When Bubba and I first bought our home, we were prepared for the unexpected expenses. We knew that being able to afford our mortgage wasn't going to cut it. We were ready for the surprise water bills, the annual trash fees, the never perfect lawn remedy, and the timed-just-so furnace breaks. The part that we weren't ready for, the part that nobody had mentioned, was the bug.. it was my absolutely insatiable appetite to prettify every single corner of our home.
Over the months, I've become pretty adept at decorating on a budget. Sometimes that means pulling trinkets out of storage and rearranging a bookshelf. Sometimes that means painting a wall, and sometimes it means dying an old duvet. Today, it meant printing things off the internet and sticking them in frames. That's right, I used my opposite-of-fancy-pants printer to make wall art for my guest bedroom. And I love it.
Over the years, one of the goodies I stumbled upon was the NY Public Library's Digital Gallery (http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm). It is basically a cheap-o decorator's heaven (and also very valuable and significant vintage art). Many of the images in the database are old maps or postcard-like landscapes, while others are songbook covers or fashion designs. If you can't find inspiration in the many categorized images or just want to cut to the chase, you can just search for your own idea. Like me, you'll probably find plenty:
I'm sure no one loves it quite as much as me, and that may be the best part of art like this. It is so personal. The navy in the frames is perfect against the grey of the wall. The chunkiness fills up the space just right. The colors inside are a soft contrast. The images, printed for zero dollars, are of my hometown, Bubba's hometown, and our current town, or more specifically (and respectively), Market Square, the Town Green, and Main Street. I love that it is something special to us, but also feels vintage and universal enough to hang in a public space. Oh, and I love that it was free. We like free.
