After living in my cozy little apartment for 8 months, I can finally say—my art gallery wall is finished! This wall is a huge open space right above my couch (purposely left out of these photos, the cats have really done a number on our perfect Craigslist find!), and stretches into the dining area. The wall is super long, but I really wanted it to fit well above the couch. For a while, it was only half done—but I’ve added a few amazing pieces to my collection, which I’ll talk about today! If you are starting a mini art collection like mine, there are a few places I’d recommend for awesome prints—check them out below:
Independent gift stores: Most of the tiny cards that I displayed are from an adorable home shop in Burbank, CA, that features handmade art and gifts from different indie sellers. I fell in love with the California, bird, and butterfly-themed prints, and added them to my wall last to tie everything together. The large butterfly poster was for sale at a vintage and art boutique in Bellingham, WA, for only $5—but I’ve seen it multiple places. Small specialty shops are such a great way to get when you have something in mind like filling an art wall—but no idea where to start.
Etsy: Duh. For a while, I thought my wall would be entirely Etsy, but I’ve managed to branch out (I’m adventurous like that). Etsy has, of course, one of the largest selections of art, design, and typography prints (and original art) that you can find online, straight from the sellers.
Tiny Prints: Yep, this 5×7 postcard-type print and glittery gold background is from the customized greeting card website! I got an idea to customize a card and make it into a piece of wall art when I noticed you could totally change the text on their holiday cards. This one was a New Years card, but I uploaded my own photo and wrote “hello, 2014—with love, from California” as a tribute to a new year in my new city! The back features a cute sparkly diamond design, so I turned one of my prints around and layered them on top of each other.
Thrift stores: Is there a shopping trip that can’t be completed at a thrift store? I truly don’t think so (though the above options are acceptable replacements). I thrifted the small botanical art print (center) from a vintage field guide long ago (you may remember my photo backdrop wall) and still have tons of pages to work with. I absolutely love thrift-shopping for paper supplies (more on that later!) because even if you only end up with one book, you instantly have hundreds of pages to work with. This United States map was from a 1940s atlas. I personally wouldn’t have wanted to tear pages from such a unique book had it not already been destroyed by the thrift store (insert angry rant about how some thrift shops insist on writing prices directly on the cover and pages, not to mention stores that actually staple their price tags to the clothing!…ugh). I took a pink pen and marked our journey from our college town way up in Washington all the way down to our trip to San Diego last year, and now our home in LA! Can’t wait to connect the dots next time we move.
Artists/Businesses Featured (besides thrifted or DIY):
Small Adventures Paper Goods | The Social Type | The Little Canoe | Stubborn Dog | Girl and Parrot | Tiny Prints | Katie Vernon
Have you posted a home tour on your blog? I want to see it!
Jane says
these are great collections! i can’t wait to hit the flea market to get some old magazine colors and vintage maps to add to certain walls around my home. my gallery wall also is still in the works!
Pamela Bates says
$5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that butterfly print is amazing! you scored big time angela!
as a person with a hound (not that he ruined couch, but he thinks it’s his) -might I suggest a good old fashioned paint tarp for a couch cover. they come in a bunch of sizes and i found one that pretty much covers my couch and they’re about 20 bucks. by far my favorite couch cover I’ve found and I’ve paid for a good amt of money for them before.
Angela says
Will definitely be looking into this! I usually don’t like couch covers but this is getting out of hand!
Jessica Wray | PEONY says
I love what you’ve done! It’s so eclectic!
MontgomeryFest says
This is such a cute idea! Love it!
Christina says
I love your gallery wall! I made mine some months ago and I want to add so many prints I fear it will definately be too much!! Thanks for those links, I’ll surely check them all!
Memories for Life says
I love how you marked your journey on the vintage map 🙂 Great collection you have here!
Rachel Elizabeth says
I love it! We have one wall in our house that is a huge collage that has started to spread over the doorway. It’s so fun to look at and add it.
Angela says
I feel like it could easily spread all over the apartment… I don’t hate that idea 🙂
DancingMooney ♥ says
I hung a couple of butterflies on my wall the other day and had thought about posting pictures, now you have me thinking about it! 🙂
I LOVE that butterfly poster, but I also love the botanicals too.
I wonder where you will move to next?! and how soon???!!!
Angela says
I wonder too! I think I started a pattern of constant movement with my transition to LA and I have a feeling it won’t be too long until I’m on the move again, whether it’s a new neighborhood, city, or state!
Post pics of the butterflies!
Emma Marion says
I adore the butterfly poster! Not too long ago, I found one at Urban but it was 25 dollars! So I decided not to get it and just wait, not even two weeks later, my sister in law found a GOREGOUS one for me at an antique store for $3.50! I nearly died inside! LOVE your art wall! Currently working on one of my own! (:
Amy says
Love this so much! I have a huge empty space above my couch, too. 🙁 I can never find something JUST right!