One of the many things that we did in 2016 was complete a remodel of our master bedroom as well as a refresh of our common areas. We had some walls painted, painted some of the trim, re-carpeted (oh my was that a HUGE difference), and then spruced up some areas around the house with artwork. One of our favorite things to do is brighten a room with wild colors and/or amazing critters. For creating large prints, it helps that I shoot RAW images of a very high quality; later I process them for printing and submit high quality jpgs for professional printing. For framing, I generally choose simple mats and then room-tailored frames. Here are a few of my favorite images brightening our walls and giving us a daily reminder of our beautiful world and its amazing critters!

In the living room, we have two 16x20 images each printed as Kodak "Metallic" prints with Lustre coating; these are NOT metal prints (I have a couple of those too) but instead these are paper prints with an incredible depth and shine to the pictures themselves. These are the living room images (to the left and right of the TV, respectively):

What do you want?Clownfish in anemone; Apo Island, Philippines

Home Sweet HomeClownfish in anemone; Balicasaq Island (Bohol), Philippines

Both images are mated with a simple white mat (double-mat with a small inner border) and then framed with a cherry frame. We have cherry in the kitchen and living room and originally picked this frame because of how well it matched the first shot we framed for the remodel:

Fly ByGreen sea turtle; Palau, Micronesia

But then I was most clearly bitten by the bug of remodeling / refreshing as well as adding artwork to our space so that we could have a constant reminder of these wonderful critters. Framing our entrance to the master bedroom are these two prints:

Hanging OutImperial shrimp on sea cucumber; South Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Steller's Sea Eagles at Sunrise 01Steller's sea eagle; Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan

For these, we framed them in a dark frame to match our updated trim (which was painted in a dark espresso brown). The mat color / sizing is consistent with all 5 of these images; you don't have to be matchy/matchy but I think it's useful when images frame something like a TV or an entry door. 

While I can't say that every thing in the remodel went incredibly smoothly, I can say how much I love it now that everything's done. Remodeling often makes you feel quite uneasy during the process (people in the house, lots of noise, having to avoid parts of the house and/or even have to "move" out of an area for an extended period of time...) it's all quite unsettling.

But, it's all worth it in the end! And, the refresh (which was minor compared to the master remodel), made a HUGE impact. I find myself constantly gazing at the artwork we've placed around the house. It makes such a difference to our day to be able to stop and think about such beauty!

And, don't think I have only my photos fluttered about the house - we have some wonderful paintings (definitely not by me!) as well as other photography (Deron Verbeck's Manta/Akule Ball on the right) as well as an original drawing (humpback whale on the left) done by my friend and freediving instructor Shell Eisenberg. These two sit right by each other in our master bathroom:

If you're ever in need of an update and you want to brighten your walls with some amazing critters, shoot me an email and I can help you come up with some ideas!

Thanks for reading,
Kimberly

UPDATE: Last night as we were watching a movie, I realized that the photos look so much better when they're lit up. So, I thought I'd also add a couple more quick shots here. The metallic prints are almost electric-looking; they seem to glow with a small amount of light on them!

Home Sweet HomeClownfish in anemone; Balicasaq Island (Bohol), Philippines

What do you want?Clownfish in anemone; Apo Island, Philippines