Use your Child's Art as a Masterpiece in your home!

Of course, as a business person I would love people to use our art in their homes.  However, as a parent, I always also like to see my children's art in mine along with it.  The trick is how to incorporate your child's art with your decor and tastes.  Sometimes, you just bite the bullet and say, "it doesn't matter if it goes...."  Other times you can actually tailor their art to your home.  I had a corridor down my stairs that was highly visible and needed some colour.  My daughter loves to draw.  I went to the Opus art store near me and picked up a few artist markers in colours that matched the space I was putting it in (modern blues, greens, & red).  I then purchased some nicer watercolour artist paper and gave her a theme.  I gave her the markers and asked her to draw 4 different flowers on 4 different sheets of paper.  I cut the paper first to 8x10" so it was already scaled to size.  I then went to Michael's Craft Stores on a 40% off day and purchased 4 matching white frames - 11x14 matted to 8x10"-the size of her art.  Her simple drawings, once framed, matted and placed in a group look amazing!!  This was simple, inexpensive and she is so proud!

*** If I could, I'd include a picture, but the hall is too narrow for my lens to work properly.

My friend and I started our Ebay store in an effort to find a way to stay home with our kids.  We both had high-level demanding jobs in a large city and realized that once we had kids this would have to change.  Once we got through the initial baby stage and had a bit more time (I do stress, a Bit!) we started to think of how we could re-create ourselves.  It became important to still find something that would keep our brains going, but keep flexibility for family, and, of course, bring some extra cash into the house.  During a backyard playdate, we talked about the difficulty in finding unique art for our kids rooms and my friend ended up painting her own.  Once I saw how talented she was, I encouraged her to start painting again.  She created the art, and I designed products with it.  We're now trying to figure out how to share the art with others.  We keep hearing about Blogs, but as parents don't see how people find the time to find them.  If anyone has any info about parent blogs that they have found that have some useful information and may also be a way for us to share our story, please let us know!  Thanks for reading!

Decorating kids rooms is a challenging, yet fun activity that needs to be repeated often as children grow.  Where do you begin?  In the nursery, the design is entirely up to the parent, but as they grow, the child's taste's and interests must be incorporated.  Because decor changes often, it is also nice to be able to find affordable options that can be changed along with our children. Don't despair; there are some tried and true tips and tricks out there used by interior designers that give a great starting point.  We constantly research these ideas to act as inspiration for art that will grow along with children's minds and bodies.  This blog will share some of the great ideas we've encountered along the way.

1.  Start with Art!

Just as children learn to appreciate music by early exposure, they can learn to recognize and love fine art by having it around them.  There are some amazing pieces out there that are unique, not mass-produced in a third-world country, and not part of some licensing franchise that gets the "I want...." chant started.  A child's imagination is stimulated by art and colour, so put some in their spaces.  Use a piece of art that you or your child are drawn to as a colour pallet for the entire room.  Bring the piece to the paint store to pick the main and accent colours; bring it along to the fabric store for drapery material.  Often you can find inexpensive, solid colour sheets that can be mixed and matched, then make simple pillows out of coordinating fabric to get a burst of colour.

One of our Favourite Kids Decor Organizing tips:

Make a beautiful bulletin board out of a piece of styrofoam.  Oten appliances come packed with large sheets of thick styrofoam-simply go the end section of the fabric bins at Wallmart or fabric stores, pick out a scrap you like and wrap around the board stapling or duck taping to the back.  Then use two sided tape (3m is the best) or screw right through to the wall and you have an artistic way to put up their art etc.  This is for children of an age that can use pins safely, of course!

Check back next week for some more great tips on decorating for children's places and spaces!!!

www.bealookids.com