MM: Office art

hoffse · November 2015

Well, this is really NOT MM. But I found some posters I just love online. They're designed by a local guy in Nashville, and he has done many major US cities, world cities, and of course places in and around Nashville. I have one of his older ones that features Vanderbilt, and it's hanging in my office.

They're $40/each plus maybe $20 for a frame when I can get them 50% off at Hobby Lobby. Thinking of buying 4 of them for my (otherwise bare) office. I spend most of the day here, and it's sad with nothing on the walls.

Am I being ridiculous? Here are his US cities if anybody is curious:

https://www.andersondesigngroupstore.com/shop-prints-american-cities.html

julieanne912 · November 2015

I don't think it's ridiculous at all to want to enjoy the space you're in for most of your day. We remodeled our office here at work a few months ago and it's amazing what a refresh of the space did for my mood.

Also, they sell those prints on Wayfair, worth checking out since there's different size options and you can also get them on canvas, so you don't have to do the frame. http://www.wayfair.com/keyword.php?keyword=anderson+design+group&ust=&command=dosearch&new_keyword_search=true If you want a Wayfair referral let me know, I can email it to you.

AprilZ81 · November 2015

This is the look I originally wanted for my home office but I ended up using prints I had in another room.

I would do it and you should be able to write it off on your taxes.

hoffse · November 2015

Crazy, I had no idea he had made it to Wayfair. I have his Vandy poster from before they made him pull their name off of his posters. I got it a few years ago when I graduated from law school.

I was just looking at the one I have and thought I would see what else he has available.

My mom says it looks kind of manly, but I really like it.

Xstatic3333 · November 2015

I like them! Wish he had a Providence. I say go for it. The price is reasonable for nice walk art.

PurpleBookmark · November 2015

Definitely go for it, investing in your work space is so worth it. I really like the prints!

als1982 · November 2015

Not ridiculous, but I certainly wouldn't do it on my own dime.

hoffse · November 2015

als1982 said:

Not ridiculous, but I certainly wouldn't do it on my own dime.

My firm doesn't provide any art or decor (or any allowance for it). If we want art we have to do it ourselves. Actually, I think the partners have to provide their own furniture too.

I'm just trying to decide if it's too much.

dragonstarjk · November 2015

My company doesn't provide any art/décor either, so it's either do it on your own dime or have blank walls. I'm not a fan of blank walls.

This seems like a good price for wall art to me. When I got my office at work, I celebrated by getting a piece of my artwork framed (I was an art major). It cost me nearly $200 to have it professionally matted and custom framed. Personally, I think it was worth every penny! Plus, if you ever leave, you obviously take the art with you.

als1982 · November 2015

dragonstarjk said:
My company doesn't provide any art/décor either, so it's either do it on your own dime or have blank walls. I'm not a fan of blank walls.
This seems like a good price for wall art to me. When I got my office at work, I celebrated by getting a piece of my artwork framed (I was an art major). It cost me nearly $200 to have it professionally matted and custom framed. Personally, I think it was worth every penny! Plus, if you ever leave, you obviously take the art with you.

Meh. My office walls are bare and my work gets done just fine. I'd rather put that $200 towards fulfilling my financial goals.

brij2006 · November 2015

als1982 said:

My company doesn't provide any art/décor either, so it's either do it on your own dime or have blank walls. I'm not a fan of blank walls.
This seems like a good price for wall art to me. When I got my office at work, I celebrated by getting a piece of my artwork framed (I was an art major). It cost me nearly $200 to have it professionally matted and custom framed. Personally, I think it was worth every penny! Plus, if you ever leave, you obviously take the art with you.
Meh. My office walls are bare and my work gets done just fine. I'd rather put that $200 towards fulfilling my financial goals.

