My husband wanted to put up this ugly reproduction of a horse race painting that he found at a garage sale, I told him "give me a week, I'll find something better online!" I wanted a modern look, some realisitc photography, but I didn't want black and white because we have so many b&w prints in the house already. I finally bought a color print of a park scene (some park in NYC, I'm not sure which) at a web site called Brooklyn Prints. Every mantle is different, of course; I had just enough space to put up a 16x20 print in a wood frame. Our fireplace is for decoration only, so we didn't have to worry about heat damage to the frame or the print, but it is something to think about too. Here is a link that might be useful: Brooklyn Prints

Something I did in my guest bedroom while waiting for the perfect pieces of art was to get a photo calendar with pictures I like and buy some simple black frames. I had a set of four, looked pretty good. The one I had was Japanese watercolor art. Later, I bought two large beach watercolors. I love the beach and I found having beach pictures in the bedroom very relaxing! I like landscapes, but if you don't, then by all means don't. I had some landscapes in my bedroom, but moody ones. One was a cabin glowing with firelight covered by a huge amount of snow illuminated pink by a sunset. Just the perfect spot I would have liked to be and since the snow made it impossible to get in or out of the place, it just evoked peace and relaxation or me. To a Floridian it might have been a living nightmare, lol. Later it was a little homestead cabin on top of a hill, a woodcut. When I went full on beach in one room, I had the typical tropical desert island scene, which also says relax, no interruptions. Landscapes can be very abstract too, my friend's daughter does very abstract landscapes. I'm not trying to sell her stuff, just including a link because I think she does beautiful work and it's a good example of "out of the box" landscapes. Might be too casual for your taste, but who knows, http://emiliesart.blogspot.com/p/gallery-shop.html I also loved metal wall art, and botanical prints. I would love some kind of sculpture made to look like tree branches, but again, that's just me.

It sounds like you've already decided which ones to keep and which to return, but I just wanted to chime in and say that I like your choices and think they look great with the other colors and items in your cheerful home. My favorites are the barn (on the left in the first pic), the one in the second picture (that no one else seems to like), and the "confetti people" piece. I also like the frames a lot., and wouldn't have guessed that the art was mass produced if you hadn't said so. All of them look happy and fun to me. I don't think every piece of art has to be original and deeply meaningful... Just brightening your day a little can be enough in my opinion. I like your idea to use the keepers in your guest and laundry room. Makes me want to check out Anthropology for some colorful art when we set up our guest bedroom.

About colour - your rooms are beautiful and you have done a great job of presenting a cohesive and interesting space. Not everyone needs or wants colour. If you don't miss it or need it then don't put it in because someone tells you that it needs it. We redid our house a few years ago and I fell into the "Neutral rooms and bring interest into the room through texture" trap and I hated both the living room and especially the kitchen. I have spent the last 5 years bringing colour back into the house because I do need colour, not a lot, but some and I recognize that. I like the art work but the teal pillows are too eye-jarring. If you like the canvas art then try pillows in the soft pink (?) found in the art.