apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Yes, vintage Hollywood photos are my passion.

One of the best things about living in NYC is the amount of framed artwork you find on the street!

It depends:
I collect Midcentury abstract and impressionist art...
...but I also collect contemporary prints of ship paintings by Captain Stephen Card.

Yes! I find you can find a lot of cool Chinese prints. Estate sales are great for this purpose.

~Lorrie @ mydesignsecrets.com.

I would hang more vintage art if I could only find some that I like. It's difficult at times to find good vintage art that is not horribly tacky...

You know, sometimes you can find (reasonably) contemporary artwork at thrift stores. I found this gigantic plasticy print - what do they call those things they churn out of craft stores? Anyway, it matched my living room perfectly and I grabbed it.

paint by numbers! paint by numbers!

I have a collection of student-y oil paintings that I have picked up from my local Goodwill stores over the years. What draws me to them is not their techical or artistic perfection, but that someone, somewhere, sat down and put on canvas a part of themselves. When they are grouped together they make a fun and interesting composition that really makes me happy.

my biggest passion is thrift store art.

needlepoint, paint by numbers, oil paintings, sculptures whatever - I love it! Found art really makes a unique statement and I'm always curious about who made it and why...

I've gotten more compliments, fun questions and conversations out of the weird paintings I find than any amazing piece of vintage furniture. The handmade is always somehow more intimate and appealing.

I buy lots of thrift store art; paintings, drawings and prints.
I love having original art in my home, and have found great things in lots of different styles. I am ruthless and will paint frames, re-frame, cut pieces down to frame more closely, cut pieces up to get the parts i like, use unconventional framing techniques, etc. It is one of my passions.

Most of the art in my apartment that is not a cheap print is done by my grandmother. So if antique can be used to describe what she painted 40 years ago, then I think I have a few antique pieces. But my grandma likes landscapes and flowers, so her old pieces aren't really that different from her new ones.

i love it, but the husband does not. so it all ends up in my office.

In my NYC apt. I have no view, and have collected landscapes and seascapes that are all on one wall. Some are moderately expensive and some are flea, thrift, street, and antique shop finds. A few cost $25 or less. Have had some cleaned and repaired, and left some with flaws. Frames often cost more than the artwork. Mixed in some photos from trips I have taken, but as the wall fills up, they may move to another spot. I absolutely never tire of looking at my "views."

A good source of vintage artwork is Housing Works in NYC. A group of non-profit thrift stores that raise money to help AIDS clients with housing. Check out auctions at www.housingworks.org.

My advice is to buy what you like, and what you can afford, and hang it where you enjoy looking at it. Don't try to match anything in a room, and don't worry about provenance or ligitimacy of the artist, etc. If you decide to take this to another, more serious level of collecting, that's another matter. But to start, go with your gut reaction to the piece.

I've found that it is satisfying to go to a flea or shop with a focus of what I am looking for. That doesn't mean that I may not buy something else.

eBay is a terrific source for vintage art. You just have to have the patience to wade through the crap and an eye to zero in on things you love.

I also have found eBay to be a treasure trove of current day art being sold by the artist. My weakness is plein air oil paintings of CA and oil still lifes. Having also collected plein air and still lifes from galleries, I have to say you can find works for less than $100 that are on par with pieces that cost closer to $500 in a gallery.

I've found some great paintings on the street and in thrift stores. I also have a small paint by numbers collection that I got off ebay and in thrift stores too.

How can you not love the paintings of the kids with big eyes?!

I have gotten *great* original art in the past couple of years from my parish flea market, the sidewalk, and the Eastern Market flea market. One of them ***may*** be a Eugene Karlin!

I love them all, wish I could post pics of them here, and I don't care who did them.

I need more wall space, fast!

I pretty much will hang anything on the wall...I find it hugely satisfying when I look around at my VERY full walls and realize that I've spent next to nothing to cover them. I'd much rather have walls that reflect me and tell a story...

oh i love kitschy thrift store art! i have lots more than i need.

What's great about thrift store stuff is that it's not all kitschy crap. Art is my number one must find item when I walk into any thrift/used/antique store. I've unearthed some really nice original pieces in some of the more well-traveled northside thrift locations (white & brown elephants) including some original abstract watercolors and drawings. I've also assembled a great collection of vintage art museum posters-never spent more than $20 per poster, framed. Another item I cant get enough of is groovy organic hippie style pottery, which is usually dirt cheap.