Gift Idea: Artfully Walls

I was recently introduced to an amazing online gallery called Artfully Walls. They produce prints for some of the artists you've definitely seen lately, like Kristi Kohut, Lisa Golightly, Britt Bass Turner, Anna Ullman, Beth Winterburn, among many talented others. They sell museum quality prints at super affordable price points. (Hello, perfect gift idea!)

What I love the most about Artfully Walls if that every single print they carry is beautiful. There is not any fluff on the site - every piece is thoughtfully curated.

They have a great selection of beach scene photos that we are all loving right now! The colors in this one by Claudia Chloe are STUNNING. The bright green water and the lemon yellow umbrellas are so happy!

They also have a great collection of floral prints, which are always so pretty to me. I especially love the more abstract florals, like this one by Daniela Orlev. That touch of black in the print is just perfect! 

All of the prints from Artfully Walls are museum quality, printed on special archival paper with archival inks. Print sizes vary, depending on the artist, but there are usually 2-4 sizes to chose from, which gives you more price point options. 

Isn't this frame pretty great too? A little different than what I'm normally drawn to, but I think it compliments the colors of the print nicely! Most of the Artfully Walls framing options are very clean and modern (which I love). There are a few great moulding options and a simple mat or no mat choice. EASY!

Artfully walls also has a great collection of portraits. I fell head over heels for this portrait of two girls on the beach by T.S. Harris. It feels very Elizabeth Peyton to me. 

I love it all - the colors, the composition, the stripe in the girl's shirt... 

It looks like it was meant to be hung in our music room. It fits right in! It seems there can never be too many lady portraits in this house full of real life ladies. :)

Here are some of my other favorites from Artfully Walls (I've been eyeing that fig one for a while now!). So many beauties to fall in love with!

figs  //  beach

abstract landscape  //  black floral  //  line abstract  //  circle dot abstract  //  minimalist landscape  //  sunshine

clouds  //  abstract landscape

palms  //  moth  //  oranges  //  blue abstract

night sky  //  green abstract

leaf abstract 1  //  leaf abstract 2  /  Grand Canyon

Thank you to Artfully Walls for sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own. :) 

Sprucing Up with Newly Framed Art

New art is like the secret weapon of redecorating. It instantly makes a tired room feel fresh and exciting - like putting on a new necklace with an old dress! 

I've been wanting to make some changes to our bedroom and I had planned on buying a new bed, but the one I wanted to order was discontinued. Big time bummer. I might have my metal guy make something for us this winter but in the meantime, as a quick fix, we painted the walls and decided to take down the desert panels. I knew different art would make the space feel new. I wanted something a little punchy, but in a much smaller size.

This Milton Avery book is a great one - chock full of beautiful, full-color prints. I found a second copy recently at a used book store for only a few dollars and snatched it right up. I used an X-acto knife to carefully cut out the pages I liked the most for my bedroom.

I've used Framebridge before to affordably frame some of my favorite art prints. They also offer this really cool service where you can upload your instagram photos and they'll print and frame them for you and then ship them to you for free! I have done this for family gifts a few times now and it's becoming a go-to for me! They have beautiful, modern frame choices and I knew I wanted to use them again to frame these Avery prints.

If you're wanting to frame a piece you already have, Framebridge sends you pre-paid shipping supplies to send in your artwork. It couldn't be easier! I popped my prints in the mail and the framed artwork came back so quickly! Check these beauties out:

I stacked a white frame on top of a natural one on each side of the bed and hung my favorite cloud painting by Tara Andris in the middle. I love the combo! I used to have the painting hanging on the other side of room above the dresser, but we recently decided to put a TV in our room. (Not so sure how I feel about that development... but at least the art on this side of the room looks pretty!)

It's a fun change from what we had before, don't you think?

While I was getting the Avery prints framed, I decided to take care of two more pieces I've been wanting to frame for ages now. One of them was this cool piece I bought at the Chelsea Flea Market a few years ago. It's called 'If Not Sound, Then Music is Feeling' and Michael and I both really love that it looks like music notes.

I chose one of Framebridge's new frame styles called the Bolton, which is made from oiled steel and has these really cool rivet details.

And after I mailed the piece in, the Framebridge team emailed me to say they actually recommended no mat and a float mount to accentuate the uneven edges of the piece. I love their attention to detail!

I think this frame is my new favorite - there's just nothing like it! The finish is gorgeous and combines SO well with all of the vintage and antique frames in my gallery wall!

And since Framebridge also frames canvases, I sent in one of my favorite lady portraits. It kept getting knocked over where I had it on an easel and the edges were getting a little damaged.

It was a good time to get the portrait newly framed anyway because I've been planning to hang it up to the studio, which has been getting rearranged and redecorated, too, as our team grows. I don't know who the real woman in the painting is, but she's always reminded me of my Grandma Russell, who was a quiet hero in my life. Each time I look at this painting, I'm reminded that kindness is the most important thing. Such good energy for our office! :)

I love seeing her hanging up in our little sitting area, supervising our team meetings. :)

Isn't the floating frame beautiful?! The bright gold looks like a million bucks with the warm green tones in the background of the painting.

Having these newly framed pieces hanging in our home is like a big breath of fresh air! I'm so happy that these familiar artworks have finally gotten the love and attention they deserve. :)

A big thanks to Framebridge for partnering with us on this post! Take 20% off your first order of $59 or more with the code LITTLEGREENNOTEBOOK20 (code expires 11/30/2015).

Photo Ledges and Never Ending Love for Martha

It was Michael's birthday this last weekend. He loves books more than just about anything (evidence), so we squeezed in a few stops to his favorite antique and used books stores as part of his b-day celebration. 

I know. We're party animals, what can I say? 

While he was browsing the smarty pants sections, I found some cool, new-to-me art and design books. (I'm excited to share some of them with you in a couple of Book Club posts!) One of my favorite finds was a set of three books from Martha Stewart. They were published in the 90s (almost 20 years ago!!), but they feel incredibly fresh to me. I had to scan in this page to share with you. Girlfriend was DIYing picture ledges while I was still in high school.

I've been wanting to make a similar photo ledge wall in our house. We've been here for a few years now, and I'm ready to switch some things up a little, including taking down the gallery wall. I love having a place to share my favorite art finds, but I'm craving something more personal in here. I would love to print out and frame more family photos - mostly just candid shots.

We did something like this in my mom's formal living room. We printed out old wedding portraits of our family members and baby pictures of the grandkids. And then we used two rows of two IKEA picture ledges and just caulked the seam in the middle.

I'd love to figure out a great low bookshelf or long wall-mounted credenza for underneath the ledges that I'm hoping to make for my living room. I moved the formerly red (also formerly white) and now pale mint credenza up to the studio, and I am missing having a big anchor piece in the room. I'll have to figure something out there. I also bought a new rug that arrives this week and I'm going to paint our coffee table and do a few other quick-fixes. I'm most excited about this picture ledge project though! These are a few of my inspiration images:

Can you even believe that Martha image though? There are so many goodies in that book series that I'd never seen before!