Cheap, Yet Hip, Wall Art
- by Farrah Parkes on Oct 1st 2007 12:00PM
- Filed under home decor, crafts
If you're too old for frat parties, then it's really time to get rid of that Klimt poster you have "decorating" your living room wall. Dorm room decor is not acceptable outside a dorm room, even if it was inspired by great art. Really, no matter how much you love your family, framed photos of them will only get you so far. Here are a few interesting, cheap, and easy ideas to spruce up your space without regressing to freshman year:
- Wall decals are perhaps little over-hyped, but they're still a cool way of adding interest to a wall. Although cheaper than original wall art, these will still set you back a few bucks. If the pre-made ones are too rich for your blood, try this craftster's trick of using spray starch to adhere fabric cut-outs to the wall.
- The cover of this month's Blueprint magazine features a nifty wall art project (pictured here) made from thrift store picture frames. Basically, you get a bunch of empty frames of different shapes and sizes, paint them all the same color, and hang them. I think white frames against a colored wall would really pop; especially if the wall had white molding. Another interesting take on the project might be to use frames of all the same shape and paint all but one of them the same color.
- Silhouettes are popping up everywhere on the craft scene these days. The good news is they're really easy to make. Get some interesting wrapping paper, add a silhouette downloaded from Stencilry, stick it in a frame, and you're good to go.
- Ikea's usually good for a bargain, but their fabric wall hangings are way overpriced. Make your own by buying some interesting fabric and using a staple gun to attach it to an old picture frames. A heavier weight fabric will probably work best - check out reprotdepot.com or cheapthreads.com for some wall-worthy prints. As for frames, might I suggest Ikea's Ram? (Ikea's got a pretty good selection of fabrics too).
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One yard of fabric, so many possibilities
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Ceiling fans: how cool are they?
_thumbnail.jpg "Making and using a facial mask")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-03-2007 @ 7:53PM
RS said...
If I walked into a house and saw a wall covered in empty picture frames, my first impression would be that the resident's life is so dull and uneventful that he/she has no interesting pictures to fill the frames. With so many decorating options, why would someone bother to use something that deliberately emphasizes how boring he/she is?
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12-25-2007 @ 11:49PM
D said...
That is a dull interpretation of minimalist design.
10-03-2007 @ 8:25PM
ben said...
If you have some good photos that you've taken, or that your friends have taken, most copy shops will make 24x36 black and white prints for $4 or $5. They aren't the best quality--standard bond paper and the non-photo ink, but they are very cheap and actually end up looking pretty nice. If you're in a bind and don't have a lot of money, it's a very cheap way to make your apartment YOUR apartment instead of just a few rooms you happen to be renting.
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10-03-2007 @ 9:04PM
Simon Arch said...
I'd think one of three things: One, that he/she was lazy. Two, that he/she was boring. Or three, that he/she was some pretentious hipster trying to be deep/ironic/an annoying hipster.
I'm partial to art deco and nouveau poster reproductions myself.
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10-03-2007 @ 10:31PM
Betty said...
there's a threadless type site at http://www.posterbored.com that does unique posters for cheap, in kind of a competition/user voting system kind of way. cool hipster shit i found through stumbling, just like i found this article
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10-04-2007 @ 12:14AM
James said...
Screw the fake hipster junk. Take some nice photos, print them poster size for a couple of bucks at the local developers and hang em up. Better art, better look, and none of the smug BS.
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10-04-2007 @ 3:15PM
Bernie said...
I recommend making your own posters from any image. I use the Rasterbator to scale my images and print them out on multiple pages.
http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/
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10-07-2007 @ 11:55PM
Alex said...
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