So, you want your kid to have a bedroom that’s decorated to match his dreams — but you don’t want to spend much money?

Sensible!

Especially if the kiddy’s wished-for bedroom decor is based on the latest from Disney or Pixar or whatever video game is hot in the school yard this week…

What to do?
Well, here’s one incredibly frugal solution to that decorating dilemma…

Block Posters lets you send any image from your computer (up to 1 MB size file), slice it up, print it out, and turn it into a giant wall poster — free!

Check the gallery of other people’s posters (like the lovely Nemo wall art that Phil made for his young daughter’s bedroom) for inspiring ideas like these:

• Leave the white edges of the paper on for a cool tile mosaic effect;
• Decoupage the pieces onto a room divider screen;
• Frame each paper tile separately in black and hang them really close together to look like a piece of stained glass;
• Go black-and-white or monchrome for an high-toned artsy look;
• Blow up a smaller image for a cool blocky pixelated effect (turn a nature shot into modern camouflage, anyone?);
• Posterize yourself!

Okay, maybe your children don’t really want your face looming down at them from the wall above their beds while they’re sleeping at night… but you could do a nice family portrait, or a favourite pop star, or a role-model athlete, or even a screenshot from a favourite game…

Your imagination is the only limit!

Or, to be factual, about 8 feet x 10 feet is the limit, finished poster size-wise.
But you don’t really need a larger poster than that, do you? Unless you’re making a mural to decorate a great room… hmm….

I want to talk about picture frames, really I do. But first let me tell you how this comes to mind. See, last night I went to visit my friend Betty, interior designer extraordinaire. And whenever I visit her, I get all excited by the many and varied trapeze lights that she’s used in her chalet-style home. Those airy wire and metal structures seem to fly across the open spaces, yet are so unobstrusive! — and a surprising choice against all the natural wood.

Since I’m living in This Old Farmhouse, however, something as modern as a trapeze style fixture doesn’t seem quite appropriate here.

So, much as I love the almost-not-there look of trapeze style fixtures, I’ll likely stick with my early-1040s ceiling lights until something perfect comes along.

But what about flying a few sleek wires on the walls?

Ah, that’s a different story!

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got about fifty kabillion photographs to display and not nearly enough wall space! (Who isn’t always on the look-out for a nifty solution?)

I keep coming back to these Umbra Trapeze Frames that I’d first spotted some time ago at Amaroni — that’s a UK-based site, but the exact same Umbra frames are closer to home and considerably lower in price at Amazon.

And the reason why I keep coming back to this style is because they combine simplicity with elegance — and very practical, too. You can show a wide variety of sizes and types of photographs or drawings or whatever art needs hanging, and put the whole bunch up together as one graceful unit. I think it has a great uncluttered look that could work anywhere — in a ski chalet or cosy farmhouse just as beautifully as in a suburban bungalow or hip urban loft.

dVider.com has snagged hot young NYC artist David Ort for the second round of its Guest Artist series of limited edition vinyl wall decals.

Peel, stick, decorate.

Stunning.

And so much easier than waltzing into the Plaza and rippping the orginal Ort murals off its walls, no?

Finding a way to display photographs can be tricky.

Especially if you haven’t got the spare moola to buy dozens of photo frames.

Or if the landlord won’t let you put a whole lot of nails in the walls, to hang them.

Here’s a possible solution, spotted at Urban Outfitters — a long clear plastic sleeve with space for 28 photos of 4″ x 6″ size.

That makes it 76 inches long by 10½ inches wide, which is large enough to make a real statement as a personalized photo collage.

Bonus, of course, is the fact that you can swop out the photographs as the mood takes you, to create an ever-changing display.

Technorati Tags: photographs, wall, decor

A pop-up photograph has a lot of the same appeal, for me, as a shadow box or diorama.

Wouldn’t it be fun to make a 3-d holiday display from family photos and bits of festive embellishments — ribbons, glitter, tiny ornaments, maybe a bit of angel-hair faux snow?

And then tuck the whole display into a glass-fronted shadow box…

Too much?
Go for a simple flat photo frame, then, and let the pop-out elements add their own special interest to the picture.

If you look carefully at one of those fabulous pop-up books that we knew and loved in childhood, you’ll see that the secret of the three-dimensional effect is a fold and two straight cuts, to make a pop-up box that sticks out from the main page or photo. This is what you’ll glue the individual cut-out elements onto, to make them stand out.

Another thing I love about this craft is that you probably have everything you need to do it, on hand, right now:

• Scissors or a craft knife
• Glue
• Several copies of the same photograph (so you can cut them up)
• Cardboard (recycle an old cereal box?) to stiffen the back of the photo if you’re going to display the work as a stand-up piece on a shelf or table top.

Hey, what about making your pop-up photograph into a greeting card?

