Starting your art journey, even with a smaller budget

First, you have to fall in love.

The hardest part of my job as an interior designer is artwork (also, wallpaper, which honestly is just a whole wall covered in art). I work closely with clients and address artwork as thoroughly and often as it takes, but sometimes at the end of the project, I encourage clients to take a look and find art for themselves.

by Amanda Margaret Interiors

To start your art journey, my favorite places for affordable prints, printed for you, and sometimes even framed for you:
Minted
Artfully Walls
Gallery inspired, chic, conceptual: Saatchi Art
Trendy, graphic, youthful: FY!
Unique and full of personality, hand numbered, limited edition and affordable: https://www.thepeoplesprintshop.com/
Genuine vintage (most), I especially love looking through their lithographs: https://www.chairish.com/search?q=lithograph
Classy, minimal, trendy posters: https://popchart.co/

Now, remember you can frame absolutely anything and it will look artistic and professional. I was over at a client’s house the other day and was loving her art collection. She pointed out a shadow-box style framed piece of a lovely quote in French, and told me it was the inside of a cardboard box that she just like the look of. She also had a framed paper placemat-style menu from a restaurant in Paris that she kept from her honeymoon – it had lovely wrinkles in it!

Keep an eye out for things you like the look of, or mean something to you! Book pages (or a bookmark even), an old postcard, a letter from your family, an old map with worn seams, a fabric patch, any of these things can be framed and look natural, professional, and artistic. One of my favorite things right now is pressed flowers, especially meaningful ones like your wedding bouquet. My favorite company that does this is Emblem and Pine.

Collect things you love, then take them to get professionally framed (I recommend no mat – shadowbox style) and you will have the most unique art collection of any home that you know.

Also, keep your eye out in thrift stores, at farmers markets, and out and about wherever you are!

If you would like to seek out art that you love, and are willing to do the work, you can save yourself some money, and with some tips and tricks, it can look just like the real thing.

As I started this article by saying – the first step is falling in love!

There is so much art out there! I promise you will find something you fall in love with. Keep searching and researching and figuring out what gives you emotion and sticks in your head. Search for some specific genres: photography, modern abstract, traditional painting, botanical or architectural prints, minimalist, then search within those genres. Oftentimes you like one genre and then find other, specific art that you love in other genres even if you don’t like the more general category.

The best way to save money with artwork is to use printable resources and then frame prints yourself. Start searching! Here are some resources.

Trendy, Minted-like: https://juniperprintshop.com/
Vintage art prints: https://museumqualityart.com/
Photography (free, differing quality – never print above 100% size): https://unsplash.com/
Minimal, Scandinavian, Figural: The Printable Studio
Minimal, Scandinavian, Textural: MIUUSSTUDIO
A favorite artist of mine: Dan Hobday Art – Printable Collection

Now, once you choose your amazing art that you fall in love with, there are many places you can print and frame to hang on your wall. You can even do it at home, especially if you are using a floating, glass gallery frame or shadowbox. Or, you can also upload directly and get it printed and framed at:
https://www.framebridge.com/
or https://simplyframed.com/

I am so excited you are starting out on your art journey! Remember when it comes to art, follow your heart (oh my, I’m regretting thinking of that now) and explore. Find things you love, include unexpected things, and every time you look at your walls, it will feel just like home. Holes can be filled and pieces can be replaced, so feel free to experiment! You’ll end up loving every wall in your home.