Art for the walls

[JuneOsborne]

I need art for my walls. Or something for my walls.

I've slowly been getting fed up of what we did have and now all of my walls are bare.

No budget for fine art. What do you have, where do you get it and where should I be browsing?

I love music, books and plants, if that helps.

I usually use Etsy

What do you like?
I have quite a range of stuff on my walls, some from Etsy, some photo art that I did through photo box , paintings I found at auction/ car boot/ charity shops.
Google what you want to look at - e.g. Vintage posters, or Art Nouveau pictures etc.
alternatively, if you can find shelves, but lots of books from sane sources and make a feature of that.

Some of the pictures on my walls are framed cards. They were only a couple of quid each and the frames were about the same and they look lovely.
I also have lots of pics the kids did when we were in lockdown. I'm going to frame some of them because they are great. The children are 28, 14 and 8, so not all splodges and splashes!!

Most of our art has come from charity shops, car boot sales or the tip. Never paid more than a fiver and have some really nice pieces, some actual original paintings and others are prints.

DH has bought a couple of things recently from Maison du Monde which are nice, not super cheap but not original art price either.

Posterstore are good for prints you can frame .

If you like books, I have some postcards sets that I bought on Amazon for around £10 for 100 of books covers from different publishing houses like Penguin. I have framed my favourite book covers in multi 6x4 frames which you can get from Wilko. They look much more expensive that they actually cost and I really enjoy looking at the everyday. Also you can swap the postcards around if you want a change.

Student art websites.

I've bought art in the past from local artists/print makers in various ways: small local galleries, art trails (when lots of them open up their homes and studios), stalls at local markets and craft fairs, and also affordable art fairs. Why not see whats happening in your area, or places where you go on holiday? Prices vary from £30/40 for a print to several £100s, and even when you don't buy anything you start to get an idea about what you like and how it will work in your home. And you get an added buzz from either helping local artists or buying work that reminds you of great holidays. Also, going to bigger art galleries where they almost always sell reasonably priced prints of work they have is a great idea.

if you want real art that is not too expensive, look at artfinder.com

if you have a v tight budget, buy a calendar of arty pictures in a style you like & frame them up individually in matching IKEA frames. It can look v smart for v little money. I tend to go for a slightly obscure artist - no one is going to believe I have a van gogh on my kitchen wall, but if they don't recognise the picture, they just appreciate it.