Saturday 7 April 2012

Open your eyes and see the beauty.

There's something to be said about art on the walls of your home. Its creating talking points, inspires, adds colour and happiness to any room. One day I'll have a home of my own covered in pictures.

I'm not one to put my own art up on the walls, I think it makes me a little uncomfortable, so instead I've spent hours, days, week, months and even years perusing op-shops, eBay, small galleries and friend's folios looking for new pics to adorn my walls with. I'm pretty proud of my growing collection.

Recently I had the delight (where is that sarcasm font when you need it) of scouring Gumtree for share properties to move into. Being the particularly fussy person I am, one thing that put me off most places was the lack of eye candy in the common rooms. As superficial as it sounds, I need to be surrounded by attractive objects and colour in order to feel comfortable and inspired. These are the things that I believe make a home - a house that displays the personality of its inhabitants.

So finding an awesome Eames sideboard for $0.99 might be one for the old hats, but surely a few pictures on the wall can't be that hard?

The problem that a lot of people struggle with is the notion that you have to spend big bucks for a good pic. But thanks to advances in the world of print production (re: mass production) and the interwebs, you can find gorgeous images by artists across the world at affordable prices.

From there, you don't need to spend the hundreds of dollars you saved on getting them framed professionally, simply go to an op-shop and buy an old print you don't like but comes with a cute antique frame, invest in some mountboard, a good stanley knife or scalpel & a cutting mat. Can't be bothered with that? Check out Ikea and $2 shops for cheap frames and stick to simple colours like dark brown, white or black.

To get you started (should you accept this challenge) I've post a selection from Urban Outfitters' print shop.

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