This is me too. I have been in this new office for 3 years now, and I just finally brought 3 frames (ones I wasn't using) from home and threw a couple pictures of H and DD in them. That's all I've got.

hoffse · November 2015

brij2006 said:

als1982 said:

My company doesn't provide any art/décor either, so it's either do it on your own dime or have blank walls. I'm not a fan of blank walls.
This seems like a good price for wall art to me. When I got my office at work, I celebrated by getting a piece of my artwork framed (I was an art major). It cost me nearly $200 to have it professionally matted and custom framed. Personally, I think it was worth every penny! Plus, if you ever leave, you obviously take the art with you.
Meh. My office walls are bare and my work gets done just fine. I'd rather put that $200 towards fulfilling my financial goals.

This is me too. I have been in this new office for 3 years now, and I just finally brought 3 frames (ones I wasn't using) from home and threw a couple pictures of H and DD in them. That's all I've got.

That's how mine has been the past three years, other than this one poster. I'm here for 10-14 hours per day, and it's kind of sad. I especially hate it when the time changes, and I'm here until it gets dark every single day.

We don't have any major goals we are working toward right now, so that's why I'm considering it. I still need to talk to H about it. I'm on pace for an end-of-year bonus, so maybe I'll use a little of that money to brighten up my work space.

cbee817 · November 2015

hoffse said:

brij2006 said:

als1982 said:

My company doesn't provide any art/décor either, so it's either do it on your own dime or have blank walls. I'm not a fan of blank walls.
This seems like a good price for wall art to me. When I got my office at work, I celebrated by getting a piece of my artwork framed (I was an art major). It cost me nearly $200 to have it professionally matted and custom framed. Personally, I think it was worth every penny! Plus, if you ever leave, you obviously take the art with you.
Meh. My office walls are bare and my work gets done just fine. I'd rather put that $200 towards fulfilling my financial goals.

This is me too. I have been in this new office for 3 years now, and I just finally brought 3 frames (ones I wasn't using) from home and threw a couple pictures of H and DD in them. That's all I've got.

That's how mine has been the past three years, other than this one poster. I'm here for 10-14 hours per day, and it's kind of sad. I especially hate it when the time changes, and I'm here until it gets dark every single day.

We don't have any major goals we are working toward right now, so that's why I'm considering it. I still need to talk to H about it. I'm on pace for an end-of-year bonus, so maybe I'll use a little of that money to brighten up my work space.

I say go for it- I have a digital frame at work that cycles through pictures of my girls.. it makes me smile every time I see it. DH bought it for me when I came back from maternity leave for DD#1- money well spent for sure!

simplyelise · November 2015

I did frames from the dollar store with pictures of the family and pictures of scenery that I took abroad. Then I also have one of the canvas paintings I did at one of those group paint nights. I think I'm going to bring in another one of those paintings that is winter themed as well. My coworker gave me two plants (sprigs from her garden) and I bought a candle warmer.

I can never get photos to upload properly, but I'm going to try and do pics of the three main areas of my office that I face during the day. I also have another wall with two 4-picture frames of family and a white board behind me with a picture from Ngorogoro Crater above it.

brij2006 · November 2015

What about printing and framing some pictures you have taken while traveling?

When I had my old office, it didn't have any windows and was very bare. So I hung pictures from my 6 weeks in Europe. Clients would ask about them (especially if they had been), and it created a talking point.

hoffse · November 2015

brij2006 said:

What about printing and framing some pictures you have taken while traveling?

When I had my old office, it didn't have any windows and was very bare. So I hung pictures from my 6 weeks in Europe. Clients would ask about them (especially if they had been), and it created a talking point.

That's a good idea. We've done a little of this for our house. I'll see if I can find some frames I like.

julieanne912 · November 2015

hoffse said:

Crazy, I had no idea he had made it to Wayfair. I have his Vandy poster from before they made him pull their name off of his posters. I got it a few years ago when I graduated from law school.

I was just looking at the one I have and thought I would see what else he has available.

My mom says it looks kind of manly, but I really like it.

Yeah I always check Wayfair first for stuff because they offer rewards for purchasing, and free shipping. Their prices are often better than other sites too, and they have great customer service if there's an issue with something that arrives broken or with a missing part.

