Where to Buy Art: Art Fairs
So far in this Where to Buy Art series, I’ve been talking about different kinds of brick-and-mortar stores where you can buy wall art: home stores, antique stores, and consignment stores. At each of these, you’re likely to find a variety of art styles that are attractive and affordable. Now let’s explore a different option. If you feel confident about the kind of art you like and are willing to spend more on something original, consider attending an art fair for your next purchase. Some art fairs are free to attend, and others require an admission fee. Even if you don’t buy anything, art fairs are fun to attend! They’re a great way to spend an afternoon outdoors, browsing art by local artists, listening to live music, and enjoying food from local vendors.
Create a Sense of Space with Your Decor
When you walk into a room that you absolutely love, you might say to yourself, “This room is so well decorated!” It seems that if we just took the colors, patterns, pillows, and accessories for that space and put them in ours, we would have a well-decorated room, too. What many of us don’t realize, however, is that the room is more than just decorated. It creates a Sense of Space. Creating a Sense of Space is the most basic idea of interior decor. It is so basic, in fact, that almost no one talks about it—including decorators! So what is it?
Where to Buy Art: Consignment Stores
Feeling stuck on how to spruce up your bare walls? You can find a lot of inspiration by exploring a variety of places that sell art. Depending on where you go, you’ll see different art styles, and sometimes you’ll also see different ways to display art with furniture and accessories. In this third installment of Where to Buy Art, let’s take a look at consignment stores.
8 Ideas for Coffee Shop Home Decor
Do you ever daydream about recreating the ambience of your favorite coffee shop in your own home? Here are eight ideas you can try out!
Where to Buy Art: Antique Stores
If you’re struggling with what kind of art to put on your walls, I’d suggest that the first step is strategic shopping trips. Depending on where you shop, you’ll find a different subset of all the wall art options to consider. Let’s tailor your shopping excursions to your tastes! In the first article of this series on Where to Buy Art, I talk about the kinds of art you’re likely to find at a home store. Now let’s talk about antique store art. Some people can walk into antique stores and take it all in at once. I am not one of those people. I tend to get overwhelmed by the magnitude of choices, so I focus on shopping for one particular piece at a time. When I’m looking for wall art at an antique store, I home in on the walls and partitions, as you might assume. But don’t let your survey stop there—sometimes you can also find stacks of art on the sales floor or hidden in a vendor’s stall. Here are several styles of art you may encounter.
Why Decorators Arrange Living Room Furniture That Way
If I were to name one issue that jumps out as I look at online forums and discussions about decor, it’s furniture arrangement. This isn’t always what commenters are explicitly asking about. A lot of times, the questions are about what to do with walls, or what color to paint something. But what jumps out at me is how the furniture is arranged. The average DIY home decorator shoves their furniture against the walls, leaving the middle of the room empty. Why is that a problem? Keep reading!
Where to Buy Art: Home Stores
A lot of online forum commenters ask, “What do I put on my walls?” While it might be interesting to talk about the different styles of art out there, it probably isn’t a very practical answer to this question. So let’s talk instead about the various places you might go to buy art and what you’re most likely to find there. (You can also have a look at my videos on what to do with empty walls both here and here!) In this first article, let’s visit the home store. (In subsequent articles, we’ll visit several other places you can shop for art.) This may be a furniture store or a big box store with a furniture section. I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on art from a home store. The pieces you find are mass produced and will show up in lots of homes, model homes, and your doctor’s waiting room. They’re intended to be pleasant and a bit bland to appeal to a big swath of the population. The main benefit of buying art in a home store is that you can cover a lot of wall space at an affordable price. So if any one piece of art costs more than $150 (in 2022 USD), buyer beware. Here are several types of art you might find at a home store, with my recommendations of what to look for and what to avoid.
What Does Home Decor Mean?
What does “home decor” even mean? If you’re asking this question, you may have recently moved into an apartment, condo, house, or other space of your own. A friend or relative may have tossed out the phrase with a comment like, “You need help with home decor.” Or maybe this is the first time you’ve ever thought seriously about decorating your home. In any event, you want to start at the beginning. Kudos to you for seeking out the answer! As a working definition, let’s start here: Home decor is the way your space is attractive and useful for you. We’ll expand on what all that entails below. But first, it might be worth asking: do you need to care about home decor? I see a few options here:
8 Outside-the-Box Ways to Decorate a Bay Window
A traditional way to treat a bay window seat is with a seating cushion fitted to the bay window shape. But what if you already have plenty of seating and you want to do something different and unexpected with your bay window? Here are some ideas you can use as a springboard for your own brainstorming:
6 Ideas for Casual Family Room Rugs
Rugs are a great place to start building a room design. They help define conversation areas, they can separate functional areas, and they make open-concept floor plans feel more practical. But what if you’re decorating a casual family room? Won’t a rug make it feel formal? Not necessarily. Let’s look at some casual options. Note: This list is primarily intended to give you ideas for creating a casual look. It is not intended as a comprehensive discussion of rug types, construction, quality, and care.
