I have a terrible track record with art. I usually tire of things. The exceptions are things that i have a connection to --- photos of people or places that have meaning, maps, etc.

In my kitchen I wanted original oil paintings. I have three of them, they are rather ornately framed, very traditional dark still lifes. I loved them, now I just like them.

For what you describe, the frames will be the big cost. As long as you can reuse them, why not get what you like?

Like mtnrdredux said I have a painting framed on the wall. I change it out with a mirror sometimes or just paint a new painting. Kind of refreshes the wall if you know what I mean. I don't think my family pays too much attention but I need the change. I've seen some nice vintage posters posted here too.

We have a transitional kitchen with an Asian influence. I think this piece works well with that theme.

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Jodi-

I have antique etchings on either side of my range that were originally purchased to go in a lower level bedroom. When I got them home, I hated to put them in a room I don't go into very often. One features dogs and the other deer/wildlife. The fence is the same color as our island.

Sadye, what size would the prints be once framed? I did a post on decorating with butterflies, and spoke with the owner of Bug Under Glass - so nice. His prices are so reasonable. Take a look at his etsy store (linked at bottom of post) and his website (linked in first paragraph). He can do anything you want - groupings, etc. Look at the last photo (stair wall) in post for framed grouping that has more than one in a frame. He uses vintage maps for background and I see one with flowers today. Could use anything.

Don't know if real butterflies would freak some people out, they wouldn't me. I have a vintage deep frame with five purchased at a garage sale years ago for me by a friend.

Link to post with Bug Under Glass info: http://bit.ly/d0SLz8

Just copy/paste. I don't know how to make clickable in a post. :(

Here is a link that might be useful: third photo - my range wall

Clickable link:

Here is a link that might be useful: Bug Under Glass

I have a painting I started on my father in-law when we were at the cricketerâ pub in England. I never did add the color because as it was it seemed to capture his spirit. I too am in search of the right art so I can move Mattie Matt back to the living room. IâÂÂm not sure what part of the U.S you live in but around my parts the garage sales are great for finding picture frames. I love the look of taking old traditional frames and painting them in modern colors and grouping them. That might look really neat with your butterfly prints.

Yes! A subject near and dear to me. There are so many great ideas for kitchen art. Here are 5 of my favs!
1. If you want personal, make it yourself or get the family artist to create a custom piece. (C'mon everyone has an artist in the family)
2.Failing #1, if you want original art at a great price try etsy.com You can pick from vintage veggie or fruit prints or paintings to very cool photography if you want something edgier. I love this one, for example http://www.etsy.com/listing/56828630/girl-in-bakery-12-x-18-original-fine-art
3.Your collection can be an artistic statement too. I had a client who wanted to show off her cookie jars but you could make and interesting collection with just about anything. Here's a photo of the cookie jar lady's kitchen.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43255565@N03/3983478939/
The butterfly prints sound great. Pick what YOU love and the nice thing is you can always switch it out as your tastes evolve. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchens for Living

I had some of my photographs in my kitchen, the new kitchen will have very little wall space for any kind of art. Anyone want some 16X20 photo's of flowers?

Here is a link that might be useful:

A mix: a couple of photos, antique wrought iron utensils, antique botanical prints, an oil painting, antique brass colander and ladle, and an old barometer salvaged off a wooden yacht.

We have so much framed stuff that we're putting in a picture hanging rail on our designated "art walls" so that we can change out pieces without wrecking the walls. We suspend art on fishline so it floats on wall.

Meanwhile, I've put up temp 3M plastic wallhooks and there's a continuous round of change happening already, but beware--these are not as sturdy as a nail, so if you try this, don't hang anything precious!

chrisa, that image is glorious! If you're serious, I'd be honored!

Thanks for all the thoughts! I hadn't thought about putting in some kind of hanging rail --that's a great idea. I love seeing what other people are doing -- thanks for sharing!

I have a wall of handmade tiles individually hung by Angela Evans. A couple of African masks made by my children in art class. And a set of 4 oil still lifes by my mother, which makes them very special to me. Other than that...I found a rooster plate, I had 2 hammered copper spoons, and a basket.

