Home & Garden Blog » Artwork

Jason Miller, the interior designer featured on the NYTimes.com this week, talks about the beauty and simplicity of throwback 70’s style. He recommends three things: Polyester, Pop Art, and Plastic. Think Andy Warhol’s factory meets Hippie global world views. What do you do with all this throwback? A classic part of the 70’s that Miller doesn’t want to recreate is the colors–according to him, the cheap fabrics, carpets and furniture of the 1970’s made for flimsy fabric and flukey, dry colors. He recommends springing a few extra bucks and getting some dark chocolate browns and nicely hued colors instead. I like where he’s taking the modern twist.

So what do you do to recreate the 70’s charm? Take a look at these options I found on Smarter.com. Hope it helps! With Halloween coming up this weekend, why not put your whole house in costume?

Retro Modern Chair: $290.99

Momeni Shag Comfort Rug from Walmart.com: $59.00-819.00

Shop for more vintage style furniture and vintage style rugs.

Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit fair-trade organization that sells hand-crafted works of art from over 38 countries in stores across the globe, and of course on their website. Fair Trade is a market-based approach that intends to help producers, artisans and the economy in developing countries and promote sustainability. Ten Thousand Villages represents artists from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Buying furniture or gifts from fair trade organizations is a great way to support artisans and eco-friendly building processes as well as vitalizing economies and infrastructures in developing countries. Next time you’re thinking of buying an accent piece, or giving a gift for a niece or nephew’s wedding, think about a personalized, environmentally-friendly piece from Ten Thousand Villages.

Some of my favorite accent pieces:

Batik Decorative Fan: $34.00

Made in Indonesia out of cotton and bamboo, the fan includes a bamboo piece to help hanging it on the wall. It comes in a beautiful painted box with the same cotton design as the fan.

Black Cut Metal Tree of Life: $54.00

Made of recycled 55 gallon metal drums, the Haitian artisans who created this beautiful wall hanging preserve their own heritage through the tradition of cut metal work and share it with a universal symbol of peace and prosperity.

Handmade Bamboo CD Holder: $94.00

Made in the Phillipines, this CD holder can hold up to 48 CDs or DVDs.

Find at Smarter.com:  Shop for more cd holders and decorative fans.

I think the right choice of vintage movie posters, if tastefully framed, makes an awesome addition to your home decor. Vintage movie posters say a lot about you and your tastes, they can make a witty and kitschy addition to your game room or hallway or living room.

Take this “Super Fly” poster that pays homage to the pimpin’ 70’s! If I saw this in someone’s home it would either exude cool or based on the occupant say “I’m trying to hard too be hip”. Ha! It’s really quite a crap shoot.

Try your hand at vintage cool by checking out the following low priced movie posters. 

To shop or purchase the Super Fly movie poster, click here.

Original artwork for $20 or less? I found it on Etsy! Finding prints online is a piece of cake but how about one-of-a-kind original art?

When I saw this painting, “Glorious Blue,” on Etsy by Karen Faulkner, I couldn’t believe she was selling the original for only $20.

Karen sells her original, one-of-a-kind watercolors at www.karenfaulknerart.etsy.com. They range in size from 8×10s to ACEOs. After her paintings dry she scans the image and uploads them to Etsy. In the process some of the color depth and detail is lost so expect to be even happier with your purchase when it arrives. I ordered the purple flower below and wanted to jump up and down when I pulled it out of the mailer: gorgeous on Etsy, blow-you-away-amazing in person.

Karen’s work ranges from the poignant “Feeling Blue” to the exuberant “Sunshine,” both shown below.

Want to learn more about Karen? She frequently updates her blog, www.karenfaulknerart.blogspot.com, with sneak peaks at new paintings and compelling musings on life.

Friends of Karen: Leave a comment so we know you were here! Just write your name if you aren’t sure what to write. We’re glad you came!

If you would like to shop for more discount Art Prints, Art Posters & Framed Art, click here.

In all honesty when I visit someone’s home for the first time and see a wall chalk full of unframed movie posters, I usually cringe internally. These home designers tend to be male, and this home decor usually indicates a “slacker/college” forever persona.

That is my stereotypical reaction to the withering Scarface poster and yellowed Pulp Fiction postcard thumb tacked to the wall. However I will say that sometimes it could be nice, artsy even. But that only applies to framed vintage movie posters in my opinion. Also the rest of the decor of the house or apartment must exude taste and class for this home decor to work.

When done right a unique movie poster can be charming and express the home owner’s eclectic tastes. Which is never a bad thing.

I like the following poster from an Unknown New York Beat Movie.  I think the feigned plagiarism is cool and arty. Plus since it’s an indie flick it doesn’t scream “trying to be cool” it just is.

Cost $15.96 (you save $3.99)

If you are interested in purchasing the poster, click the image or the link above)

Hello everyone,

It’s your favorite guest blogger back with another fabulous decorating idea. At the end of last year I was an intern for a wonderful band called The Dresden Dolls. They were in the process of looking for some unique artists to make some rockin’ band merchandise for them. That is when I discovered the website www.etsy.com. Have any of you seen this site? If you are crafty and love all things handmade, this is the site for you.

That is exactly where I found this week’s Home and Garden find. I am a vegetarian and am against animal cruelty of any kind. Hunting for sport is something else I am not a big fan of.

That’s why I was so happy to find this artist who makes these incredibly beautiful and unique mounted deer heads out of wallpaper and resin (which is just a fancy word for plastic).

For those of you not familiar with Etsy, each artist on the site has their own profile and their own store where they can sell their creations. This artist’s store name is Ruby’s Lounge.

Take a look at these:

Black & White Deer Head

Colorful Deer Head

Look at this! The Big, Bad Wolf!

Ruby proudly advertises that “No deer were harmed in the making of this craft!”.

Each deer is made to order, so allow 2-3 weeks for production. Each one is around $345. To purchase or browse Ruby’s Lounge for a custom made Deer Head, click here.

These are the only deer heads I definitely wouldn’t mind displaying in my home.

Everyone knows that Andy Warhol is famous for his Pop Art! From the infamous Marilyn Monroe prints to immortalizing a Campbell’s tomato soup can, Andy Warhol was the Prince of Pop in the 1950’s!

Most people are familiar with his famous works but I came across this poster from Andy Warhol called “Four Pandas” and I think it is absolutely adorable! I imagine it gracing the wall of a cultured child’s bedroom or in the living space of a fresh twenty something, heck it would even look nice in the hallway of an open minded older gent!

The beauty of art is, it’s open to interpretation. You see what you want to see or in this case you decorate how you want to decorate. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure as the old saying goes.

Price of poster - $44.99 

To shop or browse the Andy Warhol Poster “Four Pandas”, click here.