Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Art For Under $50

Ok, not the whole world, but a good smattering of it. For those of you who watched our house tour video yesterday, you’ve seen a shot of these babies in action (and by these babies, I mean eight freshly framed prints that we hung in our hallway above the board & batten that we added). But here are some close ups with all the how-we-did-it deets.

It was a really easy project actually. First, we bought an awesome calendar at Anthropologie on sale after the new year for $13 (gotta love how calendars go half price the second that January begins) but we had zero intention of using it in the traditional sense since we make a quirky little homemade calendar each year.

We just loved the awesome illustrations of each city. And we knew they’d look nice in a collection of frames on the wall. Psst- It’s still for sale here, if you’re in the market for one.

At first we debated hanging all 12 of them in a grid in the guest room, but we’ve been craving something large (as opposed to a collection of smaller frames) for the big bare wall above the chairs in there.

Guest Vertical3

And then when we finished the board & batten hallway project (here’s a pic from before we painted the walls)…

BNB 24 Painted Side

… it dawned on us that they might look cute spaced out as you walk down the hall.

Hallway Frames

Turns out they do.

As for how we hung them all at the same height, we just shot our laser level down the hall, and marked two dots for each frame that were 5″ apart (there are 10″ of space between each frame).

City Prints3

Then we just hammered nails into those two dots for each frame.

City Prints4

Why two nails for each frame? Well, since the back of these Ikea ribba frames rest on a nail to stay up, two nails about 5″ apart are nice and sturdy – and you’ll never need to straighten the frame like you do when it hangs on one nail). Plus you can slide the frame a bit from the left or the right, so it helps make the spacing extra easy to control, even if you pre-measure it all with the laser level like we did.

City Prints5

Then when you pop a frame onto them, it looks like this:

Since the eight Ribba frames are from Ikea, they’re just $9 a pop (and we already had four, so we just had to buy four more to complete the collection). So that’s how we got an entire hallway full of art for $49 – which breaks down to $36 for frames and $13 for the calendar.

Not bad to go from here…

NotSeen HallwayRegister

… to here in about a month.

Frame Hallway Back

Especially since we walk up and down that hallway at least a dozen times a day. And although we’ve only been to one of the eight places: NY (do we get extra point for living there for a while?) John has already started calling this our travel bucket list. So here’s hoping we get to visit Rome, Paris, Istanbul, Sydney, London, Amsterdam, and Rio De Janeiro someday.

Odd confession of the day: I have three favorite spots in this house, and two of them aren’t rooms. They’re:

  • the frame hallway that leads to the living room, kitchen, and our bedroom
  • this hallway that leads to the other three bedrooms
  • Clara’s big girl room, just because I’m beyond thankful that it no longer looks like this…

Cleaning Playroom1

What are your favorite areas of your house? Are they unusual, like a closet or a bathroom or a specific nook (the wall o’ penny tile in the kitchen is up there for me too)? Or are your picks more traditional like the living room, the sunroom, or the bedroom?

Update: Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint color we used? Just click on this button: 

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Comments

  1. Neely Sloan says

    I just tried to buy their calendar and they are now sold out! :( I did see their 2013 Garden calendar and I love it. I am probably going to order one of these and see what kind of art I can turn it into. Yay!!

    Reply

  2. Elizabeth says

    Love the update, I’ve been saving calendars for years thinking of a project to do. Also, I just read your Q&A over on Joss & Main…looking forward to your Curator’s Collection on April 7th!

    Reply

  3. Jessica F. says

    Dang. Sold out on vine.com and the other online places listed in the earlier comments. Why you gotta play me like that office work? You always get in the way when I’m trying to live my life and be inspired by surfing online. It’s like you come first and I don’t appreciate it. Not cool, work, not cool. Any super sleuths come across any other site still selling them as of 3:47pm? Happy Friday Housers!

    Reply

  4. Jessica F. says

    P.S. I just called your followers “Housers”, which made me crack a smile because you know you loved Doogie back in the day, which was a Wednesday by the way.

    Reply

  5. Andrea says

    I often envy all of the cute local shops in Richmond and on your travels. So today I clicked through the link to Rifle Paper Co to buy the calendar and it was sold out. HOWEVER, much to my surprise Rifle Paper Co is located 1 mile from me here in Winter Park, FL! So I emailed them and am swinging by tonight to grab a random copy of the sold out calendar! I love it when that happens! Keep up the awesome! love you guys!

