Pictures and Art in your house

[mamatomany]

What do you have ?
We literally just have photo's of the kids and our degree certificates framed and I'm thinking the blank walls could do with cheering up.
Have you got expensive originals or are prints from Next type shops ok, don't really know where to start.
Thanks

Mine are mostly inexpensive originals, and some from Homebase or similar that we just liked and fill a wall until I find something else that appeals

Car boot sales.
Charity shops.
I also print posters of my own photos off truprint- Landscapes and portraits.

I have lots of stuff on my walls.
For example, I have a mismatch of gold frames from charity shops with all family pictures in them-old black and white ones of my parents, as well as new baby ones. That is on one wall, and looks great.

I have a the origonal watercolour of our wedding invite in one frame on another wall.

I have some old Japanese maps going up the stairs.

I like this website

www.art.co.uk/asp/default.asp

Have a leaf through some interior magazines and get a feel for what you like and what would work for your home. I would stay away from matchy matchy Next prints. Looks too staged.

I've got a map of the world on my kitchen wall and I love it.

Got a Gandhi quote in the hall plus some of my kids drawings framed and photos too.

Also got a painting my BIL did and one my dad did too (they are very arty).

My FIL is an artist and DS1 is also very good so we have some nice originals. DS2 seems to be good in his own way so we have a big fish picture that he did framed too.

Other than that I bought a couple of limited edition prints in small galleries and I have some nice family pictures framed. I also have a picture in the sitting room where I got some muslin and dipped the boys feet in fabric paint and let them walk on it when they were tiny - a different colour for each boy. It looks really nice and not too twee.

I can't buy mass produced prints, even nice ones as FIL, Dh and now DS1 are all huge art snobs now. Having A level in Art History I ought to too but don't

I love exhibition posters rather than prints/ posters from the gift shop, which I can't do. Also have one poster for a play which I love.

sadly I know far too many impoversihed (and unfamous)artists so our walls are crammed with originals. Had a cull recently and gave some away, but rather a lot of new ones seem to have appeared.

have a huge original icture on our living room wall that looks to me like a big swirl of beach curling round a turquoise ocean, then on the other wall I have 2 original wood carving rints as my friend is a wood carver they are beautiful.

in the hall was we have block frames with several pitcures from our homeymoon and beautiful south african animals.

the kitchen wall has a mesh of christmas lights with childrens pictures pegged on.
DS1 has a huge world map 180x150. in his room and DS2 has various winnie the pooh sketches.

our bathrooms each have a 1x1.3m photo by this man

We have victorian watercolours and oils and antique japanese prints.We also have a painted victorian photograph of a benevolent lady [paint used to add detail to an original photograph] which i bought.But then people staying in our house said they saw a ghost - of a victorian lady with a kind face - so my dh banned the picture.
I think its far nicer getting pictures with character or originals from art student sales rather than mass-produced pictures.You can try ebay for different styles or find a good "scruffy" local antique shop with original prints and watercolours or possibly auctions.

for the love of god, don't put shit from next/homebase etc on your walls...

and though you may be tempted, please don't make something 'abstract' yourself using the colours of the room to colour co-ordinate.

with the internet, it's not hard to find good but inexpensive prints or originals. mirrors and clocks or 3 dimensional art pieces are options too.

Apart from photos I have some original art from local artists dotted around. Also Russell Flint limited edition prints of some of his girls. Old-fashioned now I think but we still love them.

I have to confess to the odd Next/Homebase/Ikea canvas, but most of our stuff is now original artwork that we've bought on holiday, or at art exhibitions. Some painted by my grandfather.

Also some framed bits and bobs - some Chinese embroidery, some cute turkish baby shoes that we were given for DS1, and the icing decoration from our wedding cake, made by my aunt, which was a work of art that was too good to eat!

A few photos, but not many!

I have a giant oil painting of Quincy and some small paintings by ex Y10 students.

We have quite an important painting of an Italian pop art artist, thanks to my dad.

We also recently bought a painting at the Affordable Art Fair.

Other than that we have some cards that I framed, prints and posters, <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.it/imgres?imgurl=vintageposterblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/games-bay-repro.jpg&imgrefurl=vintageposterblog.com/2010/05/13/mr-benjamin-is-this-poster-a-copy/&usg=__wmBKzfft6ULmtbLmOG1GCWo8pHs=&h=496&w=316&sz=103&hl=it&start=67&zoom=1&tbnid=IKgaWILyD7S2tM:&tbnh=164&tbnw=104&ei=2TasTYeMLNPB8QOuluG4Ag&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dabram%2Bgames%26hl%3Dit%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1200%26bih%3D857%26tbm%3Disch0%2C1600&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=256&vpy=144&dur=700&hovh=281&hovw=179&tx=85&ty=155&oei=0DasTceuMMeX8QPlmb25Ag&page=3&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:67&biw=1200&bih=857" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this is my fav

Go to art college degree shows and buy buy buy!

