Sentimental Artwork

Ever since leaving home, I have sought out artwork. I needed something to feel like home, to add my own personal touch, and to fill some blank wall space. Over the years, I had the band posters, chemistry posters, college basketball posters (Go Wildcats!) and goodwill painting portraits. When my husband and I moved in together, we had a lot of things to choose from in our collection. Most artwork we didn't really care about, we just wanted something to fill the wall space.

This post is for the sentimental items that we couldn't put a price on. Most of these pieces of artwork were given to us and possibly the only cost was framing.

Such as, this doily that was croqueted for a wedding gift:




A picture of our 3 little furry ones:



A portrait painted by a family member that hung in an office of the family's business:


A favorite LP with the original stickers and posters:


A favorite movie poster:

Fun and Affordable Artwork for Our Home

Artwork for your home can be from a variety of sources and it doesn't have to be expensive. (such as this) We had tons of posters, pictures, prints, etc from the college and apartment renting days. However, we didn't really have much for a "formal" living room.

When we purchased this house, we were not rich and we still are not rich. Therefore, we kind of decided to go with the flow. We had more patience to find the right thing to fit our budget rather than just going out and spending a lot of money. Also, in the end, I think we had more fun finding these pieces. Certainly, the stories are better!

This first is a print of Roy Lichtenstein's Ball of Twine. We paid $12 for the print on ebay. The ornate frame came from this yard sale. It was damaged and falling apart and needed some work. We paid $5 for the frame and Jeff spent maybe 20 minutes getting put back together. It cracks us up to look at this Lichtenstein print (who is known as this American Pop Art Artist) in this really frilly frame.



This framed print came from Kohl's. Yes, they have art too. This print is an x-ray of a flower (by Steven Meyer) and I fell in love with it. It was normally $80 and I spent $40 on it due to a Kohl's 50% off sale of framed prints. By the way, I am still trying to figure out what flower this is. I cannot find an example in any of Meyer's work as of yet.



This painting from an unknown artist named Clark came from an antique store here in town. We paid $125 for the huge painting. It might be too large for this actual space (see it barely fits in between the crown molding and the mantle) but trying it out in other spaces did not do it justice. It is a focal point of the room. It colors look as if it is from the 70's but it fits well with our color scheme. I love the huge pop of flowers. It is what I think of this living room- you turn the corner and pop! you are hit with our version of a mid-century modern room. Like the Lichtenstein, this painting makes me smile. Also, see the black and green glass hedgehog beside the painting? $4 at a yard sale. Still smiling...



More to come....