The other day I was working in the office when Sherry breezed in and grabbed some paper from the printer. I didn’t think much of it—until a few minutes later when I walked into the kitchen and saw this. Sherry stood there grinning and batting her eyelashes, so I quickly learned what had happened.
Sherry had been eyeing these large succulent prints from West Elm for a while, and they happened to be on sale. The discount didn’t last long, but it was enough to convince her—and me—that two oversized framed prints should come home with us. They’re almost 30″ square and include a glass frame, so the price was higher than we usually spend on art, but the scale and quality made them worth it. We’ve been slowly building a collection of bigger pieces to balance the few DIY projects we already have, so adding professional prints felt like a good step.
A week later, the big empty wall in our kitchen finally had two new additions.
Here’s the same pair from the other side with less glare.
That’s the short version. The full story starts with how this wall looked before—complete with an old, non-working intercom that we’d learned to tolerate over time.
Although I had grown fond of that faux wood-grain intercom, it was time to take it down. A few screws later it was off the wall.
We expected a small hole and some wires, but instead we found a rather alarming cluster of connectors and wiring. For a moment I joked that it looked like a bomb, but it was only an old intercom system and not dangerous.
With the breaker off, I detached the two power leads (blue and white) and removed the other connectors that likely ran to other intercoms around the house. None of those systems actually work, so it was mostly a tangle of unused wiring.
Because this wall is slated for demolition when we eventually open the kitchen to the living room, we chose a temporary approach rather than calling an electrician right away. The intercom shared a breaker with a light we rarely use, so we capped and taped the power wires and turned that breaker off. It’s not permanent, but it’s safe enough until we renovate. I’ll probably pick up a large flat metal plate at the hardware store to cover the opening for a cleaner temporary look.
We also had an unused phone jack next to the intercom. After researching typical precautions, I carefully disconnected the four pairs of wires—there was no dangerous voltage present when the phone wasn’t in use. To be safe, I capped the wires with wire nuts and pushed them back into the box, matching colors as I’d seen in another capped jack in our living room.
With the wires capped and the phone tested (still working), I stepped back to look at the two holes. We decided not to patch the drywall since the wall will be removed in a future renovation; leaving the temporary wiring accessible will make the electrician’s job easier later.
For now, we installed a blank cover on the phone jack and painted it to match the wall. The larger intercom opening is mostly hidden behind the green succulent print, similar to hiding an old medicine cabinet with a mirror. I still plan to grab that metal plate to make the fix look a bit more intentional.
I do feel a little DIY guilt for not finishing the drywall patches, but it made more sense to leave it undone until the wall is actually removed. In the meantime, we’re enjoying the new art and the improved view.
We also decided to center the artwork over the table and chandelier rather than centering it on the entire wall. We tried both layouts and centering the frames over the table felt more balanced with the chandelier.
Can you guess which one Clara likes best?
Yup—the purple one on the left is her favorite.
We like that the prints add color without being too busy, which is useful since we’re planning to add window treatments that may introduce more pattern. Because these are large, neutral-enough pieces, they’ll also work well in other rooms down the line—over a buffet in the dining room, above a desk in the office, and so on.
I might have to enroll Sherry in Succulents Anonymous soon—these photos don’t even include the terrarium she recently made.
That last shot even makes me want to tackle the counters and the trash compactor right away. We’re focusing first on finishing the nursery before attempting the concrete tutorial and redoing the floors, but those projects are coming. For now, we’ll enjoy the refreshed kitchen wall and dream about the changes ahead.
Too bad we can’t just hide the counters behind a frame.