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I just have my counters and backsplash. Handmade, figurative tiles. :)

I have a framed color Jello ad from a 1928 issue of Ladies Home Journal, an antique glass washboard and one of those old souvenier plates from Oklahoma that used to hang in my grannie's living room! Great post because I could use some more ideas!

I have some rusty bird boxes from my favorite gallery in Durham NC (white + rusty metal + birds = heaven for me). I like them bc they loads of texture :-)

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@plllog: Your whole kitchen is art.

I have a pastel my daughter framed for her father, a small iron "rock climber" going up the wall, and a folk art bark basket.

I have this print in a simple black metal frame. No mat. Had the print dry mounted & a textured film laminated to it so it's very washable.

I love it because it always makes me smile.

Three Red Dogs With Apples by Daniel Kessler

We collect a lot of antiques to furnish our home. We found an old print at an auction and had it matted and framed for our kitchen. It is a milkmaid and below the print we have a butter churn. :-)

Well darn, it looks like I accidentally deleted the art photo from my Photobucket album. Here it is again.

Jodi-

jodi, I really like the textures you have going on with the grass cloth, the granite and the artwork. Great looking!

Jodi, I remember your print from the Home Decorating forum. I really like it.

I have a couple of things:
You can see an acrylic painting and then a framed newspaper article on "Seinfood" for DH. BTW, I am looking for ways to make this area more aesthetic.

My favorite piece is a wedding gift from my former boss. It is a hand-painted platter from Italy. This is from before the walls were painted white.

Not a piece of art, but close--the wall mounted pot rack:

ci_lantro - Love it! I smiled when I saw it, too. :)

I have a flue cover with a picture by an artist we like, if that counts, and also a cuckoo clock my grandmother picked up after WWII while stationed in Germany. We also have a family picture we took at a cheesy place across from the Alamo where we dressed up as wild west bank robbers. Planning on a large cork board over the phone table to hang the kids' art projects, and also hanging some art glass plates on my one empty wall, but haven't gotten around to it---I haven't even put everything back in the cabinets yet!

We have a series of pictures my husband took of our children, in ikea frames. I love the painting on the wall beyond the kitchen, but it is a bit small for the space.

Just passing through and saw this. I love kitchens. So ...

Standing in the middle of the kitchen, the dining room and kitchen are two back-to-back octagonal shapes with the kitchen counter being the walls of the dining room on one side and the others angling out to form a cosy two wall, three bay window breakfast nook.

The nook's walls have a vegetable still life (oil) by mother-in-law, and print of flower garden by dear friend on either side of view of flowering shrubs and vines through windows.

Continuing around, the cooktop has two glass shelves to the side of the hood. They hold some smalls: brass teapot, an etched vase, my kitchen god - things I can wash. I look out from my white kitchen over the counters to the modern paintings on the living room walls.

Then heading back to the dining room there is a wall of glass looking through to the garden and water, and my "Chat Noir" wall clock. Continuing to the nook, on the frig. I have matching magnetic frames for the latest offerings from the grandchildren. and also small red and white blown glass magnetic sconces to hold their feathers and dry arrangements. The over all scheme is white with black and red accents, The art doesn't conform but it works.

The important thing is that it's easy care, it makes me happy and comfortable to work there. There's nothing worse than trying to get a messy feast prepared in a magazine like kitchen that intimidates and that you're afraid to get dirty.

You like butterfly prints, get them framed in sealed glass, then when the spaghetti splatters you can wash them off. A lovely glass butterfly bowl that can sit on the counter being art, hold fruit, go in dishwasher! Whatever you love, do it.

Have fun, Li

Here's a painting I bought for morale during the worst time of the construction. Is currently, temporarily across the peninsula from my chopping station on wall of corridor from lobby area. Most likely this is the Baltic coastline in Latvia, but it could be at Lake Superior too. Makes me think there is a "place away." Very restful.

A line of fruit photos which my mother and I put together about 25 years ago. I enjoy the photos, and it reminds me of her creativity, and a lovely time we had together. (not very straight on this picture, are they?)

Inexpensive botanical print of Oranges from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

I have some colorful Mary Naylor plates and Suzanne Etienne prints.
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You all have such great artwork, but I really could live with CiLantro's artwork and would also smile everyday I saw it. Here is print of artwork by Connie Bieber that I hope to have in our future kitchen:

Florantha,

Love the green color on your wall -- can you tell me what it is?

