All About Art

Last night I got to do one of my favorite activities - interior decorating!

One of my dear friends, Ashley, just moved in with her boyfriend, my dear friend Steve. They now live one block away from me and I love having them in the neighborhood - now it’s so easy to pop over for a quick visit or meet Ashley at Yogurtland or go on an impromptu visit to the farmer’s market on Sunday mornings!

Anyway, Ash has been asking me for a couple weeks to come over and take a look at their new place and help her assess: what do they have that they should get rid of, what are they missing that they should buy, and other general advice on things like rugs, pillows, art, etc.

So last night after dinner, I went back to their apartment and did what I do best - gave my opinion! :)

Their place looks great - their combined furniture matches well and their tastes are very similar, so they easily agreed on some new big purchases, such as a dining room table rug and a new console (which I improved by suggesting they flip it on its side to be long/horizontal rather than tall/vertical. I forgot to take a picture but rest assured, it looks great!). But the number one thing they were asking for help with was for things to hang on their walls - new art.

I love art. I think art is incredibly personal, and my number one rule is to always, always buy art when I fall in love with it - even if I don’t necessarily have the space for it immediately! Over the years I have collected all kinds of posters and prints and paintings, and even if they have to sit in a closet for a few months or years while I wait for the perfect place to display it, I always find one and it’s always worth the purchase. I would rather have unused art that I loved than have to scramble for a poster or print that didn’t speak to me, just so my walls wouldn’t be barren.

Here are some pieces of art that I own and love:

For Like Ever poster

(Just as I mentioned above... it's two years old and I STILL have yet to hang it - waiting for the perfect spot!)

This MASSIVE painting was one of the first official pieces of art

my parents bought when they moved to LA!

It's hanging above my sofa in my apartment.

Coincidentally, this is Stevie - he hung it for me!

Every time I went to Israel last year,

I would stop in this gallery in Tzfat and admire this painting in Morris Dahan's gallery.

On my last trip there, I bit the bullet and bought it.

It's now hanging in my den. Every time I look at it, I think of Israel!

This painting is my grandmother's -

for decades it hung above her dining room table.

When she moved to an apartment from her house,

she had no space for it and told me I could have it - I was ecstatic!

Unfortunately, it's also massive,

and will cost me hundreds to ship it back to LA from NY.

Until I can come up with the funds, it sits all alone in my aunt's basement :(

As for Ashley and Steve’s apartment, I suggested a couple things that I want to share here. First off - the easiest way to dress up your walls ever: you literally need two things - canvas and some fabric!

Lots of my friends did this for a quick, cheap, and easy fix to the blank-wall problem but ended up loving the way it looked and keeping it for years. You simply need to go to a fabric store and pick out a fabric (or a couple different ones, in similar colors, if you want to do a 2 or 3 print situation), and pick up a couple blank canvases from an art store - whatever size you want. Stretch the fabric taut over the canvases and use a hot-glue gun or a staple gun to secure the fabric to the back, and voila! New, interesting art for your walls!

The other suggestion I have for buying unique art is this fantastic website - www.20x200.com. You can read all about the idea behind the website here, but the basic gist is that it sells original, signed pieces of art by well-known and up-and-coming artists for as low as $20! You can sort through the website by media type, artist name, even by color, and you can opt to have it framed by them before it even arrives at your home, too. I’ve bought several prints from the website and think it’s absolutely genius. FYI: my favorite artist featured on 20x200 is Jennifer Sanchez - I own this print by her, below. It’s hanging in my bathroom!

I was happy to help out Ashley and Stevie and I’m happy to help you out, too! If you have any interior design questions or concerns, send me an email - maybe I can suggest something you haven’t thought of.

Before I left, Ash turned to me and said, “You’re really good at this!”

I like to think I am, too :)