The Look for Less: Pearson Room in Traditional Home 3

Wrapping up, I came across a few ideas today that are budget-wise!

Oriental Vases:

Back to looking at vases -- I had suggested (1) shopping at thrift stores, should also mention rummage and yard sales and (2) making a collection by painting some glass vases.  I know white is very popular right now but I also recently saw some vases that were "swirl painted" on the inside and they were very very nice! They would not be "oriental" style vases -- but perhaps some hand-painted ideograms on the outside might add to the look...

Centsational Girl had a recent blog on how to swirl paint glass vases (April 24, 2012) -- love love love how they turned out!  The vases she used are not the size of the vases in the inspiration picture -- here it is one more time:

But large relatively inexpensive clear glass vases can be purchased at lots of different places -- TJMaxx comes to mind, and I'm thinking you all will have your own favorite "go to" stores for staples like this, whether you buy new but discounted or go hunting at some thrifts, etc.  And you could always score some actual Oriental flavor vases or jars in the color-ways of your choice.

I also came across this cool blog entry today at Turnstyle Vogue (April 26, 2012), DIY: Ballard Designs Knock Off -- shows how to turn a large glass bottle (with cute little handles) into a "terra cotta" look.  This technique could be applied to probably just about any kind of vase, bottle, jar, jug, urns, etc.  Plates too -- now that would look cool -- a couple of really large plates done up like this (or clear glass swirl painted) up on black or brown "Oriental style" plate stands. 

The Painting:

Paintings are expensive -- at least, the kind I've found online, even at discount places like Overstock.com.  There is, again, the smartest option of shopping at your favorite thrift shops, rummages, etc. to find one or more paintings or prints that really ring your chimes, in the colorways of your choice.  I was trying to find something similar in content (a landscape) and color-tones (blue/green/grey/taupe) and long enough to fit over two bookcases/cabinets, while trying to stay true to the overall look/feel of the inspiration room.  Not easy!

I didn't find anything long enough, which meant shopping for two related-theme paintings -- now making the task more difficult!  I thought about a triptych but I did not see anything at Overstock.com, for instance, that I cared for.  Like I said, art is so personal!  I want inexpensive, but I don't want CHEAP LOOKING!  Minimum cost for two likely paintings at Overstock would be between $350 and $400.  No way would I pay that!  That's nearly the cost of a trip to Las Vegas to visit Isis, my honorary 'sis. 

I do dabble in watercolors on occasion and once I'm finally retired I intend to take some extension courses on how to paint with acrylics and with oils!  My intent is to fill my house with tons of paintings stacked everywhere and climbing all over the walls, and maybe fool my family into thinking that they're valuable masterpieces once I'm croaked :)  Okay, maybe not so nice but FUN!  So, I wouldn't be adverse to trying my hand at a watercolor; in fact, I've got a stash of lovely heavy-weight watercolor paper that I bought from a little shop that used to be within walking distance of my house -- but sadly, it went out of business many years ago.  That paper has been resting in a closet ever since, waiting patiently for just the right project or inspiration that I know will come, some day.

Some thrifty bloggers have tried their own hands at creating art for their walls - and who better to create art that coordinates perfectly with your color scheme, design theme(s) and tastes?  And of course, there's no law that says one HAS to copy as closely as possible an inspiration room/photo/look!  There are no rules when it comes to wall art, except to do what pleases you, and use what you have, can make/create, or if necessary, buy on the cheap.

Add Budget Art to Your Walls and Don't Spend a Fortune -- but I don't think I need to tell you where to look for inspiration.  Heck no!  You guys have ALL been inspirations to me!

This morning at the office (bad Jan, bad bad bad Jan), I got the idea to shop for those prints on canvas, figuring hey, they're just fake, they must be cheaper, right?  WRONG.  I would not have discovered that, though, unless I went looking, and so I did.

I found two canvas prints that I though would do very well in "my" version of the inspiration photo -- the same deep moody colors, and landscapes - and two of them -- because one alone wouldn't be long enough to anchor the area across two bookcases/cabinets.  Price disallows their choice, but they remind me of the background in the Mona Lisa!

This is Autumn Oasis I by St. John, $158.00. 

Here is it's companion:

Autumn Oasis III (not II, but III -- why?), $158.00.

