Personalize Your Artwork

Are you an art lover but just don't have the budget to pay thousands of dollars for original art? Are you sick of white walls and need some pizazz to spice up your home? You don't have to spend a fortune to create an art gallery in your own home....and you won't even have to pay a security guard to keep watch over your valuable collection! Here are some easy ways to spruce up those walls.

Paint your own canvas - You don't need to have any artistic skills to paint. Take stock of what furniture you have in the room that you want to display the artwork in. Pull out three or four colors from the fabrics & existing colors in the room. Buy quart sizes cans of paint in those colors and a canvas. You can create a Jackson Pollack type piece or be more controlled by just painting large horizontal stripes of varying sizes. Hang two or four smaller canvases together to create an interesting grouping.

Pop Art - There are many websites that will take your photos and print them onto canvas for you. They can create a special Andy Warhol pop art effect for some drama. You can use family photos, pet photos or get creative and take some close ups of a flower petal. Check out PhotoWow or AllPopArt . You will be amazed at the prices!!!

Photographs - One of the least expensive ways to create art is by taking some photos yourself and framing them. Take some close up shots of your children's faces, feet or eyes. You can print them out on 8 x 10 sheets for less than $5 and buy a ready made frame from Michaels, Aaron Brothers or even Target and ....voila....instant art! Try printing them on Shutterfly in black and white or sepia. One of my favorite things to take black and white photos of in San Francisco are all the iron work gates and railings. This makes for an interesting and intriguing group of photos when you combine a few shots of different styles together.

Wallpaper or Fabric Covered Canvas - Do you have a favorite fabric that you bought because you fell in love with it but never really knew what to do with it? Why not stretch it across a canvas or mount it inside a picture frame and hang it? Check out Joann's Fabrics and select a yard of your favorite silk, embroidered or woven textile.

Online Art - Art.com has some beautiful posters that you can buy inexpensively either framed or unframed. Maybe you already have an old framed poster that you are sick of but the frame is still in good condition. You will save money by just buying a poster from Art.com and reusing your existing frame. Don't like the color of the frame? Paint it! Another great resource online is Etsy. This is a marketplace for handmade crafts of all sorts. There are tons of original artwork pieces at unbelievable prices! I am convinced the next Van Gogh is on Etsy just waiting to be discovered.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I hope this posting has helped spark some ideas of your own. Do you have any ideas or tips you want to share? Add them to my comments!

Enough of the Rain, Bring the Spring colors

I will be the first to admit that we need all this rain in Northern California. And for the first few days I was happy to succumb to the dreary weather by throwing on a warm coat and heading to Starbucks for my Peppermint Mocha. But enough is enough....I am ready for spring. That is why I was thrilled to get the latest Pottery Barn catalog to see the life come back to the world with bright colors and patterns throughout the pages of their newest catalog.



I especially like these finger bowls as they could have so many different uses. You could use them on your dining table as placecards and put little mints or chocolate treats for each of your guests. Or why not use one in the bathroom to hold some decorative soaps. Or the old standby, drop a soothing and fragrant candle in one to set on a nightstand, end table, coffee table or by the side of the tub.

Get Organized

Do you have that one room in your house that you usually just keep the door closed? It used to be the guest room but now it is just the "storage room". Or maybe it isn't the guest room but it's your 11 year old son's room that you just can't get him to clean. So what do you do? You need a professional organizer who can help you through the entire process. Sometimes you just need that unbiased opinion of what to do with that old box of magazines that you swear you will EVENTUALLY read. Here are some pictures of a project I recently worked on. We spent 8 hours sorting through every single item in this boy's bedroom. We threw out bags & bags of things and donated just as much. There were many things that he didn't even know were in his room and he hadn't played with in years. His mother had been trying to get him to clean out his room for some time but I think many times it just takes a non family member to initiate. We had a great time going through everything and even had him tell me the significance of certain items. At the end of the process he told me that he really enjoyed cleaning his room. One of his friends even thanked me that they could finally play in his room! Another success story!