Fun thread! Loving the candid shots of kitchens :)

off topic...
marytw: It's "Haven" which I think is Sherwin-Williams. (If not, it's by local Hirschfield's paint store in Minn.) Doncha love the stains on the new wall? We've had a terrible time with walls because of other issues, and we will redo the wall prep and repaint again, perhaps after Christmas when we hope to tackle a lot of unfinished interior stuff.

We are testing this green throughout the areas adjacent to the kitchen, esp. the new lobby. It looks to be a pretty good color, sorta Granny Smith. It likes antique wood finishes and new wood and silver, pewter, gold-brass, many reds, items with a dark note for counterpoint, and whites/ivories.

I grew up with a 1940s colonial living room of a color just a little more muted than this green, with red and forest green accents and creamy painted woodwork, which is one of those indelible memories that influence later life. It was very startling when real estate agent urged us to repaint Mom's living room in desert colors in 2005.

We have a linen board from pottery barn that is covered in photos that overlap each other and it appears like a huge collage.. people love coming over and looking at it. We print them from the pc so every few months we change it up a bit

Great thread and some really nice pieces! There was an old thread on this topic that I tried to find and link, but to no avail.

We have lots of "local" art - two pieces from one of my best friends who's also an amazing artist and a pair of roosters from a Toronto artist. Plus decorative plates, some that belonged to my parents and others that we have picked up on our travels. And although it doesn't count as "art", we have been slowly adding decorative objects - trying to balance those without creating too much clutter!

My girlfriend's Fish on the left, local artist Pey Lu's Roosters on the right:

Autumn leaves from my girlfriend:

Decorative plates:

"Living" art :-)

Stone roosters on the window sill:

Hoping that rosemary makes it through the winter!

Eliz

These pieces are from an artist in Portland, Maine who specializes in kitchen inspired prints, tea towels and other gorgeous things.

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Here is a link that might be useful: House of Bouton on Etsy

I hardly had any wall space left but I managed to buy a 1946 calender and find a space big enough to hang it. It has notations on it about setting eggs; hen, goose and duck. I added the pepper plaster plaques because I found them locally in my price range. Not my first choice but shipping from eBay gets out of hand. After MUCH discussion I decided against any type of backsplash and left it painted white so I use "old" prints and things as my backsplash. Two of the framed pictures on the SW counter were found in my machine shed. One is dated 1933 and I presume the other is likely in that same time frame. The calendar on the NW counter is from a grocery store no longer operating in my home town. Everything is either framed or laminated on its way to a frame. I like to change things every so often so this works for me. I have lots of pictures I've aquired over time. I could change everything every week and be good to go for a year.

The advice >height=400> didn't work for me.

Yeeeeaaaahhhh.... This just arrived today. It most likely won't be hung until later in the week as DH is away on business and it is def. a two person job- but I LOVE IT

I LUUUUV everyone's artwork! Elizpiz's rossters are wonderful and I really like Jodi's artwork in neutral colors. We have a very large 6x6 painting by Jessica Martin in our breakfast nook which is open to the kitchen.

firsthouse, What a great space you have for entertaining! I love the colors and composition of the painting. Can you come over to my house and help me with center pieces?? The assorted flowers look great in your spaces. I tend to have a rough time with the little homey touches:)

I don't have any yet because I was waiting for just the right piece. And now I have it. I made this on Saturday. It's fused glass and the colors are perfect for the kitchen. I just need to get a hanger for it.

I have hardly any wall space in my kitchen. Right now I have an inexpensive painting from Target on the angled wall next to the powder room. It's been there about a year and a half; I tend to move paintings/pictures around my house all the time. DH always gets confused when I move something. He will ask when we got the "new" painting. I am generally not into "kitchen" type art so I think this painting works nicely.

Above my sink I have a wroght iron piece from Pier 1. It's long and almost touches the two cabinets so it kind of ties them together over the large window.

My 7 year old and I were watching "Designed to Sell" once on HGTV and they used my Target painting. My daughter was sooo impressed that we had the same painting they used on tv :) In this photo it's on the right side above the light switch.
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The Pier 1 piece above the window:
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