What types of pictures do you have downstairs?

[HRchatter]

I had lots of wonderful children so I have a lifetime of memories and I’m very conscious not to make the downstairs sitting room like a Hall of Fame.
My bedroom must feel that way to them, but I don’t care. It’s not going to change now.
So I’ve got some Dunelm piece of art that kind of works with the Decor
I’ve got a Samsung picture television, which doesn’t go with anything
And I’ve got a pop art type thing of a koala (Rachael Lee, east end prints) at the moment along with a fake olive tree and a mirror
I feel we could do better.
What do you guys have?

I don’t put family photos on the walls, only a few in 6x4 frames dotted around on shelves etc. I find prints from Ikea/ dunelm/ the range a bit samey and everyone has them. I have some of my own scenic photography on the walls, lots of antique map prints and wildlife paintings.

Our ground floor is still a work in progress (we've only been here a year and have been reconfiguring the space, moving the kitchen etc), so our art isn't all up yet.

But when it's finished we'll have...in the reception rooms - some vintage bird prints that I love (car boot finds for £1-5 each), a large original portrait of a woman dating from the Arts & Crafts period, a couple of Pre-raphaelite style prints in vintage frames, a Georgian nude (fleamarket, £40), some vintage maps of London.

In the kitchen...some botanical prints (modern and vintage), three Lou Rota Anthropologie wall plates and - whilst not exactly art - a large metal notice board with an Art Nouveau magazine cover graphic.

In the hall...a large canvas of a gothic woman with owl (painted by me) and a collection of framed taxidermy butterflies.

We have some canvases with photographs of landscapes of places we’ve been.
Some photos of locations we’ve taken and professionally printed and framed.
Some painted birds/animals by local artists we’ve seen and liked on days out etc.
A print related to my hobby.
A commissioned painting of my dog.
Some random and bizarre/funny pictures we’ve picked up on travels.
No family portraits or stuff from home decor shops just to ‘fill a space’.
I think mirrors are nice as well as art…….

Prints from art exhibitions we've visited.

A print of an oil painting of a village green with a lot of trees in the background, a watercolour done by a relative of a big tree in a garden, another one of a seashore with a windswept pine in it and the last one is Australian in style of some eucalyptus trees (similar to paintings by Albert Namatjira). Oh yes I forgot because I can't see it from where I'm sitting right now, another one of a misty dawn. That's got trees in it as well.

Now I come to think of it, there seems to be a bit of a theme going on here.😂

Lots of somewhat random things! A sampler dated 1797, a Moorish-style wood inlay plaque, a few oil paintings of Shropshire hills, a carved wooden centurion made by my great-grandad, a print of red kites, a small kilim patterned with ducks, some framed Louis Wain postcards from the 1920s... everything is there because I like it individually and take pleasure in looking at it. I never really thought about whether it all "goes" with everything else.

Three downstairs, one photo on the sideboard of the kids from primary school days , one of our old pet rabbit and one wall picture - a watercolour and pen street scene of Amsterdam. Upstairs one wall picture on the landing - a garden scene. Three big mirrors downstairs and one on the landing, two of which have ornate frames and two more simple.

My kitchen has a large canvas of a shot I took of a beautiful night scene.

It also has 3 prints of quotes I like.

Hadn't even thought about the front room yet. All it has up is a mirror.

I'vw got an original painting of my dogs in woodland, a limited print of a painting of a place I visited in Scotland, some historic photos of family members and my cottage (100+ year old photos), some photos of my kids as small children and some wedding photos, one print of a crow and photo of me on my old horse.

I think you could probably call my taste 'eclectic'...

Do people theme things?
We lived in Australia for a long time so I was kinda thinking koala print with maybe a painting and maybe a Sydney skyline print
Obviously, it’s only gonna be meaningful to me, but I just wondered if that works

We've got a picture of our Oxford college (we met there), a painting of a beautiful bit of the local coastline done by DH's artist mum and two silk batiques bought by my parents when they lived abroad in the 70s. None of them match in any way but they all mean something.

I have all DS's school photos in my study, Hall of Fame style. Nobody else goes in there though!

