Decorating Obstacles: Big Open Walls (part four)

This is the fourth and final post in this series where I am featuring ideas and inspiration on how to decorate spaces with big open walls. In the third post here, we looked at how to do this with photo groupings. Photo groupings are a great way to take a bunch of little things to make a large presentation. But what about if you want a single big piece of art. That is our subject for today – BIG art! But BIG art on the cheap… I will explain more below!

Using BIG art

Big art can be the “it” factor in the room. It can be the part of the overall scheme or the pop! Check out these examples below for a little inspiration.

(Photo by Lucas Rios Giordano Architects via Houzz)

Can you say “drama” – I thought you might!

(Photo by Tomar Lampert via Houzz)

I love the way these two large prints flank either side of this cut in!

(Photo by Basil Walter Architects via Houzz)

(Photo by Shubin + Donaldson via Houzz)

(Photo by Harrell Remodeling via Houzz)

(Photo by Harrell Remodeling via Houzz)

(Photo by Belmont Freeman Architects via Houzz)

(Photo by Ryan Associates via Houzz)

(Photo by Martin E. Rich Architect via Houzz)

So now your feeling all inspired and I know what you are thinking. Those four little words. I can’t afford that. YES you can!

So let’s start with some resources. If you wanna run around town, Home Goods (a Frugal Favorite) always seems to have larger prints for anywhere from $30-$70. However, you might not always be able to find what you are looking for in the store as their inventory rotates frequently.

This is why we have Ebay!  Behold several great (highly ranked) sellers with BIG art at affordable prices. Most of these sellers are overseas and this is how they gain a living.

First – unstreched paintings have the most bang for your buck and are cheaper to ship. You will either need to stretch it yourself or incur the fee of getting it stretched once you get it.  Note: Some sellers will including stretching as a "fee" be sure to read their whole Ebay listing. 

7oilpainting – 24x36 inch paintings at $29.90 a pop (unstretched)

Okeart-gallery – 30x30” paintings starting at $16.95 (unstreched)

For already stretched paintings - my personal favorite artist on ebay is hand-painting.  I really want this painting!!!!  I love the knife detail and the lotus flower subject!  All of their landscapes are great and they do BIG art prestreched for around $119.00 with free shipping.

Now … if you want to get really low cost, here is what you do. First, you learn how to make your own stretcher bars. I have a couple resources listed below that quote the cost of making the stretcher bars starting from $4. Read a little bit about stretching canvas and then decide what you are going to stretch.

• E-how- guide on how to build your own stretcher bars

• Ray Schloss – how to build really big canvas frames

• About.com – how to stretch canvas

You could buy your own unstretched art from Ebay and stretch it yourself. You could also stretch canvas and paint your own masterpiece. Painting something in all one color with gradients is a beautiful way to add a pop of color. You can also stretch a great piece of fabric which will also add color and potentially (depending on the fabric) texture!

(If you don’t have the tools or the time, you could also just buy your own stretched canvas at Rexart.com. They have a basic canvas in either 36x48” for $34.59 or 48x60” for $55.35.)

So what about you?   Do you have big art?  Have you ever stretched your own canvas (or something else)? Have pictures or links?? Please share!!

This ends this Decorating Obstacles series! Please check out parts 1-3 if you missed them!