We recently purchased a little cottage in Pennsylvania. Emily and I have lived in NYC for over 8 years, and we rent an apartment in the city. We have long desired to own a second place where we could go on retreat with our girls, and spend breaks from school. We also dreamed of setting it up as a short-term rental for other families to enjoy.

After looking at multiple homes, we purchased the cottage and spent a considerable amount of time envisioning the layout of the living area, setting up the furniture, and choosing rugs, curtains, pillows, and lamps. We then worked on putting together the finishing touches on our three bedrooms.

Our goal was to have the major design aspects of the living area and all of the bedrooms finished before our third little girl made her arrival!

Adding Personal Touches

While designing the spaces in the cottage, we’ve been intentional to try to make decisions that appeal to both us and our future rental guests. We want the rooms to feel inviting and comfortable. We also want the spaces to be filled with personal touches. In our NYC apartment, we love to print and frame family photos, but it was important to us to find fun ways to personalize this home without using photographs.

Over the past few months we’ve been slowly creating and purchasing artwork that helps to personalize the space and add pattern and texture to the walls. We let our creativity reign, involved the girls, and shopped local! We’re sharing 10 ideas that just might inspire new artwork in your own home!

1. Tree Prints

Materials:

• Photograph (we used photographs of the trees in the backyard of our house)
• Engineering Prints (we printed the photographs in size 24″ x 36″ from Staples)
• Frames (we ordered these 24 x 36″ frames, with 1″ wide frame moulding)

 

2. DIY Painting Artwork

Materials:

• Paint (we used leftover white trim paint and leftover blue paint from one of our bedrooms)
• Paint Brushes (we used a glass jar to make the circles in the first frame, a paint brush to make the stripes in the second frame, and a paint brush to make the splatters in the third frame)
• 3 Frames, Canvases, and Mats (we purchased this set at our local Salvation Army)

 

3. Queens Tea Towel Artwork

Materials:

• Tea Towel (we purchased this Queens tea towel at our local Lockwood Shop in Astoria, Queens)
• Frame (we used a 20″ x 27″ frame)

 

4. Connect 4 Board

Materials:

• Connect 4 Wooden Game Board (this is a large 24″ x 30″ Connect 4 board that used to be an outdoor game, and was being discarded by a local children’s play space… we gave it new life!)
• Checkers (we made “checkers” by cutting strips of cardboard and painting circles on them with paint leftover from the blue bedroom & the green living room wall, then inserting the cardboard strips into the top slots on the game board)

 

5. Painting of Home Exterior

Materials:

• Paint and Cardboard (I used leftover bedroom paint and cut a square of cardboard from a box!)
• Painting of Home (I sat outside and painted this outline of our home!)
• Frame (this is an 8″ x 10″ photo frame)

 

6. Wrapping Paper Artwork

Materials:

• Wrapping Paper – (Rifle Paper Co wrapping sheets from our local Lockwood Shop in Astoria, Queens)
• Frame – (this is a 24″ x 36″ frame)

 

7. Letter Board

Materials:

• Letter Board (this letter board includes an easel and pre-cut letters)

 

8. Ombre Mountain Mural

Materials:

• Paint (we used 2 shades of leftover blue paint to create a playroom nook for the girls)
• Painters Tape (we taped out the design using blue painters tape and then filled in each section)

 

9. Oak Tree Artwork

Materials:

• Painting from a local artist (we purchased this painting at the Brooklyn Flea)

 

10. Lake Painting

Materials:

• Lake Painting (this was hand painted on a gold plate, a unique purchase from our local Salvation Army)

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