Decorate your walls

Okay, so I noticed now that in the photo below the photos aren't exactly straight - oh well. You get the idea.

We moved to our new house about a year and half ago. The process to pack up and move (nearly three blocks) with two kids seemed impossible. But we did it and are loving it. One of the main rules my husband and I made was that we were not moving anything we didn't love or was in bad shape. Let's just say we had a HUGE PURGE. We had so many things collectively from our single days, to our now married days, to inherited from family days. It was just way too much stuff and was great therapy for a fresh start figuratively and literally. We decided that all of the things we ditched or donated, we would replace over time (key words cause it does get $$$) especially the art and hand me down furniture. Almost done on the furniture but the art is sometimes forgotten. Those poor bare walls.

So I know it gets so $$$ when you think of custom framing, etc. I found a great way and rather cost effective if you compare the two. Find a fav. print or photo and buy a ready-made frame with mat at your local craft store i.e. Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or Tuesday Morning. The frames I posted below are all from Michaels and I bought the prints from either Etsy or from a local antique print dealer. The craft stores have tons of shapes and sizes and a variety of basic frame designs. I would either stick with a black theme or white but make sure you don't mix the two in a room. For example, I framed all the art work and photos in our hallway to our bedrooms in black and the girls' rooms have all white. I think it gives a more uniform and clean look.

If you are going for more of a collage look like on a large wall, that may be the only way to mix the variety of frame colors, textures, designs. I love this idea from West Elm(see in above photo.)