Five FREE Ways to
Add Art & Beauty to your home, Now!
I recently shared Five Free things you can do now to create a Gorgeous Room. That post is a great place to start if you are on you are tired of waiting for your house to magically look pretty – and you are ready to make an instant change. There are so many great ideas there, and they are realistic.
Well, the next step, after creating a gorgeous room, is to add the details that really make a space wonderful. You know. The icing on the cake. The cherry on the Sunday.
I am here to tell you that this does not have to cost you a thing! {Not that buying things you LOVE is a crime! buy away when you are able! But in life, we need choices for all of our seasons.} Below is a list of several artful items that, when displayed in a lovely manner, can give your home that gorgeous, finished, designer feel. All of them – FREE!
1. FREE branches from your yard.
Or from the yard of a willing friend. Extra glorious if you can find a branch that is in bloom. A couple favorites of mine:
- Bare branches with sculptural form, like a curly willow in winter
- Budding branches
- Cherry blossom or Dogwood blossom branches {prune your tree + have pretty flowers = win win}
- Branches of magnolia leaves or other glossy leaves
- Force forsythia branches in the winter
- Pussy willow
- Holly branches in the winter
- Any bunch of green grasses or green bush. Perfect when cutting back a pretty weed.
but don’t be limited by those ideas. All of creation is beautiful! Bring it indoors!
Branch Inspiration
{via Lauren Liess, Domino}
{Architectural Digest, via Fieldstone Hill Design}
{via Elle Decor}
2. FREE Printable Art
Printable art is a great addition to your walls! I like this best interspersed between actual paintings, but printable art is a great starting place if you have zero art to speak of. Also, printable art is best when framed, but that too can wait if necessary.
Here are some great resources for adding FREE Printable art to your space:
- Maps are gorgeous when framed on the wall. Try these FREE maps.
- I ADORE these FREE botanical prints
- Fill your home with FREE and gorgeous Vintage prints. NY Public Library Digital Images
- Keep up with the Free Printables that Bloggers create and offer. Here and Here are some that I have shared. Also, I keep a Pin-board of Printables that are Free or Mostly Free.
- I like these frames.
Not free. But not pricey, and classy.
optional TIPS FOR PRINTING YOUR ART:
1. Save the file to a flash drive in the best quality storage option
2. Take the file to your local printer, and select the best quality paper available. This will cost just a little bit, and is optional, but it is a small amount that will make a HUGE difference in your “mostly” FREE art.
Printable Art Inspiration
{via Inspiration Display}
{via Inspiration Display}
3. FREE: Hang Your Plates
Hang groupings of plates on the wall. Use the pretty ones you own, but just sit in a drawer. FREE!
Plate hanging is so much easier than it used to be, thanks to these babies.
Plate Hanging Inspiration
{via Nesting Place}
{via Life in Grace}
{via The French Inspired Room}
4. FREE: Hang Your Stuff On The Wall
Do you have other groupings of Stuff? Things, just sitting in a drawer, that would look beautiful if hung on the wall? Antique baskets? old silver platters? straw hats? Select unique and artful collections, and hang them with symmetry. FREE!
I have already written a post about this, so you should hop over there: See THIS HUGE COLLECTION OF IDEAS for things you can hang on your wall. Maybe you already have some of these things clogging up a drawer or closet in your home! Time to make some free art!
Hang-Your-Stuff Inspiration {see tons more pics & ideas here}
A collection of hats + brass clocks = Stuff, hanging on the wall.
{via Country Living, design by Sarah Richardson}
5. Cut Flowers From Your Own Garden
Don’t forget the age old practice of keeping a Flower Cutting Garden, and then filling your home with the flowers… for free! Whenever something is in bloom! Because flowers are the PERFECT art. This Cutting Garden thing is something I have yet to do {I am not exactly in the season of life for heavy gardening. Parenting 3 littles, homeschooling, running 2+ businesses, etc. etc. are keeping me plenty overwhelmed, thank you very much.} But this IS on my dream list! I even have dream plans…. for someday.
How about you? Do you have a little plot where you could plant a cutting garden? Dream with me:
Cutting Garden Inspiration
{via Gardeners, Plant a cutting garden}
{via Victoria Elizabeth Barnes}
{via Inspiration Garden and Flowers}
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These are just a few ideas for ways to add beauty and art into your home. The fun part is that you can do these now. Today!And, now you have some very free tools, and hopefully the inspiration and motivation.
