Thursday, February 10, 2011

When Bad Hotel Art Goes Good

This story begins a couple of years ago, while shopping in Kansas City. I stopped by the Curious Sofa, and found a great unframed botanical poster and brought it home with me. I recently read on Debbie's blog, that she has closed the doors of the Curious Sofa after 10 years, I'm sure it will be missed, I never got there enough.
I had the poster rolled up in my closet, all but forgotten, until last week when I was strolling through my favorite thrift store, and spotted some bad hotel art, the poster instantly sprang to mind. With all the snow and ice Missouri has been experiencing the last two weeks, I haven't been out much....but of course the first break in the weather, I make a beeline for the thrift store. Forget food and supplies.
Bad hotel art yes, but it was a fantastic size, great frame, matting and glass, a perfect candidate for a make-over. The tell-tell signs of being screwed to the wall of some hotel, yet left me questioning why anyone would want to steal this....and yes that is a mauve frame. Bleck.

...and the low, low price of $3.98, nice.


I felt super lucky that the matting was a perfect compliment to the poster, and while the poster didn't fit perfectly, it looked even better imperfect.
A great collected look( and it really is). I cleaned the glass and painted the frame black, I filled the screw holes in with wood fill, good as new. I had to paint the frame by hand because it is just too cold to spray paint, I used some black craft paint and a sponge brush.




After the frame dried, I reassembled everything. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out and my poster finally found a home, and on a budget.





I needed a big piece to serve as an anchor on the wall above my bookcases, and I think the bad hotel art did it! :)
I love mixing vintage and mod together...a printer's tray and an old wheel cog paired with modernized (with spray paint) ginger jars. All thrift store/antique store finds. The black urn is something I recently found at Hobby Lobby and added a little faux maiden hair fern. So for the duration of winter, or until I get bored, which ever comes first, I love how it looks up there.




Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you are inspired to reinvent bad hotel art!



linkparty


17 comments:

  1. Looks wonderful! I have been wanting to add some botanical prints to my decor.

    ReplyDelete
  2. what a fun idea. i love junque. especially cheap, chic,unique junque ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michelle, it looks great. I love the whole wall with the Expedits and how well designed the area is. Nice job.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I loved the curious couch also pretty bummed it closed, anyway this turned out great, love your placement!

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1) I would love to find three cog wheels of various sizes;
    2) Love the black urn! and
    3) Pat yourself on the back for the pic turned out beautifully in the cheap frame!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great job, Michelle! I love the print and how you reused the frame {updated, of course}. Mauve - sheesh - that was late 80's, wasn't it? I think I had mauve in the master bedroom in our first house.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It looks great! That old picture is totally 80s! lol! I've got a really thick, chunky frame my husband saved from a Bennigans that was being demolished. It was screwed to the wall, too. I need to do something with it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. love it and everything on the shelf!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love it! I really like how you did a mix of vintage looking things and new pieces. Pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very nice...always love the natural, soothing look of botanicals.
    ~Pam of pamspaintparlor.typepad.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wonderful! Looks beautiful Michelle!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great find! You can't beat that price! I am so inspired when I come across blog posts like this. I love to see what can be done with a little creativity and elbow grease. Thanks for sharing this!

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a great transformation, you are one clever lady,Kathysue

    ReplyDelete
  14. Just wanted you to know, I went thrifting today looking for 80's art, just because of this post! FABULOUS! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Always love the natural, soothing look of botanical.
    Hotel Design

    ReplyDelete

Thank You for taking the time to comment! Because of the insane amount of spam comments, I had to stop anonymous comments-sorry for the inconvenience.
Michelle