Monet? Van Gogh? Scrapbook Paper?

Why hello! Anyone notice anything different about Ten June?? That's right, folks, I've got a new blog layout! The amazingly talented Marina from Penny Lane Designs helped design the new Ten June. I'm in love! From the layout to the style to the font, it's exactly what I was looking for. She did a great job! So welcome to the new and improved Ten June. 

We've also made a mini-improvement somewhere else around here. When David and I moved into our house a few months ago, the front bedroom belonged to the previous owner's eight-year-old daughter. Here's a refresher of what it looked like before we moved in, just in case you don't remember.

Helloooo, Pepto Bismol. Super cute for a little girl but not so much for our main guest bedroom. So, we stocked up on a few cans of paint + primer combo and switched over to a much gentler light green color. And no, it wasn't very much fun to paint over a hot pink ceiling!

For the last couple of months (since the big paint makeover), this room has been left sort of empty without anything on the walls. David and I decided that we didn't want to allocate too much moolah for decorating the room (we had already shelled out about $100 for paint and about $150 for the new bedding). Let's just say our budget was somewhere around.... $20. Okay, so maybe we planned to spend a little bit more than that, but you get the gist. While it was quite easy to fill up the windowed wall with the dresser (who, by the way, is just begging to be refinished- another project, another day!!) and mirror, the wall adjacent to the doorway had a big, open space that needed to be filled.

I decided that because the wall is so large, a couple of prints just wouldn't do it. So I headed over to Wally World and bought a bunch of cheap wooden frames. I chose a couple of frames in each of the various sizes that my local store had. After adding a few unused frames from our collection at home, it was time to spray paint. I broke out the white high gloss spray paint and the frames transitioned from mismatched wood tones to a crisp, clean white set of frames.

Then, it was time to hang the frames. David and I played around with the layout of the frame collage on the floor. I've seen lots of suggestions to sketch and cut out paper models of the frames so that you can move them around easily and test out the layout of the collage without putting too many holes in the wall. While that's an excellent idea, I'm a little too lazy for that, so I just went straight for the hammer and nails. :)

So here's the picture frame layout we ended up with. I'm not sold on it- in fact, I think we need a few more frames to even it out. I also think we may have gone a little high with the group, but it's a big, empty wall, so it may take awhile to fill it up and get it just right.

Up next? Time to actually fill the frames! Don't forget our cheapola budget... in all honesty, we had maxed out the budget with the frames and spray paint, so the art had to be free. I rummaged through my art and scrapbook stuff that I found around the house, found a couple of images and quotes from Google, and voila! I've got art. Here's what I ended up with. [Please excuse the limey color that these pictures somehow turned into from camera to computer- the wall color is actually a lovely shade of light green!]

Let's take a closer look. The smaller frames are simply filled with funky scrapbook paper.

This frame is simply a cute quote I found online, printed on some shiny scrapbook paper.

It's twin sized frame holds a few scrapbook buttons (fabric covered brads with a little sparkle on them). I'm not sure I'm loving what's in this frame, but it is a good start and I really like the dimension that the buttons bring to the mix.

After reading this genius post on Young House Love, I decided to add some color to the picture frame collage with several Martha Stewart paint chips. That's right, these are just the free paint chip samples that I picked up from Home Depot. Can we say free art?! I love the modern aspect and the beautiful color that these bring into the room.

I also printed a few botanical print images off of Google images.

The piece de resistance is actually a really fun project that I've got coming, so stay tuned. Until then, all we've got in the center of the collage is a blank canvas.

Well, you may think I'm crazy for using Home Depot scraps and Google images, but I'm pretty happy with my DIY cheap art! The fact that it's cheap and done by yours truly gives me the chance to switch up the art, instead of feeling obligated to keep an expensive piece in place. While I wish I could fill every wall with fine art, sometimes scrapbook paper will just have to do! Here's the current shot of the guest bedroom wall.

Linking up to:
http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2010/01/04/made-by-you-mondays/
http://craftskeepmesane.blogspot.com/
http://todayscreativeblog.net/
http://craftedition.blogspot.com/
http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/
http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/
http://serenitynow4amanda.blogspot.com/
http://www.bystephanielynn.com/
http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/