Also, I have the added benefit of a trade account, so I get a deeper discount than their listed prices. Because I use it for my side design projects for house flips and our recent office remodel, I rack up the rewards on someone else's dime and have been able to get a free file cabinet, free bedside table, and we got an extra $100 off the bar cabinet we bought with some of our wedding money.

dragonstarjk · November 2015

als1982 said:

My company doesn't provide any art/décor either, so it's either do it on your own dime or have blank walls. I'm not a fan of blank walls.
This seems like a good price for wall art to me. When I got my office at work, I celebrated by getting a piece of my artwork framed (I was an art major). It cost me nearly $200 to have it professionally matted and custom framed. Personally, I think it was worth every penny! Plus, if you ever leave, you obviously take the art with you.
Meh. My office walls are bare and my work gets done just fine. I'd rather put that $200 towards fulfilling my financial goals.

Meh. I wasn't/am not working towards unfulfilled financial goals, and the money came out of our 'fun' money, so to speak. You seem to be implying that the $200 was not well spent, which is a matter of perspective. A lot of people on this board spend that amount of money on things that I think are ridiculous.

Anyways....my advice would certainly be different if this was one of those posters who had tons of debt and was asking for help with budgeting and didn't really know where they stand financially; however, since it was hoffse I think we all know she's got a great financial plan in place and isn't going to make any rash purchasing decisions.

In case you couldn't tell, I still think she should get the art! Great pieces last a long time and can provide fun talking points and follow you throughout your career.

I also love the idea of framing photos from your travels.

jtmh2012 · November 2015

Wishing I had an office to hang art in.....:(

blondie42107 · November 2015

@hoffse

I say go for it! I got some great ideas on Pinterest for making my office look so much better on the cheap! I meet with clients in my office but also in their homes so I'm in and out a lot. I do want my workspace to look nice though!

I bought a handful of black picture frames from Target (on clearance, $1 each or less). They are all slightly different but all black so it works! Also TJ Maxx/Marshalls frequently puts faux plants/flowers on clearance so I snagged a few when the clearance price was great. I was given a French memo board back when I was in college. I've recovered it a few times with clearance fabric and ribbon from Jo-Ann's. I broswe the hot spot at Target every time I go. They frequently have cute bins, notepads, etc that I get cheap. I also use two lamps in my office, as well as an under the cabinet light that is built in, to light my office. I work best with this lighting in addition to natural sunlight verses the harsh florescent office lights (I have two and only turn one on).

Do I want to spend a ton on my office? No, but I have spent a lot of time in this "box" over the past 8+ years and having a nice office keeps me sane!

Xstatic3333 · November 2015

One tip if you do this-check Ikea for poster frames. We have a lot of wall art in our home (most of which was acquired inexpensively) and have never had professional framing done because we're so happy with the Ikea frames.

Nat009 · November 2015

I also work a lot of long hours and find it important to like the space you're in. I would say to splurge and buy the wall art. It really isn't very expensive at all for something that will remain with you for years to come. I also think that it's nice that they have sentimental value to you and think that would be great speaking points to people that come in to your office and admire them

For frames, Room & Board has beautiful matted black frames in a lot of sizes that look lovely and professional. For better savings, Target actually has really nice frames in stores and online with mattes!

short+sassy · November 2015

Even more than wall art, I'd love to paint the walls of my office something more colorful than boring, off-white. But I work in a corporate type office. Needless to say my whipping out a paintbrush would be highly frowned upon, to put it mildly, lol.

dragonstarjk · November 2015

short+sassy said:

Even more than wall art, I'd love to paint the walls of my office something more colorful than boring, off-white. But I work in a corporate type office. Needless to say my whipping out a paintbrush would be highly frowned upon, to put it mildly, lol.

LOL, same here. Our walls are a terrible beige-y cream w/ the slightest tinge of green. Awful color.

CuriousKiddosMama · November 2015

I say go for it. They are something you are going to enjoy for years, and it's important to have something that brings joy to your day when you spend 8+ hours in the same office each day.

Side note: make sure you check out the Black Friday Michaels ad. It's already been released and has some great deals. You may get the frames even cheaper than you think.

MM: Office art

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