One of my favorite ways to decorate is to frame items that mean something to us, rather just a random print. Not only are our walls much more interesting this way, but this source of artwork is often entirely free.
Usually I frame it with a pre-assembled frame purchased from Micheal’s or JoAnn’s with a 40% off coupon.
Here are a few examples of this type of artwork:
On a summer trip to Washington, DC the Library of Congress gift shop was giving away free copies of this poster. Since I love reading and have long wanted to attend the National Book Festival, I scooped up the poster and had it framed for my office at home. I love looking at it hanging right next to my desk. Due to the poster’s irregular size, this is one time I did opt to use professional framing.
Kids’ artwork is my favorite way to use this technique. I used a floating frame for this art class picture my son did of our church.
The stairway into our basement has a sports theme. This wall contains two free posters and one autographed magazine article. All were framed with basic black frames to keep the look consistent.
Even, in our dining room I hung a couple of framed photographs I took at Disney World, of all places. This is one of two that hang on either side of french doors. Again, these are frames I bought with a coupon at Michael’s.
Get more great Works for Me Wednesday ideas at Rocks in My Dryer.
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Great framing job. And I appreciate your money saving tip too. I love Michael’s Crafts store.
Wonderful! I like this idea.
These are great! We framed some of my son’s artwork for our kitchen. He even got creative and made a watercolor painting of fruit on a table. It was so cute!
Those are the best kinds of art!
Thanks for sharing that tip.
Great idea! I’ve been meaning to start using those Michael’s coupons that come out almost every week. What a great way to save money and have personal touches all over the house!
I do the same thing, but if I have something that is an irregular size, I buy a standard sized ready made frame and have Michael’s cut a custom mat for me. It has never cost more than 7 or 8 bucks for the mat.
Thanks for the tip, Ashley. I’ll have to remember that for next time.
Great ideas. When we went to Disneyland Paris I wanted a souvenir to hang on my wall but I didn’t really want cartoon animals. So I kept the menu from Buffalo Bill’s where we watched such an amazing show I can’t even remember what the food was. The menu was decorated with a copy (or an artist’s impression, I don’t know) of a handbill from Buffalo Bill’s 19th century shows, so it looks quite restrained and “historical” but it reminds me of the best holiday we ever had.
I wasn’t deliberately being frugal, I would have gladly paid for a souvenir, but the menu was better.
I love the floating frame for your son’s art.
We’ve decorated our walls with pictures of our garden that my husband took with our digital camera, close-ups of flowers with the “macro” setting. A nice print from the local camera store is inexpensive, and when we move we can take these mementos of our first house with us.
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