    Reply

    • Jessica F. says

      Super awesome, Andrea. Way to be resourceful. I don’t even know you but I feel like you have some good Karma coming back to you and it’s starting on a Friday…good omen for the weekend ahead. :)

  8. Sylvia says

    Looks great! I love the calendar turned art idea. Just wondering, how high did you hang the frames from the floor? Do you typically use a standard measurement from the floor to the center of the art you are hanging?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We just eye it since it tends to change depending what’s under it (art with a tall wardrobe under it might be hung higher than art with board & batten or a chair rail under it). So for this John just held it up at a few different heights while I stepped back and said “yes, that’s it!” – haha. Very scientific :)

      xo
      s

  9. Jess @ homevolution says

    I was totally eyeing this artwork during the house tour! I’ve been to all but one of those cities (apparently I need to get my butt to Istanbul!) and would love to get this calendar! Calendar artwork is such a bargain – I’ve got a few prints framed over our dining table.

    Reply

  11. Priscilla says

    Boo!!!!! I knew I would miss something great when I left early to teach today. I can’t find this calendar anywhere, and it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  12. Carrie says

    Well, I just had to order the calendar…my kids all have “city” names and I get excited when I find something cool/unique that has their name. Sydney needs a Sydney print! Thanks for the link!

    Reply

  13. Christina @ The Murrayed Life says

    We got the same calendar right after Christmas for the same reason!! We, on the other hand, haven’t done a thing with it… Maybe it will be our first new art in our new house! It looks great by the way. Thanks for doing the frame-finding work for us ;)

    Reply

  14. Huma says

    Hey guys; I see that Istanbul is on your travel bucket list now and just wanted to tell you guys you have a place to stay in Istanbul. We have a 27 month old daughter and we can offer u a kid safe house to crash while you enjoy this crazy beautiful city:) just so you know…
    Bests

    Reply

  17. Leisa says

    I think this just might be my favourite post (apart from your epic April fools video – hi.lar.i.ous)!
    Because…
    A) I have a journal with cool vintage NZ travel pics that I planned to cut out and frame, and you have just reminded me to “dude get on that”

    2) I heart travelling (a lot). I have been to 7 out of 8, and 9 of the original 12 of those destinations and am itching to get Moscow ticked off this year. I really want to know if any “housers” have visited them all? When we finally move back to our ‘proper home’ I’m planning a wall of frames for each of the places we’ve been, with all the little ticket stubs an mementos I’ve collected along the way.

    III) It reminds me of a cool project I did – I bought a whole lot of Cavalini & Co vintage style travel stickers, stuck them to my hard-sided suitcase and covered in varnish. Was always super easy to spot my bag on the carousel at the airport. Until the zip broke :(

    Thanks for my daily inspiration team Shon
    Xx

    Reply

  18. SarahN says

    Sydney is my home town! You could house crash my little loft! Rest assured all Aussie beaches are awesome!

    Thanks for the frame costing, I have a $75 Ikea (returns) voucher and just yesterday thought of doing a grouping of 9 on my wall above my sofa (it’s double height being a loft) – just need something cute to put in them once I get them. I was thinking maybe different fabrics – which could mean nice napkins, pillowcases, cushion covers… All I know is the diy stamp world map I did over Easter doesn’t quite look polished enough for that prime position!

    Reply

  19. Haley says

    I saw these prints in your video and was wondering about them! I love the look of them!! I was totally going to buy a calendar but they are sold out! Y’all are popular! =)

    I don’t have a favorite place in our house just yet! We have lived here for almost three years and it’s still a work in progress! However, y’all have given us the inspiration to turn this house in to a place we love rather than just where we will live until we find something better! Thank you for that! =)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      So sorry, we have no idea (it doesn’t say on it, but it was cheap and it sticks to the wall and is shaped like a little hemisphere (you can see it in the pic). Good luck!

      xo
      s

  21. Karen F says

    Not to be a copycat, but I totally ordered one of these calendars this morning – I love this idea! I’ve been to several of the cities, and I love the style of the artwork! Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

  23. Hilary says

    You didn’t use my favorite city – Bangkok! It’s special in our house because we honeymooned in Thailand. I looked to buy the calendar for that page alone but it’s sold out everywhere. Any chance you’d be interested in selling the Bangkok page if you don’t end up using it?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Hilary! Wish we needed 12 prints, we totally would have used them all. We’re saving the other four in our “future art to hang” pile (I raid it pretty frequently since I’m a weirdo with way too many frames) :)

      xo
      s

  24. Samantha says

    They look awesome! I love reading your blog from Sydney so if you do ever come for a holiday I can recommend some sights to see ;) I’m still in the student phase of living but already looking forward to trying some of your ideas once I get a place of my own!

