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  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

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Free Art Collection

April 20, 2011

Free to me, and to you, and to any willing person.

What could be easier than having free art delivered mailbox month after month? Nothing. And here’s how I’m taking full advantage of my non-stop supply of art-filled retail catalogues.

I mentioned a few posts ago (back when I was talking about my collage wall and upgraded picture frames) that I liked to save pages from Anthropologie catalogues for filler art in my frames. After all, UO Inc. spent a hell of a lot of money on those shoots, and the great thing about the resulting catalogues is that the photography style is reasonably consistent and half of the photos are for the furniture and decor from their home-related products. Yeah, I don’t save all of the photos of the women modeling trench coats and dresses (even if I want all of them); I like to save all of the inanimate pages (and the occasional animal, if no humans are in the shot).

Lots of Anthro art.

Seriously, right now I have this many tear sheets thick (probably like… the thickness of 3 catalogs.)

Thick collection of Anthro images.

And yes, my collection is that robust even after putting several dozen pages into frames throughout the house, most heavily in the kitchen.

Kitchen frames

Those inexpensive brassy frames balanced along the backsplash were collected over many years at garage sales. For pennies. The art within them is the free Anthro art (with a few personal photos thrown in, but you’d hardly know if you weren’t focused on them).

Kitchen frames

You might not have noticed this one of my mom (circa 1970) and her sweet yellow bike, or this postcard from Lush if I hadn’t pointed them out.

Kitchen Frames, close up.

The overall impact of these delicate frames is minimal, and for now (and for the past year and a half) they’ve just been placed balanced on the backsplash, but they do make me happy as I’m brewing my coffee and washing dishes.

So you can do it too. Upcycle your catalogues. If you’re feeling log cabin-y, consider L.L. Bean for flannels and golden retrievers. And if your feeling floral, I might recommend a nice White Flower Farms catalogue (both available fo’ free right at those links).

You’re welcome.

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Decor  / DIY  / Kitchen

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

5 Comments


Cait @ Hernando House
April 20, 2011 at 9:30 am
Reply

I’m so glad I’m not the only one who saves pretty pictures from magazines and catalogues!



Sharon Harper
April 20, 2011 at 9:38 am
Reply

LOVE the idea about using catalog contents as “art!” I just moved into an apartment, and have wanted to do something with the bare walls so definitely some ideas to glean. I particularly like patterns in nature–have a few pics that I was going to blow up and print–but am sure I can find patterns within catalogs as well. Another idea that came to mind this past weekend (when in Rochester, actually!) was making a collage of sorts using empty matchboxes from the places and restaurants we’ve been to, which also gives it a scrap-booky feel. In any event, please keep up the inspirational, creative posts :)



    Emily
    April 20, 2011 at 9:55 am

    Glad to have been inspirational, Sharon! I like the matchbox idea – it might look really great as a dimensional collage inside a shadowbox frame. Good idea!

Jenni
April 21, 2011 at 8:20 am
Reply

Oh I LOVE this idea! I have so many magazine pages – most of them go on a huge inspiration board.

This is such a lovely idea – i mean, EVERYONE likes post!



    Emily
    April 21, 2011 at 8:25 am

    Glad you like it, Jenni! The best part as far as I’m concerned is that it’s disposable too – so I can swap out the art when (if) I’m ever tired of an image and not really care about tossing the old one out.

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  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

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