It's been quite a while now since we finished the decorating in our living room. We knew the wall above the sofa needed some artwork but I was struggling to find something that i) matched the new decor and colours, ii) didn't offend either of us and iii) was in our price range. It's quite a big space too, and I wanted a single picture there as having a series of pictures that we'd struggle not quite manage to hang level would have done my head in. I'm a detail person remember.

Finding something that we both liked, or rather that neither of us found that offensive and something that wasn't totally detached from us was hard though. I've looked at numerous art sites and in many picture galleries and shops, never finding The One.

In the end I didn't find it at all. MOH did. I think in desperation to get something on the plain wall he'd also started to do research. And what d'you know, John Lewis came up trumps.

So after thinking about it for a while we ordered it. It arrived and I unpacked it:

The next job was to hang it. And that was more complicated than it should have been. I was surprised that the picture didn't come with wire or a cord to hang it from, but no matter we had some wire somewhere...

The wire was found, but it wasn't sturdy enough for the picture - who knew they came with weight limits? Heavier duty wire was sourced and bought, and a video on how to secure the wire was watched and followed. Holes were drilled and screws screwed in. It was time to hang the picture...

What? What just snapped? Oh that'll be the heavy duty wire... Thankfully it snapped while we were wrestling it onto the screws, and while we still had hold of the picture. Phew. It seems the heavy duty wire wasn't up for the job.

A week later and I've now bought some cord instead of the wire. It's attached and looks a lot more solid and reliable. So we tried again. And this time we had success. The picture is on the wall, and it's stayed there. Phew.

The verdict

I think it looks OK, I don't find it offensive but nor do I think it's overly personal for a living room and I'll quite happily look at this everyday.
It reminds me of a trip to York we took a few years back; of the lanes with The Minster in the distance
It reminds MOH of somewhere but he's not sure where. Which is better than I expected, I thought he'd say it's just splodgy lines... Although personally I just think he's glad to have got a picture on the wall!

Updated: June 2015

We've had the picture on the wall for about two months now and I'm really happy with it - it looks as if it's always been there. The added bonus is when I'm in the open-plan kitchen it acts like a mirror and I can get a glimpse of what's going on outside, which is no bad thing!