Art? Check!

I have to admit that from the get-go, I was pretty sure that I was going to use antique botanicals as art in the bathroom. Last fall when we were at the Brimfield Antique show there was a paper vendor there who had run into hundreds of pressed botanicals with the botany students study diagram attached to the old linen paper. They were gorgeous, but also, VERY expensive. Stupid expensive! I passed them up, begrudgingly, but knew that with some effort I'd be able to find what I wanted without the gross expense.

Since then, I've seen botanicals in shelter mags and interior design books on what seems on nearly every page. Perhaps it's because I am looking, but it's obvious that I am not the only one who sees the natural beauty of these once school project pieces.

Probably the most clever way I've seen them displayed is as a screen in the picture above, where the designer covers up the unsightly black box, aka, tv.

Here they fill a cabinet in a perfectly eclectic breakfast room. I love the pale turquoise wicker chairs paired with the rough wood table. Oh, and if you haven't had enough of this color, check out the room that Joni just finished over at Cote de Texas! She used the new Windsor Smith Riad geometric fabric in this shade to make a GORGEOUS living room you'll leave drooling over!

As art in a bedroom. What makes these so great is that they've come from different areas. They're not all from the same project - allowing them to be hung as a collection rather than an installation. Gorgeous.

Here we see more of that installation hanging I referenced above, but it's still beautiful. The dark indigo walls act as a mat around the raw umber paper. I suppose that this photo is actually from a public space. Maybe a restaurant, given the ceiling speaker and the obvious banquette seating to the far right of the photo. Admittedly, I don't know that I could live in this space - but I could sure dine in it!

But it wasn't just shelter mags and interior design books that had me going gaga over the botanical studies come art. No, they were there on the pages of the catalogs coming to the door as well. In Wisteria:

In Restoration Hardware:

And when I thought I'd be free of them, some of my favorite bloggers posted about them too!

Brooke had her husband put these up in their remodeled 1/2 bath, a renovation that I followed daily. Brooke and her husband have great taste, and their projects are always inspiring. Take a peak at their home on Brooke's blog: Velvet & Linen.

And last, but certainly not least, Kelley from The Polished Pebble, and the very reason that I have the botanicals that will hang in my bathroom. Her dining room is nothing short of stunning, and when she had these ebay finds framed for the space, it transformed it from fabulous to covetable. Yes, many of the rooms in Kelley's gorgeous home are soul stirring, (not to mention her gardens!!) and will have you leaving the blog hoping she'll have a garage sale and personally invite you! Thank you Kelley for your great tip!

So, now you want to see mine, do ya? Well - you'll have to wait. For a few reasons, mostly because they're not hanging but also because my camera's battery is exhausted. Literally, that's what it said. Exhausted. Silly Sony.