Free yourself of things you don’t need {head back to this post for the details on editing your space}, and add in other {free} decorative touches, and you will breathe more easily – and smile more often – in your beautiful, peaceful and orderly space!
MY GENEROUS BLOG SPONSOR (and why you should looky here):
This blog post is generously sponsored by my YL. My Young Living essential oils are also a passion of mine, and the oils are so well loved that they sponsor my blog!!! Thank you, friends! Enroll by clicking here. You will not regret it! You NEED these amazing bottles of life-loving oils (that don’t even COMPARE to the cheap-y stink oils) in your life!!
I am SUPER excited about the new Premium Starter Kit. You are going to LOVE it… unless you hate things that smell heavenly and make you smile. #spaliving #livewithbeauty #wellness #MyHouseSmellsLikeASpa
Questions? Head here:
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I love the plate walls and those disc hangers, but the thought of making soooo many holes in my walls make me want to cringe. I wonder if command strips would work for plates?
Included in the post and in the “shop the post” carousel at the bottom is my favorite plate hanger… and bonus – NO holes in the walls!
Love the plates on wall by front door; unsymmetrical and organic. just pinned it.
Thank you, Karen!
Those sites for “free” art prints are SO appreciated and also the plate holder find!
I went to the site for the maps and cannot for the life of me figure out how to print them off? according to comments in sidebar on that site, others are wondering the same thing.
what’s your method? just curious. as I will print off when I can figure it out. Printing-challenged this a.m.
thank you, Darlene!
I was so excited to see a comment from you Cheryl! You have been missed 🙂
You know, that link was not very user friendly, so I decided to change it out. Here is a better option: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?keyword=maps&submit.x=-1056&submit.y=-231
Happy mapping!
xo
Thank you, Darlene! That new link is WAY better for mapping. I haven’t disappeared but I am eyeball deep in wedding planning for my daughter’s wedding in mid-May! A vintage wedding, a “design” project for sure! And I’m focusing a lot more on my writing and art which accounts for my fewer comments. I am now revamping a couple of rooms in our home and I wish you were here!!!!!
Okay, this reminds me of a funny story:
When we lived on the island of Borneo, someone brought us a bunch of orchids. Orchids just grow wild there, so they had clipped them on the side of the road and they were really beautiful. I out them in a vase on our table so we could enjoy them while we ate dinner with the guests. During the meal, my then-three year old was totally preoccupied with those flowers and finally someone asked her, “Don’t you love the pretty flowers?” And she said, “what I really like are the WORMS!” There were little inchworms crawling all over them, inching down the vase and onto the table. We hadn’t even noticed them and there were lord ably about a hundred! Nobody could eat after that and our poor guests were so embarrassed to have brought infested flowers.
So, bring in stuff from the yard, but inspect it first! Even the prettiest flower can hide the grossest bug, lol!
…and on a serious, more related note…spray painting branches can also be a cool look. My mother in law paints branches gold and puts them on the wall, and they are so dramatic. I painted some white to hang vintage valentines on and it was pretty and a nice way to keep a bit of my favorite apple tree that had come down in a storm.
Haha! Love it! We lovingly gave my sister a huge bouquet from a Rose of Sharon, when my nephew was born. Brought it to the hospital.
Let me tell ya….. we never lived down all of the ants that we gave our cute nephew for his first present!
I bought a older gardening book from goodwill. I paid $2 for it. It has beautiful drawings of flowers and plants. I took the pages from the book and framed them. Inexpensive and beautiful!
YES!!!! I should have included this in the post! Another good resource is children’s illustrated books. They are usually amazing, and not hard to come by! Great idea, Jennifer!
I love these tips, thank you! Another idea is to check your public library. Many of them will loan out beautiful, framed prints for 8-12 weeks at a time. I have enjoyed doing this, and I like being able to change out the art every couple of months. I get compliments on them, and guests are always surprised that they came from the library!
For the NYPL prints/maps, did you just request editorial use of them or did you purchase them?
You can read the printing conditions via the NYPL link.
Since you mentioned wanting a cut flower garden, have you considered starting small? Zinnias are the perfect cut flower and come in many colors. I buy 2-3 plants each year for my yard and then cut them for my home from may-September. They are affordable and the more you cut them the more they will bloom. So you don’t have to wait until you have time for an entire garden 🙂
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