We have a new picture hanging over our mantle:
Quite some time ago I came across this post on apartment therapy – it said that you can get really big black and white pictures printed on plain paper at office supply stores for cheap. Well, I love cheap!
We have a big mantle – it’s almost 5 feet off the ground and it runs the entire length of the room. At each end there are windows above built-in bookshelves but the center section above the fireplace, between the windows, is over 6 feet long. It’s a perfect spot for a big picture. But what we had was a big, very heavy, antique mirror, the exact right size for this space. The only problem was the reflection – the ugly ceiling fan.
My new big picture cost $3.25 with tax and slid into the frame over the mirror (so we don’t have to get rid of the mirror). At that price it’s totally OK if I get sick of the picture I chose, which I tend to do. The print is 2 feet high by 3 feet wide. The girl at Staples was worried that I didn’t know what I was getting – it’s not a photographic paper print, it’s matte and a little fuzzy and the blacks are not really dark black, but especially viewed from the couch it doesn’t matter. Here’s a close-up of the texture of the print:
If you want to get a big picture you can go to any office supply place with a print center – for example, at the Staples website go to their copy and print center, create an account, choose “engineering prints” and upload a photo. It defaults to portrait orientation, so you should rotate your photo before you upload if it’s landscape. If you want the print ready within 2 days you may have to pay an extra $5. I ordered on Saturday morning and opted to pick it up the following weekend, but I got an email saying it was ready late on Sunday afternoon, without the extra charge. To have it mailed would have cost an extra $10.
This is the original picture… my husband and nephew on a sand bar in Honolulu. I took it the afternoon we arrived for our last visit in December.
Jo:)
adventures in the here now 