What do you have on your walls?

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
dumitru

dumitru

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 7, 2013
Messages
361
Reaction score
60
Location
Dortmund, Germany
Hi gang,
After 3 weeks on the road with the wife, we started looking more carefully at the walls of the places that we stay at.
So, a couple of questions:
1. What do you hang on your walls?
- Real paintings (as in: originals)
- Prints of paintings (as in: digital replicas)
- Photos
- Animal heads
- Dead birds (yup, seen some of those)
- etc.
2. How often do you change your wall decorations?
Thanks for taking the time to respond :)
 
Real Paintings and serigraphs mostly. A few prints/posters. No animal heads. I was thinking of putting up a stuffed Joey Bloggs head, but we heard objections.
 
Prints. Mostly local artists. A few cheaper pieces. A couple originals, but by friends.
Mostly seascapes.
 
In one of my rooms, I have a painting by a local artist and in another, I have a picture that a friend took that I had made into a canvas painting. The other pieces are just digital replicas. I'm also a fan of those words that can be rubbed on to the wall, pleasant little sayings like "Always Kiss Me Goodnight" or "Real Love Stories Don't Have Endings". I placed this one on the staircase and get a lot of compliments on it. It just makes people feel good, ya know? They see it as they walk down the stairs. Hopefully no one will ever trip because their head is looking up instead of down!
10329149_10202610831846673_2065943206144912762_n_0.jpg
 
HEY! People would love that Jonno!
Dumi are you asking about in the guest room itself, not the inn common rooms etc?
The answer is it depends. All of our rooms are unique. Some we have something like this:
Cascade_Bed_Claiborne%20House%20blog.jpg

All of the rooms have mixed media. This room also has a framed tapestry from the 1939 World's Fair in NY. An original floral oil my great-grandmother painted that my mother gave me, it was the really small ones that were all the rage in those days (it is in the bathroom) and just adds some color. A vintage Buick car ad framed spread across two frames from the pages of a Saturday evening post magazine (1940's era). Another metal framed artsy thingy.
But no animal heads, no dead birds, nothing macabre or true Victorian in that sense. The fetish was for stuffed things in those days (the era of this house) but we don't follow that completely)
 
We are both professional artists -our works all over the place (traditional, nothing controvential)
 
April said:
We are both professional artists -our works all over the place (traditional, nothing controvential).
Click to expand...
April said:
We are both professional artists -our works all over the place (traditional, nothing controvential)
Click to expand...
I bet your place is amazing April!
 
I have a real mix:
  • Some decent oil on canvas paintings by local artists.
  • Some giclée prints, reproductions of masterpieces done about the time my building was built, by Picasso, Gustav Klimt, and others.
  • I found a guy on the Internet from somewhere south of Vietnam who will reproduce anything you want in oil on canvas, in the same size as the original, for about $300. He's a real artist. I had him do one for me of the Theodore Roosevelt official White House Presidential portrait, since TR was president when my building was built. It's amazingly good, almost as good as the original (below). It's about 5' (1.5 meters) tall, so many guests are wowed by it.
I made up gallery-like wall plaques that I mounted by each one, explaining why I chose to put it in my place, and the history of the work. I also put a gallery page on my website with a photo of each one, and its description.
Lots of guests comment on these. The only drawback to all this was that the framing cost even more than the artworks did!
Theodore-Roosevelt-Official-White-House-Portrait.jpeg
 
We have many oil paintings, mostly landscapes and seascapes of the area. BIL is an artist and hangs his paintings for us in the house and cottage. We sell any painting that guests have a hankering for....and this arrangement has made everyone happy. We get to enjoy real paintings, guests get to own a lovely memento of their stay and usually get to meet the artist, and BIL gets $$!
We also have several pen-and-ink drawings of the marsh and beaches by another artist friend, and a couple of etchings of NYC done quite nicely by one of our guests.
There is one giclée print hanging in the dining room that looks exactly like the view to ocean from the B+B.
 
I'm always changing this. However, nothing original. Lots of prints and maps and postcards of local scenes.
 
Something I've noticed when I've visited homes in Sweden and Spain: they ONLY have original stuff on the walls. This may just be unique to the Swedes and Spaniards I happened to visit, but it was noticeable to me.
In the circles I move in here in Arkansas, most people cover their walls with generic "paintings" they buy at Hobby Lobby or Walmart, just to keep the walls from being bare, so it really stood out to me that the homes I visited in Europe had original art. Nothing famous or expensive, of course, but stuff done by humans, not machines. They just collect them over time as they see something they like at a sidewalk art show or other sort of fair.
I remember that the agriturismos where I stayed in Italy a few years ago had enlarged photos of top architectural elements of their area, things I would see, or had seen, when I visited the towns around the agriturismo. I liked that.
I'm adding 3 more suites to my place this summer, and I'll probably cover those walls with big photos of local attractions.
I've also bought a few large "abstract" tapestries (on sale, like below) at art.com (I LOVE art.com). I like the look, and the heavy fabric helps with the acoustics in my place, which has 13 foot (4 meter) ceilings and wood floors, so the rooms can have an echo if I don't have some things on the walls to soften the sounds.
art.jpg
 
