were created by our daughter Audrey and hang in the hallway to our bedrooms.
All 3 of our kids attend The Ohio State University and posed in front of a mural on campus to give me this photo for Christmas. I love it!

Be sure to subscribe for more updates on the artwork in my home! I hope it inspires you to fill your own home with items that bring you joy!

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  4. I love this Terri! You have so many fun pieces and I enjoyed looking through them!

    I have this big wall in my dining room / office and can’t decide what to do with it… Can you come and help me!??? 🤪

    Miss you – love, Sandy

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