Comments on: My New Walls – Naked and Embarassed

By: Phillip

Phillip — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 13:43:52 +0000

My wife and I frequent art sales that are held at hotels in different areas of the country, sometimes referred to “Starving Artists” sales.

You can pick up original oil paintings for as cheap as $29 and the frames usually just run from $39 to $69. They will put them in the frame for you.

We actually have more picutres than we have space for and my wife was trying to decide between two prints – one was a summer picture, the other a winter. They were 24 x 36 original oil painting marked down to $29 each. I told her to buy them both and it only takes a couple of minutes to switch them out. She uses one in the summer and the other in the winter.

The last place we bought at was a show in Nashville (they do them all over the country) from a place called Collectors Art (www.collectorsart.com). There are other places I am sure…

You cannot beat the selection and prices for original artwork!

By: Janet

Janet — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:53:32 +0000

Being a budget conscious twenty-something myself, I find going into the state/city/county archives for photos—and getting reprints, is a sure-fire way to save money AND give an interesting (not to mention historical) twist to your walls. Consider this as an example: Hollywood, Florida Archives An 8 X 10 in B&W for $15 each. 11X14 for $30. You can’t beat these prices. As for frames, I end up trolling the nearest Ross and/or Rose’s for cheap frames at very decent prices. Hope this helps!

By: Madame X

Madame X — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 13:18:30 +0000

Try wrapping paper. Yes, wrapping paper! Not the christmassy kind that comes in rolls. Some stationery stores have racks of single sheets of really nice paper that cost $3-4 each. Sometimes the patterns are large enough and interesting enough that they actually look really good as art!

By: Ari

Ari — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 12:12:34 +0000

While I think Jose has a good point, if you are looking for well priced artwork, overstock.com usually has some very reasonable framed art. As you said, framing is by far the most expensive part of new artwork, and if you can buy it framed you will save yourself a lot of money. Also, if you can find them (my wife and I have purchased a couple at New York city street fairs) canvas prints which are mounted on wood frames don’t even need to be framed. Alternatively, your walls don’t have to be covered in art. There are many things you can do to de-bare your walls such as painting them different colors, or even creating your own wall hangings. I’ve seen many different ideas on some home design shows such as ‘design on a dime’ on the HGTV network, and ‘trading spaces’ on TLC.

Hope that helps.

By: Jose

Jose — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 01:09:23 +0000

Go easy on decorations.
A new home is full of excitement.
But it is also full of trips to home depot to buy things that you never knew you needed.
You may also need time adjusting to the new mortgage payments.

Let a few months go before buying new furniture and decorations.
Spend time enjoying the space and all that is yours.

Spend time planning future purchases well. Good planning will reduce mistakes and unnecessary purchases.

Take time.