They are usually on around the end of May/beginning of June.

Mine have come from auctions,car boot sales,ebay and the National Gallery shop.My favourites are photos that DH has taken.He is an amazing photographer,especially in black and white.

We have all kinds.

Original oil paintings, watercolours, Georgian and Victorian engravings and lithographs, postcards, modern and traditional embroidered wallhangings, you name it. Some of it cost high four figures, others £8 for a 100.

Loads of mirrors, too, because our house faces north and is horribly dark. Again, some antique and bespoke, others from Ikea.

IMO, as long as you LOVE it, and haven't bought it to match your colour scheme, it's all good.

Tons of different stuff, canvases, originals form friends who paint, framed posters - loads.

I am the world's least snobby person about furnishings and art work. My house is a mix of old and modern and loads of Seventies stuff and bright , bright colours. Love it.
And no wanky overpriced " designer" tat neiver.

I'm not good at picking things I like to go on the walls.

Currently I have some prints, some oil paintings of cows that are meant to be a bit Tongue in cheek but don't think I've quite pulled it off, a couple of original paintings by family friends and embroidery by a talented friend. I also have photos and some birthday cards that I liked so framed.

At the moment I have a portrait of me as a child waiting to go up but DH thinks it's weird to put it up. It's a very good likeness, but not particularly good. He says I would never buy it if I saw it in a shop, which I agree with, but it's not of someone random, it's of me and I like it. What do you think? Is it weird to have a drawing of me on the wall?

I've loved reading these messages, it's given me lots of great ideas.

We have two paintings from my MIL as she's an artist, one abstract and one amazing , tiny painting with gold leaf. I have always been cautious about 'asking' her for things because it's her job (like asking a dentist for freebies) and also because I am a bit worried about opening the floodgates (and ending up with one of the 'breastprint' series!).

Other than that we have two old Railway posters (you know the ones, come to Margate, it's really bracing) as my dad collects them and is generally running a surplus (every so often we have a 'rehang!), a couple of oils, a lovely embroidery from Namibia, an antique Turkish rug, a Kilim we bought in Marakecch and some lovely photography of the Norfolk coast. We've also made a couple of photo montages for the family room of holiday's/christenings etc.

I agree, original stuff that means something to you is so, so much nicer than 'wanky overpriced designer tat'. Textiles can look really striking and a cheap way to fill up a big space.

Try etsy.com. Search for original drawings and paintings. There's some good stuff on there and v. affordable prices - less than a mass produced print. I have a gorgeous pen and ink drawing of a little bird from moppetandmittens.

We tend to buy things on holiday - art fairs in little towns in France etc. So a bit overwhelmed with seascapes and birds!

My children have produced some quite good lino cuts in art lessons and I think I'll get those framed. So if your kids are older with access to good art materials at school I think that can work well.

None of it 'goes' together but I think it is a happy jumble, and every piece has a bit of history for us.

Could not have prints from Next et al, horrid. Like buying art from Tesco...
Have, ever so tactfully, [ahem], disposed or sent to deep dark loft and similar resting places, all DH's stuff - not that any was from Next.
Have only original art, some inherited, some bought.
Love every single piece.

Ours are a bit bare too, but thats down to building work still to be done & knowing how must dust it wil cause & how clumsy builders can be,

we do have some stuff up, & some framed & ready to go - again a mish mash of frames, some antique & some flat glass & modern, but will be mixed in a solid wall of prints all the way up the 3 story stair well & yes original art most of it, but a lot of its poster art, ie old rare band posters, also gold discs (DH is a collector) few limited edition pop art type prints, by artist friends,

lots of photos, motor bikes & leather clad hunks - mostly black & white, both DH & I are into photography, he was professional, african art from my travels, by way of tribal masks etc, which site quite well with the pop art stuff in the living room - also some of DDs stuff framed, along with a collections old family ancestor photos & old professional ones of us, freinds & DD

I also have a collection of framed insect displays, they are in the spare room along with a few other natural world bits & bobs, such as my shell collection

so very eclectic, & LOTS of it planned to sit around the few very large colourful pop art prints we do have up :)