Arks said:
Something I've noticed when I've visited homes in Sweden and Spain: they ONLY have original stuff on the walls. This may just be unique to the Swedes and Spaniards I happened to visit, but it was noticeable to me.
In the circles I move in here in Arkansas, most people cover their walls with generic "paintings" they buy at Hobby Lobby or Walmart, just to keep the walls from being bare, so it really stood out to me that the homes I visited in Europe had original art. Nothing famous or expensive, of course, but stuff done by humans, not machines. They just collect them over time as they see something they like at a sidewalk art show or other sort of fair.
I remember that the agriturismos where I stayed in Italy a few years ago had enlarged photos of top architectural elements of their area, things I would see, or had seen, when I visited the towns around the agriturismo. I liked that.
I'm adding 3 more suites to my place this summer, and I'll probably cover those walls with big photos of local attractions.
I've also bought a few large "abstract" tapestries (on sale, like below) at art.com (I LOVE art.com). I like the look, and the heavy fabric helps with the acoustics in my place, which has 13 foot (4 meter) ceilings and wood floors, so the rooms can have an echo if I don't have some things on the walls to soften the sounds.
art.jpg
.
Click to expand...
All the good stuff is in my house.
That was something that was drilled into my head 10 years ago... Don't put anything in the inn that you would really miss if it was damaged or stolen.
 
Arks said:
Something I've noticed when I've visited homes in Sweden and Spain: they ONLY have original stuff on the walls. This may just be unique to the Swedes and Spaniards I happened to visit, but it was noticeable to me.
In the circles I move in here in Arkansas, most people cover their walls with generic "paintings" they buy at Hobby Lobby or Walmart, just to keep the walls from being bare, so it really stood out to me that the homes I visited in Europe had original art. Nothing famous or expensive, of course, but stuff done by humans, not machines. They just collect them over time as they see something they like at a sidewalk art show or other sort of fair.
I remember that the agriturismos where I stayed in Italy a few years ago had enlarged photos of top architectural elements of their area, things I would see, or had seen, when I visited the towns around the agriturismo. I liked that.
I'm adding 3 more suites to my place this summer, and I'll probably cover those walls with big photos of local attractions.
I've also bought a few large "abstract" tapestries (on sale, like below) at art.com (I LOVE art.com). I like the look, and the heavy fabric helps with the acoustics in my place, which has 13 foot (4 meter) ceilings and wood floors, so the rooms can have an echo if I don't have some things on the walls to soften the sounds.
art.jpg
.
Click to expand...
Arks said:
Something I've noticed when I've visited homes in Sweden and Spain: they ONLY have original stuff on the walls. This may just be unique to the Swedes and Spaniards I happened to visit, but it was noticeable to me.
In the circles I move in here in Arkansas, most people cover their walls with generic "paintings" they buy at Hobby Lobby or Walmart, just to keep the walls from being bare, so it really stood out to me that the homes I visited in Europe had original art. Nothing famous or expensive, of course, but stuff done by humans, not machines. They just collect them over time as they see something they like at a sidewalk art show or other sort of fair.
I remember that the agriturismos where I stayed in Italy a few years ago had enlarged photos of top architectural elements of their area, things I would see, or had seen, when I visited the towns around the agriturismo. I liked that.
I'm adding 3 more suites to my place this summer, and I'll probably cover those walls with big photos of local attractions.
I've also bought a few large "abstract" tapestries (on sale, like below) at art.com (I LOVE art.com). I like the look, and the heavy fabric helps with the acoustics in my place, which has 13 foot (4 meter) ceilings and wood floors, so the rooms can have an echo if I don't have some things on the walls to soften the sounds.
art.jpg
Click to expand...
That is the one thing that did not make sense in your place to me. I see why you did it now. I couldn't work it out. Yes I know exactly where it was too. I stared at it. You know I notice everything. My curse and my blessing. You mentioned someone assisting with the decor so I guess that was what they said your place needed to fem it up a bit.
I did like it btw, just didn't look like your taste.
 
