Thursday, December 9, 2010

please pass the...art?

My friend AB recently bought a house. It came with everything he wanted - a huge backyard, two-car garage, newly renovated kitchen, partly finished basement - but it also came with a lot of things he didn't want. Specifically: the people who sold him the house left a lot of their unwanted belongings behind for AB to manage.

When I first visited the house, a painting on one of the basement walls caught my eye. "You have good taste," I said, thinking that the soothing colours and delicate design of leaves would suit almost any decor. So I was shocked when AB responded by saying, "This ugly thing? I'm throwing it out. The previous owners left it behind."

Needless to say, a five-foot-wide painting is now hanging in my living room. I'm not sure I want to know how much the painting would have cost me to purchase, or to frame, and I hadn't really given any thought to what would hang on the walls of my new place - aside from some art that my parents were getting rid of.

The strange thing is that the cast-off pieces that make their way to me all seem to fit a particular colour scheme. My furniture, my paintings have come from many different sources, and most have come for free, but they all seem to fit harmoniously together.

I'm very proud of my decorating on a shoestring budget, it's worked out well so far. Hopefully, I'm proof positive that it is possible to make your place look amazing without breaking the bank. :)

2 comments:

  1. Framing something that size would probably cost you a few hundred dollars, as it sounds too big to put into anything "standard" sized.

    Also: huzzah for finding stuff that works and keeps things out of the landfill!

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  2. One mans trash is another treasure! That is super rude of those owners to leave their stuff behind though, gross. Hopefully something he finds is worth lotsa $$ that would be a nice payback...

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