Monday, January 9, 2012

Our $45 Living Room Wall Art Update

It's time to say goodbye to the random black and white Ikea artwork in our Living Room and hello to something more personal! 

During my first go-around decorating our Living Room, I found these photos and frames at Ikea. I thought the photos were nice, elegant and they would blend well in our Living Room (also budget friendly). 

Now that we have been looking at them for 3 years, I kept getting an itch to change them.  I thought it would be nice to use some of the photos we took on our Europe trip. A lot of them turned out beautiful and had wonderful memories attached to them.

I presented this idea to my hubby, then he pointed out a few concerns...

Alex (in grumpy old man voice)- "We brought out point and shoot camera on our vacation, won't the picture quality be kind of crappy in larger sizes?" 
Carla - "Not sure, I would have to try and order them to see if the resolution is bad"
 Alex (still grumpy voice)- "What if you can't print them in sizes that will fit those frames? That would be dumb to have to buy new frames"
Carla- "Yes, I don't want to buy new frames, I will measure the existing ones and try to order photos that are the same or close to the measurements"
Alex- "Well okay, I want to pick the pictures though!"

After that fun discussion I measured the frames and photos.  Here's what we needed...

1- 5" x 7"
 1- 11" x 17"
 3- 4" x 6" (easy)
1- 6" x 8"
1- 20" x 28"

When it came to choosing the pictures, we both agreed that photos from Croatia would be perfect!  Alex's family heritage is Croatian (as is our last name), and we absolutely loved our visit to the beautiful city of Split.  Here is a closer look of the photos we selected.  Pretty amazing for a point and shoot camera, right?
Cathedral of Saint Domnius from within Emperor Diocletian's Palace
Inside the Cathedral Tower looking out toward the Adriatic Sea
View of the Adriatic Sea from a random roadside stop
A beautiful roadside stop along our walk from Kasjuni beach
Sunset from our hotel balcony
A view of Bacvice Beach from Bene Beach along the Adriatic Coast

Diocletian's Palace Ruins (taken from our hotel balcony)
 Ahhh, wonderful memories!
I thought about ordering the photos on Shutterfly, but I haven't had the best experience with their prints. Then, on a random Target visit I found that you can order all these sizes and get them back the same day!  Their prices were also pretty reasonable, so I decided to place our order and see how they would turn out.

5" x 7" - $1.49 each x 1= $1.49
16" x 20" (I had to order in place of the odd 11" x 17" size) - $14.99 x 1 = $14.99
4" x 6" - $0.25 each x 3 = $0.75
8" x 10" (I had to order in place of the odd 6" x 8" size) - $2.89 x 1 = $2.89
24" x 36" - $24.99 each x 1 = $24.99

Grand Total- $45.11, not bad!
Once I got the photos back, I started looking through them and I was soooo happy with how they turned out!  I did all black and white prints to keep the formal look and feel. 
I was most impressed with the large 24" x 36" print.  It is hard to tell from this photo (sorry for the reflective glare), but the quality of the print was so nice and crisp!

Here is a closer look at the rest once I got them put into the frames...



Again, sorry about the glare on the pictures. I tried my best to avoid it but it was kind of impossible.

I am so happy with this simple change in our living room. It is wonderful to have a reminder of our trip that we can look at everyday, and it is fun to share the stories about Croatia when we have guests over (we could never do that with the Ikea pictures). 

What do you think of the wall art update?

Also, thank you to everyone that offered up ideas for our kitchen nook storage dilemma!  I will try to follow up with that this week!

9 comments:

  1. Hi, Carla

    It looks great!

    Vanessa

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  2. I am thinking about doing the same from our most recent Nepal trip! Your photos look great! :) Looking forward to seeing what you decided to do with your kitchen nook!

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  3. Just beautiful and so very elegant! I love the measuring tape. What an interesting and cool thing to do with one. I never would have thought of that. I just recently printed some free, old botanical illustrations off the computer. I eventually plan on matting and framing them. I took the prints that were on regular computer paper to Kinko's. They enlarged them to an 8x10 and put them on card stock. I was really impressed. They came out great and it and it only cost about 1.00 a print. Just thought I'd share. Love your blog and I look forward to seeing more of your decorating.

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  4. I love how those turned out! Such special memories!

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  5. These are so personal and beautiful!
    I also love the idea of using your own photos and memories for your home!
    You did a wonderful job...love the look you've created!

    Deborah :)

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  6. Thanks everybody! That is also a good idea to do prints through Kinkos :)

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  7. Gorgeous! I want to go to Croatia now!!

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  8. We just came over from Lauren at Crazy ever After and so glad we did. Loved your guest post! Please tell your hubby that these photos look like you bought them from somewhere! Great quality and love the frames!
    We are now following you and would love for you to visit our blog sometime and follow if you like.
    Hope you guys have a great weekend!
    Jayme & Mendi @ Her Late Night Cravings

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  9. Aw wow love your photo's they look fab! Can I ask how much you set aside for renovating and what unexpected problems you've come across plus also if you've already spent more than you wanted to?

    M x

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