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The Installation

By
Home Stager with Eye to Eye Interiors, LLC

Every once in a while, we're asked to do our best to recreate large scale artwork.  And most often, it's on a small scale budget.  Recently, one of our redesign clients showed us this photo out of a magazine and said, "I'd LOVE to have something like this."

Magazine image

 

 

 

 

 

 

The budget? Less than $100.  So.  Hm.  We thought a bit about how best to achieve this (on a smaller scale) and came up with the least expensive solution we could find. 

 

 

 

Here's our end result:Eye to Eye Interiors Original Artwork

It's a bit bolder in color, but definitely provides the visual impact we were looking for.  And because we wanted to achieve the shiny, lacquered look above without the expense of investing in 16 different paint colors, we brainstormed a bit.  One option was to frame blocks of colorful photos from magazines, but we were also short on time.  So we went a little crazy.  We used nailpolish.  Yep, nailpolish!

Here's the tally:

1) 8 x 8 frames from a dollar store x 16   $16

2) Nailpolish on sale for $2.50 from Target x 16  $40

3) Matte-grade poster board from an art supply store  $7

4) Various picture hanging hardware from local hardware store $8

Final total plus tax = approx $75

Our client's reaction?

"You are genius!!!!!  The installation piece is incredible!!!!  You are so creative!!!!!  I love the colors and if you used nail polish like you talked about - well, you need to make more of these and sell them & you'll  make a fortune!!!!!!!  I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yay!  We love to make clients happy!

Dawn is a Certified Redesign Specialist with Eye to Eye Interiors and specializes in rejuvenating spaces to live and to sell.  Serving Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. (773) 350-7020.  www.eyetoeyeinteriors.com

Show All Comments Sort:
Ginger Foust
Certified Staging Professional - Oakhurst, CA
Home Stager Oakhurst CA, Dream Interior Redesign & Staging

Very clever Dawn.  I have the same question as Shelley...it must have taken a lot of time to paint those with a tiny nail polish brush...how did you do it? 

Aug 12, 2009 01:29 PM
Dawn Bach Thurman
Eye to Eye Interiors, LLC - Chicago, IL
Redesign & Staging Services

Thanks Shelley & Ginger.  As crazy as it sounds, the nail brush from the bottle worked just fine.  Technique-wise, it was a lot of pouring and moving around - not so much actual brush painting.  The whole thing took about 90 minutes and I experimented a lot with different techniques for each panel, to make sure it had some texture and interest.  I was pleased with the result, but I have to tell you - I'm already gathering blocks of colorful magazine photos to use for the next project like this that comes along.  Too many fumes coming from 16 bottles of nailpolish gave me a killer headache - we even worked on it otside! 

Aug 12, 2009 03:09 PM
Janelle Fisher, Instinctive Staging & Design, Seattle Wa.
Instinctive Staging & Design, LLC - Seattle, WA

Dawn, Very Creative.  Good job on thinking outside of the box.  I am a true fan of the dollar store, even before this story. :-)

Aug 12, 2009 03:47 PM
Liz Gallagher
LG Home Harmony - Home Stagers & Organizers - Montreal, QC
Montreal Quebec RESA member

I love how creative this is ... think I would try this in my spare time can believe it only took 90 minutes ...

Aug 13, 2009 10:00 AM
Chrissie Sutherland
Ready Set Stage - Greensboro, NC

very creative and great job and what a great response from your client, it makes it all worth it. 

Aug 13, 2009 02:37 PM
Dawn Bach Thurman
Eye to Eye Interiors, LLC - Chicago, IL
Redesign & Staging Services

Janelle - Dollar Tree was my first stop for the elusive square frame and ding ding ding there they were.  Felt like I had won the lottery.

Liz - 90 minutes of painting the 16 panels... 24 hours of dry time, 30 minutes to frame and 45 minutes to hang : )

Chrissie - You hit the nail on the head.  If our client is happy, we've done our job!

Aug 13, 2009 03:06 PM
Michelle Finnamore
Toronto GTA, Alliston, Newmarket - Vaughan, ON
Preparing your property for sale

This is probably the most creative art solution I have seen a quite a while. You deserve two thumbs up and a staging Oscar for this one.

Aug 14, 2009 12:04 AM
Dawn Bach Thurman
Eye to Eye Interiors, LLC - Chicago, IL
Redesign & Staging Services

Michelle - *Blush* Thanks for the kudos!  For my acceptance speech, I'd like to thank our client for the inspiration, our Eye to Eye Interiors social networking friends for brainstorming ideas, and some perfect Chicagoland weather so we could get the job done outside and work on our tans at the same time!  : )

Aug 18, 2009 12:15 AM
Debby Dutilh
Art and Soul Home Staging - Los Angeles International Ai, CA

I knew there had to be another place to wear yellow and green nail polish! You've taken creativity to new heights! Kudos to you!

Aug 19, 2009 05:41 PM
Barbara Heil-Sonneck
Design2Sell - Atlanta, GA
Home Staging Atlanta

What a great and very creative idea, this is very impressive. Thank you for sharing

Aug 20, 2009 02:06 PM
Margaret Oscilia
Creative Concepts-Home Staging and Contracting, Salem Oregon - Salem, OR
Home Stager, Salem Oregon

As a mom of 5 daughters with a drawer full of zillions of nail polish colors looks like something I should give a try!  Beautiful look and so reasonable -- always fun to have such a great success - Congrats!

Aug 21, 2009 08:51 AM
Dawn Bach Thurman
Eye to Eye Interiors, LLC - Chicago, IL
Redesign & Staging Services

Debby - LOL!  And the yellow, greens and blues were the cheapest bottles!

Barbara & Margaret - Thanks so much - we always like to share the fun, good stuff!

Aug 22, 2009 07:23 AM
Kate Paris
First Class Waterfront Properties, LLC - Acquisitions and Divestitures - Orlando, FL
Broker: Residential - Commercial - Hotels

That is awesome! What a great recreation and for under $100, too.

Aug 27, 2009 02:12 PM
Debra Valentine
Designing Details ~ Staging & Design, LLC - Bountiful, UT
Utah Home Staging for, Bountiful, Salt Lake & Surrounding Areas

Absolutely LOVE this idea - thanks for sharing with us!!!

Aug 28, 2009 06:29 AM
Cathy Brosius
Arranged Smartly LLC - Saint Louis, MO
Home Staging St. Louis region

Nail polish! How funny. I would never have thought of that. I do have a neighbor who used red nail polish on the flag of her mailbox, which was looking a little worn. It lasted for over a year and she was going back to touch it up!

Aug 28, 2009 09:18 AM
Dawn Bach Thurman
Eye to Eye Interiors, LLC - Chicago, IL
Redesign & Staging Services

Catherine - Thanks!  It's amazing how fast the little stuff can add up, but this was certainly cheaper than purchasing individual bottles of lacquer from the craft store. 

Debra - Glad you liked it!

Cathy - Nailpolish... not just for runs in pantyhose anymore : )

Aug 28, 2009 02:33 PM