I have about 150 things on my walls. Gig/ exhibition posters, hymn boards, printer trays full of weird stuff. Some original art. Nothing generic. No photos.

Yep, no photos here either. At a previous (larger) house we had 200 frames containing taxidermy butterflies going up the stairs, but sold many to the buyers of that house. We now only have 30+ of those left. I reckon overall we've got a similar number of things to go on the walls as you - but many will be sold as we no longer have space. I struggle to let go as they've been collected over many years and we love every one of them!

I forgot mirrors in my earlier post - there will be two in the main living room (both antique, one is a very unusual Art Nouveau peacock design in gesso, the other a Georgian girandole with two candle holders). Throughout the whole cottage we've got - or will have, once the work is done - fourteen mirrors, mostly antique or vintage with a few contemporary ones picked up in places like Homesense. Mirrors are fantastic art pieces in their own right imo 😁

I wouldn't personally want any art from Dunelm / Next / John Lewis etc on my walls, it's too generic and doesn't mean anything to me.
I've just moved house & what will be going up will be art & posters from art exhibitions that I've been to with my DCs.
And some art that my DCs did for the their GCSE art coursework, if they'll let me.
Also some prints relating to music that I love or that means something to me, amd places I have visited.
I think people can try too hard - asking someone else's opinion about what art they have, won't necessarily work for you - it should be things that are meaningful to you & your family.
It doesn't matter what other people put on their walls or what other people think about what you put on your walls.

Dh collects (I like his choices too), mainly prints, so we have a Lowry, a Billy Connelly, a Bob Dylan, a Josef Herman, he has two Kyffin Williams. For my birthday he got me two drawings of our breed of dog.

We have started a gallery wall on our stairs, so we have lots of pictures/prints/watercolours of places we've been over the years, dh's collection of Bill McLaren's rugby notes. He also has three Keith Fearon rugby prints and cheaper Lowry prints dotted about. It needs finishing but there's no rush.

I have family photos in frames but not on the walls, I've coralled them onto a large mirrored tray on my sideboard, makes cleaning them easier and I switch them around every so often to see different ones.

3 large lino prints by an artist local to me, 1 fab lino print from Oxfam in Hexham (£2.99!!!) , water colour of the local river, large acrylic canvas done by my children when they were small, my father in laws palette he used when painting, Edwardian sketch of a hare (Oxfam £1.50) terracotta tile of a stylized tree and landscape from 1970s, painting of a kestrel done by my husband when he was in 6th form and a country scene by Angela Harding

A huge mirror over the fire I’m not tall enough for (left by vendors)
Gradually taking down generic canvas art they left. Doing rooms up gradually and holes/ nails in the walls behind them!
Got a large wild coastal original painting of a place we love ( bought at an art exhibition) Some Sam Toft prints and paintings of our dogs. Some family photos.
We have a canvas of a dog on a beach we are convinced is a painting of our dog who died. Bought on Wayfair. He had v distinctive markings. Everyone who sees it thinks it’s him and my phone agrees!!

Oh, and a piece of linen embroidered with the most glorious design from a student at Glasgow School of art in the 1930s (25p from Oxfam)

I also don't put photos on the walls, except in the downstairs loo!

On our living room wall we have a few paintings. Some are by my grandfather who was a local artist where I grew up. We also have some pictures which are sentimental to us, but they are not photos, (eg paintings of the city where we studied and met)

I don't theme anything...it all develops over time. Whatever my eye is drawn to and calls out to me. I really love linoprints though

We live somewhere touristy so we have lots of shops that sell pictures by local artists and I buy far too many and then have to find space for them. We also have photos of our travels, and prints from art galleries that we’ve visited. Family photos aren’t on the wall but there are some on shelves and bookcases etc.

A massive canvas of my horse and a print of floating lanterns that I just loved

I have a constant battle with DH to prevent all our walls being covered with display cases full of model cars.

Oh I have a wall of vintage mirrors too. Move things about regularly too.

So much!
Family photos (I do not subscribe to the belief that this is tacky)
Paintings and pictures of our local area, mostly old ones.
Paintings done by family members
Some maps
A large painting we saw on holiday and liked
Some large mirrors
And a dartboard and checkout poster