affordable alternative to art - decorative paper!

for years i've been too cheap or ambitious to buy 'investment art' -- i'd roll into the craft store, buy a huge canvas and pretend that one day i'd paint a masterpiece or get an overwhelming dose of creativity ala David Bromstad from "Color Splash."  hasn't happened recently.


a great alternative for jazzing up your walls or just filling in space where you need a dose of color, decorative papers are cheap, easy to frame (just cut to fit), and beautiful.  plus, you can switch out the paper each season or whenever you get tired of it!  framing decorative paper also gives you a million options for tying colors and/or textures together in a room.


for example, i needed something symmetrical for our bedroom.  enter "Paris" wrapping paper from Papyrus in Old Town.  $5 for the entire sheet, and it filled two large frames and two small with different parts of the same map.  aluminum framing from IKEA.  i've seen similar paper maps for london and new york...


Papyrus and Paper Source are my favorite stores for spotting fun, graphic papers to use for framing.  however, i'm loving vintage wallpaper too.  check out these examples, available now:

Yuzen Pool Gold Waves Fine Paper

25 1/2" x 19" @ Paper Source for $8 per sheet

 

Gold on Purple Mums Fine Paper

20" x 29" @ Paper Source for $4.95

I used the cream and gold version for a backing of our framed wedding invitation, which did not fit in a 5x7 or 8x10 frame.  This would also look gorgeous by itself or in a cluster of other images!

Lokta Gold Crossed Lines on Red Fine Paper

20" x 30" @ Paper Source for $4.95

a fun, modern print with a little glam!

Don't feel like wallpapering a room and need large pops of color?  Consider only pasting up a small piece and outfit it with inexpensive molding painted in your trim color!

love this!