A Fabulous Art Gallery Wall For Cheap!

February 26, 2017
57 Comments
Posted in: art, interior design

Hi Guys,

It’s a bit of an oh dear coupled with a hooray! I was so inspired by Maura Endres’ home and art gallery wall, that I decided to make one for you!

Now, here’s the “oh dear.” In typical Laurel fashion, I thought that I would give you the formula. The exact sizes, that is.

And then the sources…

And well, I guess that was just a tad grandiose. :]

Gallery Art Walls are not easy, even when you are ~~shamelessly~~ pretty much copying someone. And in some ways trying to copy just trips one up even more as the search is on for that elusive image.

The other thing that happened is that I got all caught up in finding a cachepot or jardinere as it’s also called like this one in Maura’s living room.

Well, I couldn’t find one because apparently, Maura snagged the last one on this good earth and no one but no one is giving them up. I think that when folks die, they demand that their cachepots get buried with them.

And who can blame them?

Ahhh, what heaven this all is!

I did find this beauty however, at some very high-priced swanky place.

Don’t get too excited. It’s already been slated for burial. ;]

Dang. If you happen to come across one it’s in the Regency style and yes, that would make it about 200 years old, unless someone is making a good repro. I’m sure that I can’t afford the antique version anyway.

I couldn’t find any new ones either. The closest I found was at Chelsea House, but nothing like this.

Or this beauty…

I’d be very happy with this one too.

So, here’s the deal guys. It’s already going on the 25th of February and apparently Mom Nature has lost her mind and thinks it’s May. In fact, we just had a rip-roaring thunderstorm. In New York, in February?

It doesn’t happen, except it did.

Oh sorry, what I was trying to say is that I owe the folks who own the paint palette collection a new board and so I thought that I’d share the board with everyone this month.

In honor of spring in February. (no worries, I’m sure that it’s going to plunge way back below freezing temps any second now), I have chosen the Laurel Home Collection, Benjamin Moore color, Spring Bud

Spring Bud is a pale, whisper of the softest yellow-green like baby celery. It’s very pretty and goes with ever other color. It’s a great neutral when one wants something warm and pretty with a touch of color.

I could’ve spent another 3 hours on the board putting frames on all of the pictures, but anyway, I think it looks pretty good. (not nearly as good as Maura’s real art gallery wall. That would take me another 12 hours to get it closer.)

And hang on, because I will be giving out sources too!

The lessons to be learned are many.

I think that art gallery walls work best when there’s a good amount of continuity without everything being exactly the same. And I think there should be one or two pieces that feel maybe a little out-of-place. There should be a good balance of white and black and color if color is used.

Maura’s colors tend to run to the blues and greens which I also love, but it’s also balanced out with touches of yellow, orange and yellow-green.

If everything had frames, they would be differing sizes and shapes of black, gold, white and maybe a green frame and some with wooden tones.

Most of the art came from Etsy and Chairish, not to be confused with Chairloom. (the latter is only vintage upholstery). Chairish has an immense collection of original art and much of it at flea market prices.

This entire wall would cost 1,500-2,000 if buying everything.

But, of course, if you paint or have a talented child or other relative, maybe you can steal some of their art projects. Or maybe they’ll paint you something for Mother’s Day. I think it’s next week. :] (oh, sorry, there are some fathers reading this too.)

But many of these pieces are under 50 bucks!

The other sources for art are One King’s Lane. There are a lot of lovely things there too. Their prices on the whole, run a little higher.

Also, check out Ruby Lane. Fabulous source for anything vintage.

And Serena and Lily.

That reminds me.

Next week is the Design Blogger’s Conference and as many of you know, I’m speaking there. My slides are all done and I’m fine-tuning the talk. It is Sunday, March 5th at 2:00 now. Very exciting!

But the next night, Serena and Lily is hosting a little soiree in their Los Angeles shop. And as those of you who’ve been reading the blog for a while know, I adore Serena and Lily! So, I’m very excited about meeting them, I presume and seeing their shop.

Yes, of course I’m taking photos!

In the meantime, here are a few of the images from the wall. They really do exist, or they appear to at this time. If there are any that you must know where they are from, please ask me in the comments and I’ll dig up the info for you. (but please check quickly to see if someone has already asked for the source.)

Da Vinci Jane on Etsy

Still Life with Lemons from Chairish.

This one is a little pricey, but I think it’s so pretty!

Via Etsy Thomas Dynan Gallery, A vintage oil of the West coast of the USA

For those in the trade, this lovely Chinoiserie ceramic vase is available at Sarreid.

But I also found it on-line at a company called Martelle.

I don’t know anything about them, but their price of $299 is a fair retail price.

That’s always a good sign. :]

The table skirt is made from burlap so don’t expect anything fabulous for 43 bucks.

But it looks nice in the photo.

This is not in your image, but they are similar to Maura’s fabulous stools by her skirted table. Hers are painted and I think they would look good either way. I found these at One King’s Lane, but they appear to be taken. These pieces don’t last long. I think you have to know someone or just get super lucky.

If you are looking for something similar, these are known as Blind Fretwork, Chinese Chippendale stools.

Here’s another image of Maura’s stools.

Well, that’s all for now. If you have questions about any of the pieces, I’ll be glad to find them for you and provide links.

Oh, before I forget, it is true that great vintage art can be found at Flea Markets and coincidentally, I just came across a fabulous post by Lidy Baars who gives great tips on getting the most out of flea marketing.

I’ve always wondered why we call them flea markets? Maybe because they usually occur in the warm summer months when the flies are out? That’s probably not right.

If you’d like to see more art walls you can see them here, here, here and here.

Please have a beautiful Sunday!

xo,