"Dear homestyle,
I love your magazine and always manage to sneak a copy home with the groceries.
I have always admired the beauty of how people seemed to so effortlessly pull together stylish yet functional homes, and I am now am lucky enough to have my own home to decorate.
My problem is that we are a young couple with an eight-month-old baby and limited funds. We have a few basic pieces picked up at the mainstream furniture shops, before we had a 'style', and the new build house we live in is boring to say the least. Furniture wise, I'm happy to collect and assemble as we go, but the thing that is driving me crazy is the blank off-white walls that are just screaming out for artwork. Affordable, abstract artwork. My problem – where do I find it? I don't know where to start!
I’m not looking for collector items, that can come later in life when I actually have money, for now I want a painting to sit above my sofa and fill the space. I have internet searched; I have visited the standard run of the mill furniture houses and found nothing. So please help me out. Do you have any suggestions on where to find affordable artwork for the average homeowner? There must be solutions out there that I just can't find."
After having the above letter arrive in the homestyle mailbox recently we thought there were probably a few more of you out there with the same questions about where to start with finding affordable art for your home. The internet is a great place to start, so below we've gathered together a couple of our favourite local and international sites for sourcing affordable art for your home.
House of Aroha is one of our favourite Kiwi sites for silkscreen prints by Rakai Karaitiana - a Napier based artist and co-owner of store Aroha & Friends, an outlet for not only his creative talents but the work of other local artists and designers too.
I need nice things is a great Australian site for graphic works that you can choose to have printed on paper or canvas, at a variety of sizes.
There are loads of artists and designers on Etsy - in fact there are so many options that once you start looking you could be there for hours! A couple of current favourites include Pony Pool (above) with some fun mid century modern style prints. And Siiso (below) who creates colourful abstract works and intricate illustrations.
An easy statement idea is stretching a piece of fabric over a canvas and staplegunning on - as seen here in the home of Alex Fulton (featured in our August/September issue). Marimekko designs work particularly well for this, and can be bought from Bolt Of Cloth.
An affordable option is framing illustrated teatowels - To Dry For has loads of fun ones.
Or pick up a roll of decorative wallpaper like these Deborah Bowness designs from Paper Room
