Building up an affordable collection of Art and Prints

It’s been ages since I sat down and actually wrote anything about our renovation, but earlier this week I shared a photo on Instagram of the new prints we have hanging in our hallway and it’s inspired me to get back behind the keyboard and talk about one of the things I love which is Art and building up an affordable collection of art and prints.

If you’re a follower on Instagram (and if you’re not then it would be lovely if you came and said hi) then you’ll know that we have a lot of prints on display around the house. It’s one of the main ways I get to express my personality and I love how the right piece can really make a statement

My taste tends to lean towards abstract or typographical prints. I’m not sure why as I distinctly remember dissing abstract art at school, but I love how the blocks of colour represent something, without being too over bearing.  Each print evokes a special memory for me and I love how they can set the tone of the whole room.

These sunset prints by Juniqe are the first thing you see when you walk in our front door. I love how bright and bold they are and that they remind me of the beach. Other than these prints, our hallway is pretty grey so I’m hoping the pops of colour will demonstrate that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

Building up an affordable Art collection (Art doesn’t have to cost the earth )

We have a mix of affordable prints in our house with some more expensive pieces dotted here and there but unless you knew what you were looking at, you wouldn’t be able to tell. The higher priced prints tend to be one of a limited print run and will be signed by the artist, but if you’re on a budget then there are a loads of great websites where you can pick out really modern prints for a fraction of the cost.  When we first moved in to this house, the living room was the first room we finished and I wanted to make a bold statement on the wall behind the sofa. The budget was tight because we had a million and one other projects to spend our money on, but I managed to pick up these three prints and frames from Desenio for under £70 including frames.

The best thing about art is that once you have the print, it’s yours and can be moved around to suit your mood. We later moved the prints from our living room to our bedroom and they have a completely different feel.

 

Buy it because you love it

Art should be fun. Bar a couple of the prints I’ve bought for the gallery wall in the kitchen, the majority of prints around our home have been bought simply because I love them. One of the best things about art is its versatility and the fact that if you love something, you’d love it in any setting. So I wouldn’t get too caught up on choosing something to try and fit a room or follow a trend. I actually bought these three prints by Tom Pigeon for our bedroom and dining room, but when they arrived I loved them so much that I wanted them to be in a more prominent location and so I redecorated our living room so they would fit.

The great thing about art is that I you can move prints around as the mood takes you and if you truly love something then you’ll make it work in any setting (even if that means redecorating). The middle one of these prints isn’t actually part of the set that the outer two come from,  but I loved it so made them all work together by pulling out the pinks and peaches through the rest of the room.

Making it Personal

I love how a space can evolve dependant on the art you find.  One of my favourite areas of the house is the gallery wall we’ve created in our kitchen, but initially this wasn’t going to be a gallery wall at all. Originally I’d planned to paint it blue like the rest of the dining room and I have a big pink print by Super Rural that I was going to use to create a statement feature on the wall that is now white room.  Unfortunately my Super Rural print is actually at a friends house who lives in New York and I was getting itchy feet waiting for her to return as I was in the nesting period with Ollie. So one quiet Wednesday afternoon I sat down with my lap top and ordered a couple of prints by Gayle Mansfield to fill the gap while I was waiting.

The prints arrived shortly before Ollie was born and remained rolled up in their tubes until Christmas when I had another push to get the room finished. By then I had accumulated a couple more prints like the 24/7 print from We Are Amused and the gallery wall was born.

 

Chop Chop | Be Kind | Brighton Rocks | 24/7

Although it wasn’t planned. The gallery wall in the dining room is without a doubt my favourite feature in the house because I love how it has evolved to reflect aspects of our life and personality. The ‘Kitchen is for Dancing’ print is really popular on Instagram at the moment and becoming a bit of a cliche, but it’s still one of my favourites because we really are always dancing around the kitchen and so the wording reminds me of us. The Brighton Rocks print was a gift from my bridesmaids at our wedding and so will always remind me of that (and our home city which I love), the little bowler hat is a nod to the fact I love anything from yesteryear and the half rainbow print by Wonder and Rah has been personalised with Ettie and Ollie’s names. There is so much of our personality on this one wall, that it would be a dead giveaway if Loyd Grossman was ever to come looking through the keyhole.

Anything can be framed

Another thing to remember is that anything can be framed. We have cards from our wedding on the wall in the dining room and some hand drawn sketches of my wedding dress resting on the dresser in our bedroom. Neither of these things were bought as ‘art’, but they are incredibly personal to us and make me smile ever time I walk past them.

Where to by Great Prints

There are loads of places online to source great prints but I’ve listed some of my favourites below. Instagram is a great source of inspiration. If you see a print you like then it’s often worth tapping on the image to see if the source has been tagged. I’ve also listed some of my favourite shops below:

• Desenio;
• Juniqe;(I have 30% off with the code EMMAFAITH30 – valid until June 2nd)
• Gayle Mansfield;
• Etsy  (I like Dan Hobday Art and Anna Lewis Art)
• Tate;
• Paper Collective

I hope you’ve enjoyed this. If you have any questions about any of the prints listed, please drop me a note in the comments below xx

 

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