Truly, a unique way to send your holiday wishes and share a special memory with friends and family…

[WikiHow via erinloechner at curbly]

Technorati Tags: pop-ups, photographs, crafts

Let’s blame a childhood of reading those Curious George books — who can resist a fresh clutch of giggly monkeys?

Clockwise from upper left:

• The Chimp is an archival quality print by Shannon Brady at BlueFlip Art (h/t emma).
• S-shaped monkey hooks, set of 3 in brushed stainless steel, are by Bodie and Fou, found in their kitchen section.
• Multi-imprinting, iron-on Monkey Love embroidery pattern, an 8½ x 11″ sheet with full instructions for getting started in embroidery, by Sublime Stitching.
• Crochet monkey toys, designed by ohsewpretty, appeared last fall in Crochet Today magazine.
• “Stackable, desktop, magnetically appendaged Bender Monkeys ” twist and bend to amuse any cubicle dweller. (They come in a set of four bright primary colours, packaged in a metallic embossed banana-shaped tin, with their own storybooks full of “illustrative poses” — where else, but at Think Geek?)
• Kay Bojesen’s teak monkey is a well-known wildlife mascot in Denmark — this one is found at Fitzsu.

I’d forgotten all about this until just now, but I had a very similar wooden monkey as a teenager. I remember how comforting and smooth it felt in my hands, and how it seemed to take on different facial expressions from sympathetic to cheeky to downright evil… Somewhere along the line, in one household move or another, my wooden monkey went missing… but maybe that explains this secret affinity for monkeys!

Face it, there’s just no substitute for a five-foot tall giraffe to pull together a jungle theme bedroom!

I just came across a real treasure trove of nature-inspired giant wall stickers, totally beautiful and quite realistic…

Besides the jungle or safari theme — everything from palm trees to parrots, toucans, monkeys and apes, and other exotic creatures — Wall of the Wild also offers giant wall stickers of the world under the sea (coral and dolphins and sharks, oh my!). And what kid wouldn’t love a room straight out of Finding Nemo? Or you can choose colourful stickers with themes of the North American wilderness, birds and flowers, barnyard animals… even the ever-popular dinosaurs like our old pal Triceratops (the large size measures a whopping 35″ x 40″)!

Bonus #1: Get a free “Patriot Mouse” sticker when you place an order.

Bonus #2: Send in a picture of your Walls of the Wild animal art decoration, and if they put it on the Customers Walls page, you can choose any one of their products — free!

Asian-inspired home decor is very hot right now, and you can’t go wrong starting out with simple lines, natural colors, and maybe a Shoji screen in the corner. But it’s the right artwork or accessory that can really set the mood for an Oriental theme.

Here are five of my favourite recent finds, in no particular order:

1. Kelly Shults kellyshults.etsy.com does the most tiny perfect mixed-media collages on heavy watercolor paper…
2. Also found at Etsy (infromawalk.etsy.com), sage-green and rusty-cream rice bowls, gorgeous simple shape, set of four…



3. Luscious pink brocade with a bamboo theme, imported from China, begs to become a throw pillow! Available at www.distinctivefabric.com/ along with similar fabric with a butterfly or dragon motif…



4. At www.chopa.com, beautiful music… from Zen meditation gongs to Feng Shui wind chimes to tiny Tibetan tingsha…



5. Lacquer ware — an antique japanned tray, a trinket box… I covet the Fret table (red or black) at www.suzanneallen.com/.

Sun rooms, three-season rooms, Florida rooms, whatever you want to call them, more of us are finding ways to bring a little outdoors inside.

Fancy iron-work (think French cafe style) or comfy cottage wicker are popular furniture choices, with a pillow-heaped day bed for lounging with a lemonade on a hot summer day.

Now, imagine if you could extend the blend of outdoor-nature and interior style, to blur the line between home and garden. Add a jungle of potted house plants — over-sized, grouped in corners or on either side of the patio doors, with a single lovely piece of garden art nestled among the greenery.

Appeal to all the senses. Scented candles, or simply a few arrangements of aromatic herbs and flowers, are a soothing delight. And what about a delicate set of windchimes near an open window, or the soft water-music of an indoor fountain, perhaps wall-mounted if space is an issue?

Keep the colours light and airy, to continue the sense of space and freedom you draw from outside — with a rich splash of accent colour to mirror your favourite flowers.

The back wall, facing the garden, might feature a textured finish (faux stone?) or even a wall mural to continue the illusion.

Try a little trompe l’oeil painting if you’re artistically inclined. Or consider a pre-printed wall mural, as durable and easy to install as any good quality vinyl wallpaper. MuralsYourWay.com has a terrific selection from Monet’s poppy-splashed masterpieces to the frankly fantasy garden, and will also print custom murals from your own photographs or original artwork.