Tuesday, December 11, 2012

12 Days of Christmas Give Away Day #11: Calendar Art as Instant Wall Art

UPDATE: The Winner of Day 11~Butterfly Calendar is Maud M. from CT!!!!

Maud, I'll contact you so that you can enjoy your new calendar before it's 2013!!!Thank you everyone, for entering the contest and for coming over to Commona-my house for this design idea!


Something that will never go out of style: fabulous prints.  There is virtually a genre for every taste and style palette with print subjects and colors.  For years, I've been using inexpensive calendars to achieve the look of expensive art prints.  Some sets with original prints can be seriously pricey, especially when you are talking about 6, 9, and 12 piece, framed sets.  But if you hunt for it, you will find fantastic calendar art for an amazing price! The key to keep in mind is the print quality...for instance, Anthropology prints on a non-glossy paper. Original prints are not glossy...you won't get quite the right effect if you have chosen a glossy calendar texture.  There are several calendars that have a mat texture or even a water color paper texture.  These will work towards achieving a more authentic print look.  I found this map calendar at Anthropology for $21 last year. 12 months of the year means that I got 12 prints for that price! I then bargain hunted several frames and for under $50 I had 6 framed pieces of art.
Today's gift is this Anthropology Butterfly Calendar, below. You can certainly use it as a calendar. Or you can use it as an instant print set, yours to frame! They would look lovely on their own or in a grouping. See below for design inspiration :) 
 

For rules regarding my 12 Days of Give Aways, click here!

The Look
In a dining room, living room, entry, hall, kitchen or bedroom...just about any wall can handle multiple framed prints. The more conservative your taste, the more grid-like and centered your hanging should be.  The more modern or eclectic your taste, the more room you have to be free flowing and less grid like with your hanging positioning.

Here is a massive grouping; in my opinion it looks best in dining rooms. There are 20 prints in this small space, but they are unified by their subject matter, frames and grid placement.
Dimples and Tangles
These are beautiful and simple botanical prints. 6 print Grid.
Liz Williams
Again, over the sofa, 9 print grid.
Morgan Harrison
LOVE THIS ONE with the dark frames..6 print grid.
dear lillie
And this one may be one of my favorites: I've been wanting to do this in my daughters' room for over a year now. Well, I just bought the BARBIE calendar and it will be a Christmas gift to my girls to have these hanging in their room.  I'm not a BARBIE nut, but these sketches are incredible. Each month is a different designer sketch that looks like it is right out of Coco Chanel's sketch book. The originals sell for hundreds of dollars a piece, but the calendar was under $20 and I scored pretty decent $2 frames.
Barbie giveaway and sale
Layla Grace

Do you like this style? Do you have print sets up in your home? Would love to know!
XXXOOO.

13 comments:

  1. I can't wait to see the Barbie prints! I'm totally inspired by this one. If I don't win, I'm still on the hunt for a good calendar! Thanks for the idea, as always. Also, your pic up top is super cute, LOVE!

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    1. You won't believe how differently you'll look at calendars! i'll show you the Barbie one the next time you're over :)

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  2. http://commona-myhouse.blogspot.com/2012/12/12-days-of-christmas-give-away-day-11.html PINTERESTED!

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  3. Now I know what to do in my dining room!!! Yay!

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    1. YES! Would be fantastic in your dining room...even 3,4,5,6,9,12...small or large this would be a great look in there. Find something that is you...maybe a botanical print like a fern or flower studies, something with earth tones and greens in it. Stay tuned, I'll have a few suggestions for you soon. :)

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  4. I love your vintage map wall. It turned out so beautiful. I have actually been collecting vintage barbie prints for awhile now. Should've thought of purchasing a calendar. That would've saved me a lot of time. Where have you been all my life?

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    1. At least your vintage Barbie prints mean something to you - if your thing is the real deal than that is an investment. For me, I love vintage maps, but wouldn't put the $ into buying the real deal..so the calendar was a good alternative. Same with the Barbie thing for me. It made the look I wanted an affordable option. Your original prints will be something you can hand down to the girls...they'll love that!

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  5. http://pinterest.com/pin/78250112247315392/

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  6. First of all, love the new photo! Ow ow! Secondly, I am secretly in love with Barbie sketches! How fun! You are a genius $$$ saver with the calendar idea.

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    1. THANK YOU!!! Jami Leavitt took some pics for me- she totally was right about me not having any pics on my blog yet, so she remedied that for me :)
      I have nothing against real prints, or even using prints from books, but the calendar thing is a great option if you really want this look and it isn't within reach for you. Even framing with inexpensive frames can add up if you're talking about 6, 9, 12+ arrangement...so this makes it more doable...but you have to love the calendar pics. In my map calendar, I really only liked 4 of them due to the horizontal/vertical issues with each print. I selected the prints that were all vertical and went with that. Stay tuned, more on this soon. :)

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  7. I love this idea. I am doing a wall of my own photos blown up to 8x10 in 11x14 black frames in my family room, but I think I'm going to take this idea for my office! LOVE IT!

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    1. Love photo walls!!! Would love to see it when you're done putting it together! I think the days of hanging one thing on a wall are done. This does drive my hubbie crazy though, because he HATES it when I put nail holes in walls. One day he came home to see a photo wall with over 20 prints, silhouettes, photos, paintings and a few architectural finds hanging over our couch. It looked awesome, but all he could think about was the # of holes I had just put in the wall! OOPS! Sorry, honey!@

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