This is my favorite corner in the house, and contains some of my favorite things: pink peonies, my faux Eames rocker, a lace tablecloth my mom gave me (it’s hiding a crazy-cheap folding table I found on clearance at Home Depot last weekend)…and my Coney Island limited-edition poster depicting a couple with “His” and “Hers” tattoos, which you may recall from this JITH segment.
At the Art.com summit last month, one little factoid I learned was that the universal reaction to hanging a picture on a wall is to step back and smile at it. How nice is that? And totally true. The art that we have around our home is almost exclusively pieces that have a great deal of meaning for us, whether they’re family hand-me-downs or were picked up during our travels, and I think that’s how it should be: your art should make you love your space that much more.
After the jump are a couple more of my favorite pieces of art hung around our home, and some ways to get the look easily and affordably from Art.com.
Here’s another of my favorite pieces: a photograph with overlaid computer-generated artwork (I’m sure there’s a technical name for this, but I have no idea what it is) that Kendrick and I found in the Union Square Holiday Market and that he gave me for our first Christmas together. I hung it in the hallway in between our living room and our dining room to add color to the space and to bring the two areas together.
And this is an image that used to hang on my grandparents’ wall, and that’s one of the few things I have of theirs. I don’t know much about Alfred Delp (although Wikipedia tells me he was a German Jesuit priest who was executed for his resistance against the Nazis during WWII), but sitting in my grandparents’ hallway and looking at this quote is one of my earliest memories.
Is it pretty? No. It’s ancient, and wrinkled, and the frame is rickety and cheap…but it makes me feel close to my grandparents and makes me happy every time I look at it.
Art means different things to different people, but to me, this is the most important thing that art can do: bring you joy, warm you up, make you feel closer to those you love.
If you like my Coney Island poster: Try this April 1944 Giclee Print by Salvador Dali. I love vintage Vogue covers generally, and I think this slightly-over-the-top image evokes the same feel.
If you like my tree painting: Try this classic 1902 Klimt print, Tannenwald (Pine Forest). It’s similarly bright and lush, and would be a perfect addition to anywhere that needs a little extra splash of color.
If you like my Alfred Delp quote: The thing about inspirational artwork is that one man’s Cheese is another man’s Wisdom. Whatever resonates for you, that’s the one to pick (I like this vintage Taking Breaths Giclee Print by Rodney White, personally).