    Reply

  25. Nancy says

    My daughter loves Rifle Paper Company! She gave me that calendar as a Christmas gift and I have it hanging in my office. I also planned on framing some of my favorites when the year is (mostly) over … great to know the IKEA Ribba frames fit perfectly. Super glad I already own one … I think your post made the calendar out-of-stock on the RPC website (consider yourself as influential as Oprah!).

    Reply

  26. sophie says

    paris, london, amsterdam. three of my favourite cities. each with their own distinctive personality, flavour and energy. I was in london last week on my way to a conference. but it’s been 5 years since I was in paris and 10 since I was in amsterdam. itchy feet. definitely itchy. it’s time. let the penny saving begin.

    Reply

  27. Laura says

    Wonderful idea & I love the prints from the calendar. My favorite room is my home office. I love Disney & while you’ll find Disney in other places around the house my office is the only room that’s over the top, in your face, can’t escape it unless you leave the room Disney. With three yellow walls,one red wall & black furniture & picture frames the color scheme comes from Mickey himself & the decorations from the pictures/art & other things on the walls to the other decorations all are either blatantly Disney (Mickey wall clock, Mickey snowglobe)or somehow remind me of Disney (cream colored vase with large red & pink dots reminds me of Minnie). Even the lamp on my desk reminds of Disney; it’s a model of Big Ben in London which reminds me of Epcot. The room never fails to make me smile & I absolutely love spending time in it.

    Reply

  28. Susan @ Sweet Little Nest says

    My three favorite places are (in order):

    1. Master bath (big glass tile shower, soaking tub, heated basket weave Carrara marble tile floor, separate vanities)
    2. Master closet (not huge, but the biggest and best I’ve ever had with some practical and fun organization built in)
    3. Master bedroom (it’s warm and cozy and I’d entertain in there if my husband and our company wouldn’t find that creepy)

    Reply

  29. Sabrina says

    I love cheap art! I have a question for you! So we have 2 large closets in our master. They are weird openings and need custom doors cut (cha ching!). If I was to do a curtain on them do you think it needs to be the same as the other curtains on the windows? Our bedroom is Artic Grey and our curtains are cream and dark teal pattern. I just think that would be a lot of pattern going on!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, I bet you could do the same or just pluck a color out of the fabric and do it in a solid or do the wall color in a solid. That way it’ll tie in either way :)

      xo
      s

  30. ces says

    I love the idea of framing the pictures obtained from a calendar and hanging it on the wall. Learning a lot from your site. I’m a new follower by the way.

    Reply

  31. Katie says

    Boo. Sold out! Was going to copy you guys, haha! Had the calendar in my online cart this morning then thought, long shot but let me check anthropologie when I go to th mall today to return something anyways. Oh well, looks great!

    Reply

    • Katie says

      So by some miracle, (ok maybe not a true miracle, per se, but feels like it to me!)I ended up with the calendar after all! I had placed it in my cart when I first read this post and it was still in stock, then couldn’t decide and forgot about it. Later on that day I went back online to get it and saw it was out of stock. The next morning i was online again (shocker) and checked to see if it was still out of stock…which it was, but then I noticed it said up in the corner that i had one item in my cart. It was the calendar! I added a cute “hello sunshine” card to put in a frame and when I updated the cart, i figured the calendar would now state out of stock but it was still in there! The card and calendar arrived today and I am so excited! I plan to frame them in black frames and line the walls of our new playroom.

  32. Diana says

    I just told my husband earlier today that I wanted some art from NYC, Lonfon, and Paris in my office…think I found my solution!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      A few times – thought not to very far. We just went to Canada on our book tour. Sherry went to Mexico and various places in the Caribbean when she was growing up, and I went on a high school trip to London.

      -John

  35. tara dawes says

    shoot – wish I would have checked my reader much earlier today when this was initially posted – I love love love those prints (especially the London one as that is where my honeymoon was) and it looks like that calendar is now sold out. Hopefully they get some more of them in!

