I love growing my own plants, so I will knock on doors and ask people for seeds and cuttings. I've made some great garden friends in the process, one elderly lady who nearly landscaped my whole yard because I offered to help her clear out overgrown yard for the plants. She had some seriously gorgeous large bromeliads that sold for $50 each at the one place you could buy them in the area. I must have gotten $1,000 worth or bromeliads and other plants from her for 8 hours of work. We remained friends and I got even more plants from her in years to come. I also trade plants and seeds with people online and off, and dig up, get seeds from, or take cuttings from beautiful blooming natives from the side of the road. I have no pride when it comes to my garden. LOL Of course, I buy half-dead perennials from Lowe's and WalMart markdown racks and bring them back to live. I also live in an apartment complex and have gotten some plants people left behind or gave to me when they moved. I also used to belong to a community garden and got quite a few free plants and seeds from there. I was just figuring how much I've spent over the past 3 years since I"ve lived in this apartment on plants, and it came out to less than $50 and most of that was fertilizer and potting soil. Speaking of potting soil, Lowe's will sometimes mark down broken bags, because they can't sell them for full price. I got 5 bags of nice, organic soil for 50% off by offering to take the broken bags off their hands for a discount. Same for plants with broken pots. I got a beautiful peach tree once for 1/2 price because the pot had split down the side and wouldn't hold water, so it was drying out and dying. But the best and most treasured seeds and plants I get are from GWers. I have such good friends here who regularly send me plants and seeds for no reason at all except they know I love growing from seed and don't have much of a budget. I always pass the favor forward or send them something I know they are looking for.

I second IKEA if you have one near you. My 1st stop for black frames is always the clearance or damaged section at TJ Maxx, Home Goods etc. Then their regular section and I look for any that might be knicked and ask for an 'As Is' price. Then I go over the ding w/ a black sharpie. My 2nd stop (1st if it's for a white or brown frame) is always IKEA. Sometimes I have to have a mat custom cut but even then it's worth it if I'm not looking fo a fancy mat.

I've used AllPosters and Art.com for some Audubon and Winslow Homer prints. TerraPrints has some amazing maps. Mostly, though, I poke around antique and consignment stores. As for HomeGoods, I made my first wall decor purchase there last week. It was a pair of small canvas prints, made in Canada, of birds. I thought they might give a somewhat more contemporary feeling by our fireplace and was pretty pleased with how they looked, until last night. Dh & I were watching "Real Estate Intervention" (recorded) and the stager used these same canvas prints. Ack! It may sound awfully shallow, but the prints came down immediately. Whatever charm they'd held for me was gone.

That’s a tough one, especially when so many friends and family gift us framed photos that don’t always necessarily go with our decor. I like uniformity, and what I’ve done is take photos I like and scan them and convert to B&W. Years ago I bought black IKEA frames and cropped and printed the family and friends photos in squares and framed them to my liking, and created a row of framed photos in my dining area, opposite my art gallery wall. I think it looks “intentional,” and I get oohs and ahhs from family who have gifted their photos to me. Then, you can regift photos back to friends & family in the gifted frames, if you like. Or donate the frames. I’m just particular!