Joey Bloggs said:
Arks said:
Something I've noticed when I've visited homes in Sweden and Spain: they ONLY have original stuff on the walls. This may just be unique to the Swedes and Spaniards I happened to visit, but it was noticeable to me.
In the circles I move in here in Arkansas, most people cover their walls with generic "paintings" they buy at Hobby Lobby or Walmart, just to keep the walls from being bare, so it really stood out to me that the homes I visited in Europe had original art. Nothing famous or expensive, of course, but stuff done by humans, not machines. They just collect them over time as they see something they like at a sidewalk art show or other sort of fair.
I remember that the agriturismos where I stayed in Italy a few years ago had enlarged photos of top architectural elements of their area, things I would see, or had seen, when I visited the towns around the agriturismo. I liked that.
I'm adding 3 more suites to my place this summer, and I'll probably cover those walls with big photos of local attractions.
I've also bought a few large "abstract" tapestries (on sale, like below) at art.com (I LOVE art.com). I like the look, and the heavy fabric helps with the acoustics in my place, which has 13 foot (4 meter) ceilings and wood floors, so the rooms can have an echo if I don't have some things on the walls to soften the sounds.
art.jpg
.
Click to expand...
Arks said:
Something I've noticed when I've visited homes in Sweden and Spain: they ONLY have original stuff on the walls. This may just be unique to the Swedes and Spaniards I happened to visit, but it was noticeable to me.
In the circles I move in here in Arkansas, most people cover their walls with generic "paintings" they buy at Hobby Lobby or Walmart, just to keep the walls from being bare, so it really stood out to me that the homes I visited in Europe had original art. Nothing famous or expensive, of course, but stuff done by humans, not machines. They just collect them over time as they see something they like at a sidewalk art show or other sort of fair.
I remember that the agriturismos where I stayed in Italy a few years ago had enlarged photos of top architectural elements of their area, things I would see, or had seen, when I visited the towns around the agriturismo. I liked that.
I'm adding 3 more suites to my place this summer, and I'll probably cover those walls with big photos of local attractions.
I've also bought a few large "abstract" tapestries (on sale, like below) at art.com (I LOVE art.com). I like the look, and the heavy fabric helps with the acoustics in my place, which has 13 foot (4 meter) ceilings and wood floors, so the rooms can have an echo if I don't have some things on the walls to soften the sounds.
art.jpg
Click to expand...
That is the one thing that did not make sense in your place to me. I see why you did it now. I couldn't work it out. Yes I know exactly where it was too. I stared at it. You know I notice everything. My curse and my blessing. You mentioned someone assisting with the decor so I guess that was what they said your place needed to fem it up a bit.
I did like it btw, just didn't look like your taste.
.
Click to expand...
Joey Bloggs said:
You mentioned someone assisting with the decor so I guess that was what they said your place needed to fem it up a bit.
I did like it btw, just didn't look like your taste.
Click to expand...
Yep, the woman who did the window shades said I had to have tapestries or quilts or something on the walls to help the acoustics, and the decorator ladies went wild with my credit card at art.com!
I like what the picked, too. Just never would have come up with them on my own. That's why I have decorator ladies!
p.s. Glad you notice EVERYTHING. I hate to have it, and have it ignored!
 
We have John Panek originals in the rooms (oils & colored pencil), bathrooms (watercolors), hall (pencils). One room has a squirrel (watercolor) done by his sister. I have 5 of his motorcycle paintings (colored pencil) that most people think are prints or photos until I set them straight,and a watercolor of a WWI plane, plus a cross stitch by a d-i-l and a collage the kids put together for Himself's birthday (40 or 50 - cannot remember which) on the walls of my office/Library. The dining room has one of his oils and also the Tourism Week Proclamation the Governor presented to me on behalf of State Tourism (DH framed it with a photo of me, the Gov, & Tourism Commissioner). That Gov is now Senator.
 
Our cottages are decorated with watercolors painted by Wendy's grandfather, for the most part.
ETA: in the old house we have a series of old photographs (as well as the watercolors), one probably of Wendy's dad when he was a lad, watching the field get mowed by a horse-drawn sickle mower...
 
No dead birds here, either. I have hung much of what 50 + years of living has enabled me to collect. I'm fortunate to have an original of the fat cat (see avatar) as well as a number of other original oils, watercolors, acrylics, a few prints and photographs. No tapestry here yet.
I too know that anything on the inn side cold possibly walk away, but I think art is to be enjoyed, not hidden away. Trinkets and breakables are another thing. My side is overloaded with that sort of thing.
 
Innkeep said:
No dead birds here, either. I have hung much of what 50 + years of living has enabled me to collect. I'm fortunate to have an original of the fat cat (see avatar) as well as a number of other original oils, watercolors, acrylics, a few prints and photographs. No tapestry here yet.
I too know that anything on the inn side cold possibly walk away, but I think art is to be enjoyed, not hidden away. Trinkets and breakables are another thing. My side is overloaded with that sort of thing..
Click to expand...
Innkeep said:
I too know that anything on the inn side cold possibly walk away...
Click to expand...
Can't imagine somebody stealing art off the wall. That would be a bit blatant, and I'd expect them to show no surprise when a hefty charge is made to their CC.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top