How To Decorate

Your Home With

Affordable Art

How to decorate your home with affordable art is easy. Decorating your new home

with art doesn't have to mean an expensive trip to your local gallery. Collecting art can be an expensive habit, but these

days there are plenty of places to get amazing original art for a great price. Whether you like prints, fine art oil paintings or abstract collage, we've got a

source for you.

The Siesta Key Farmers Market is a Sunday morning tradition since 2008 from 8am to 2pm,

the Siesta Key Farmers Market offers a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, fine art by artist Vanessa Simonard and Lloyd Dobson, Jamaican prepared foods and pastries,

hot breakfast, organic green tea, local plants, Italian olive oils, artisan breads, organic skin care products, clothing, jewelry, photography, pottery,

and live music.

For additional affordable art visit the following online

website galleries:

www.LloydDobsonArtist.com

www.VanessaSarasota.blogspot.com

Here are some additional ideas. The

key to decorating on a budget is to think

laterally. This guide aims to give you some

ideas.

1) Family Frame

Sometimes it helps to think outside the frame. We turned this divided window into a frame

perfectly scaled for over the sofa. Sand, prime, and repaint a salvage-yard window, then fit a precut mat

and a favorite photo into each opening. Keep them in place with framer's glazing points (find them at crafts

stores). We added a vintage knob to give our new artwork old-fashioned

character.

2) Curate Your Blooms

You'd be surprised how

beautiful close-up photos of

flowers can be--even the

snapshots you take with your

own digital camera.

Take your favorite flower images to your local photo

center. Have them enlarged to enhance the details, and ask

that they be printed on canvas, rather than photo paper. Crisp

white frames make these pretty petals pop, but you could simply stretch the

canvases over frames for a modern edge.

3) Measure Up

You can scoop up old rulers--some with cool retro logos--for a few

bucks. These bird prints, cut from the pages of a dime-store

book,

match the old-fashioned vibe. We used wood glue

to affix the rulers to cheap wooden frames. The rulers are applied

differently on each frame to keep things

interesting.

4) Magnetic Attraction

A message center can be a lifesaver

for on-the-go families. This

project takes that concept a step

further.

Rather than one boring bulletin board, the entire

wall is coated in four coats of magnetic primer and a top coat of yellow.

This way the even the littlest members of the family can contribute artwork and special

notes.

DIY Tip: We love this idea for a work space or crafts room, as well. Instead of an inspiration board for your latest projects, you could have an entire wall

of inspiration!

5) Jewel Box

If jewelry looks dazzling on you, it makes sense that it could

dress up walls, too.

We bought cheap thrift-store frames and backed

them with fiberboard covered in pretty paper. We used old cabinet knobs and pushpins to hang necklaces and bracelets. For earrings, we secured two lengths of

ribbon horizontally across a frame, using thumbtacks to

reinforce it.

Earrings dangle from the ribbon. Even brooches and pins have a home here. We backed one

frame with corkboard, so pins slide in easily. No more digging through

cluttered drawers for the pearls--it's grab and go.

5) Natural Instincts

These are not your 4-year-old's sun-catchers. Our

sophisticated project brings refined outside style to inside

spaces.

We plucked single leaves from a hosta, fern,

caladium, and palm, then sandwiched them between

framed panels of glass. (You can find the frames at crafts

stores.) Cup hooks screw inconspicuously to the window trim, and the

frames dangle from eye hooks via thin chains.

DIY Tip: Swap out the leaves every few weeks

when they begin to brown. For a long-lasting display, use dried leaves

coated with acrylic artist's spray to prevent

discoloration.

We invite you to stop by the Siesta Key Farmers Market and say hello or

visit our website at www.SiestaKeyBlueWave.

com for the latest happening

on Siesta Key.

Thank You For Stopping

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