My last stop for this challenge was at allposters.com.  I have purchased posters from this online vendor over the years and have been happy with their prompt delivery and customer service.  Could I find something that would do? 

I just went - gasp - when I saw this poster.  It's called Walkway Over the Lake, and it's $6.99.  It is 36" long and 24" high.  So, a second companion poster would be needed - or a whole lot of faces and plates to balance out the other side of those two bookcases/cabinets:

And a companion poster of the same size, Waterfall Lake, also $6.99:

These are black and white or grey-tone posters, so they would have to be put on some kind of backer-board (I've used cardboard with edges wrapped in Contac paper) or mounted/framed using a method of your choice.  You are all so creative out there, I know you'd come up with something great!

While these posters definitely play into the grey colorway, swirl-painted vases, plates and the "Ballard Designs" knock off method to do vases, etc. could be used to introduce a balancing color accent.  Not to mention what you may already have in your "shop" at home.

What Do I Put On My Bedroom Walls?

 What do I put on my bedroom walls? 

I should have spent at least part of today putting the birdy pics in the Walgreens frames.  Didn't.  Instead, pulled out tons of old stuff from the closets (seemed to have multiplied over the years, what?) and spread it out in the light of the bedroom.  But it was really sunny today and even with both windows fully covered and the curtains not pulled back, I couldn't get semi-decent photos of the main contenders until close to 5 p.m.

Which means, darlings, that SPRING IS ALMOST HERE!  That also means we may still experience one or more blizzards...

OHMYGODDESS, you have no idea how happy that makes me.

Back to bedroom decor -- here are the major pieces I have.  Major meaning size-wise.  Sorry for the photos, not the best.  Instead of dealing with too little light, I was dealing with too much light!  And trying to get the full pics into these pics, so I plopped everything on top of the bureau and photographed them that way:

Suspect No. 1:  A Home Interiors entry. Love the frame.  Not so hot on the rather greenish and definitely MAUVE faux borders.  Because despite the price I paid for the lovely, it doesn't have its own separate mat!  But the subject is beautiful.  I believe they are dogwood blossoms.

Suspect No. 2:  Mom gave this to me I don't know how many years ago, exactly.  More than 25, to be sure!  I love the print, but the frame has seen better days and doesn't evoke the kind of vibe I'm into these days.  This is all of one piece and I'd have to strip it down, probably trashing the frame, in order to get at the "print," and then somehow cut it down to size to fit into a different frame if I'm not able to get a mat and frame that would exactly fit it otherwise.  Talk about CHA-CHING!!!!!  Not to mention those pastel colors, faded over the years, would be very hard to match. But oh, the ethereal look of this -- still love it after all these years.  And it sure would look fab in my room, wouldn't it?  If there was just the perfect spot for it...

Suspect No. 3:  This is actually a poster I picked up hmmm, don't remember when.  It's put over an earlier Home Interiors pic of two cardinals.  Beautiful in its hey-day, now grossly faded.  I took the mat and painted it - those 90's colors again!  It's big and beautiful, and would definitely make a statement.  But the mat needs to be repainted, or disappeared entirely???

Suspect No. 4:  Not the best photo.  This is another Home Interiors entry called "Roses, Roses!" and it really is lovely, although faded.  Considering what I paid for these Home Interiors wall art, it is disappointing, to say the least.  I have at least three Home Interiors prints stashed away in my upstairs closets!  Geez, I never realized how big those seemingly smallish looking closets are until I started digging around in them... Rather like Alice Through The Looking Glass.  I love the frame on t his pic and when it was not faded, it was gorgeous.  It's still very pretty, and very very girly.  As you can see, it definitely as a "green" element going.  Don't think it's what I'm looking for. I was thinking that part of Suspect No. 2 would look gorgeous framed out in this.  But then, Suspect No. 2 would also look gorgeous framed out in Suspect No. 3...

Suspect No. 5:  Birds, ordered from K-Mart online some years ago.  It actually came form some merchant-sharing program they had at the time, I think.  I love it!  I love the frame, the mat, and the compositiojn of the print.  It actually looks like it has a third (or is that fourth?) mat around it, but that damask-look  around the bird pic is actually not a mat at all, but part of the pic.  This was originally ordered for the guest room, and hung in there for at least a few years until I abducted it in late 2009 after my bedroom had been repainted. 

Soooo, what do I do?  What do I do?