Unfortunately for both Dave & I, neither of us seem to have:

1. A sense of interior decorating style
2. Informed opinions about art
3. Anything resembling a sense of urgency to “finish” a space

As a result, we have a high percentage of walls in our home that have remained bare, even years after first moving in.

I listened to an NPR Life Kit podcast a few weeks ago titled “Why Surrounding Yourself With Art Matters — And How To Do It.” The takeaways were not groundbreaking. Basically, art is that which inspires you, and if you love it, you should prioritize having it in your home. I’ve been observing my dad pick up an eclectic art collection in the recent past, in fact, and envy the conviction with which he pursues it and the obvious joy it brings him. But then, I’m not willing to hunt to develop my preference for art, I’m not looking to spend money to fill a space just for the sake of filling it, and I find that if I wait long enough to become accustomed to said space being unoccupied… it doesn’t register in my mind as void at all.

All this in mind, it was notable when, after strolling separately through the Ann Arbor Art Fair this weekend, both Dave & I had mentally flagged a tent of oil paintings that we admired enough to want to revisit together. When we did return, we jointly decided on a large-scale oil painting that’s reminiscent to us of the sandy dunes and shores along Lake Michigan’s coastline — contentment in the form of a geographic location for us.

It’ll take a few weeks to get hung in its permanent home, and then, as the sticker shock of one-of-a-kind art begins to wear off, I’m certain we’ll truly enjoy it and its origin story in our family’s home for many years to come.

Plus, on the upside of being exceedingly slow to put up household decorations, you can be sure that once we do invest and hang something, it could be decades before we find ourselves inclined to move it.