    Reply

  37. Kathy says

    Those are so cute!
    Hey, I have a question about hanging IKEA frames. I’ve found that some of the IKEA frames don’t have adequate hardware for hanging… esp. the Shadow box frames. Have you found a solution to this? Thanks!! <3

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I like to use 3M command strips with the shadow boxes (the little 5″ x 5″ ones) and the wire and hooks they supply for the larger square frames (like the 21″ ones over our sofa). Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  38. isabelle says

    Grrrr. Wish I had done this project when I first got the email saying these were on sale! Now they are sold out :(

    Reply

  39. Cheryl says

    Just finished painting our long upstairs hallway and have been trying to decide on what to hang on the walls……great idea! Checking to see if those frames come in black……..

    Reply

  40. Naomi says

    For the first time ever, I beat the Petersiks at a project!! I bought this calendar at full price in December because I was afraid it’d sell out. One of my first Pinterest projects I did was nearly 2 years ago and I tried to mimic this (http://runninglawyer.blogspot.com/2011/07/home-project-map-wall.html) map wall. I framed and hung 40 maps of cities/counties we’d visited. I’ve been wanting to replace some of the smaller frames and this calendar was perfect. Most of the maps are 10×10 and I didn’t want to cut off any of the map so I cut the calendars down to 11×11 and mounted them on top of 12×12 scrapbook paper. We’ve been to 6 of the cities: NYC, London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, and Istanbul. As soon as I replace the old, framed Istanbul map, I can call this map wall project complete!

    Reply

  41. Courtney says

    Those are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! Your artwork decorating is probably one of my most favorite things you blog about. I did NOT get that gene- someone could hand me 10 things perfect for my walls and I still would get it wrong. :) This blog (and your book!) have helped me get a better sense for placement, etc.

    Reply

  42. Melissa van Herksen says

    Cool. I love the calendar prints. Might be just what I need for my guest room. We have been to 6 of the countries illustrated…gives me a goal to visit all of them. My favorite room in the house…my home office or like i like to call it my “moffice” (mom+office) and my black/white photo gallery in the hallway…the perfect place to stand when I am homesick and be surrounded by beautiful black and white family photos.

    Reply

  45. haverwench says

    I’m with you on loving unconventional parts of the house. My favorite spot in our whole house is the basement stairwell, where we have the shelf with the row of Ball jars that’s featured at the top of my blog page. It also has the three framed ceramic tiles that we inherited from our grandmothers (set in frames made of stripped and refinished floor molding) and one other small piece of art, a reproduction tavern sign that was also inherited from my grandmother. (It reads, “Drink for the thirfty, food for the hungry, lodging for the weary, and good keeping for horfes.”) I feel like that one little spot represents us both better than any room in the house.

    Reply

  46. Petite Peltier says

    I LOVE THIS POST! I am an interior designer in LA who specializes in nursery design and children’s rooms. Artwork is essential to a nursery design and this is such a fantastic idea. My clients are always looking for whimsical charming and inexpensive ways to cover their nurseries in art. Its an easy DIY project that anyone can do too. These prints especially are so gender neutral too, which can be hard to find. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT and I cannot wait to try this in one of my next nursery designs!

    Reply

  47. vivianna says

    my favorite part of our home is the step outside the side door. Right in the middle of our growing veggie and herb garden :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think we’re definitely open to helping other people with their homes (or getting a rental or a vacation home or even a new family home for ourselves) once we’re done here. Since it’s our passion (as well as our livelihood) those possibilities actually get us excited. Haha, we’re nerds.
      xo
      s

  49. Katie says

    so bummed! wonder what the chance is they’ll get more of the calendars in stock…
    LOVE your installation!

    Reply

  50. Amanda says

    I was absolutely smitten with that calendar. I even contacted RPC directly and received this response. I thought it might be helpful to anyone else looking!

    “Thank you for reaching out to us. Unfortunately, the 2013 Cities Calendar has sold out and we do not plan on having anymore printed. However, we are working on releasing all of the Cities art as prints. I do not have a timeframe on this, but wanted to provide you with a potential option. Additionally, in the meantime, please check out our 2013 Garden Calendar. Let me know if there is anything further I can assist you with.

    Have a great day!

    Best,

    Bobby Morrison, Customer Service
    Rifle Paper Co.”

    Anybody else want to flood them with email requests for a reprinting?! ;)

    Reply

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