The Easy (Inexpensive!) DIY Artwork Trick We’re Obsessed With

Want to blow up a beloved photo without blowing your budget? Here’s our fave new designer trick.

Of course artwork is a wonderful investment: you’re enriching your life, you’re beautifying your home, you’re supporting the arts, and if you’ve got a good eye for young talent, you can flip that painting to make some serious cash one day.But not every room needs a modern masterpiece. Sometimes, you’re just hunting for a big print to toss up above your headboard to balance out the room. And that’s where my favourite new art hack comes in.While editing a recent story for Western Living Condo, I learned from homeowner Tina Wilson that you can print black-and-white photos at huge scales if you just treat them like blueprints. Hit up your local print shop, upload your favourite image—maybe it’s a family photo, or an artistic travel shot you love, or even a geometric or abstract pattern—and choose the blueprint or architectural print option (sometimes also called engineer prints), which will be printed large-scale on plotter printers. The resulting images have a kind of old-school photocopy look, but with the right source photo—the higher resolution, the better—that actually brings a certain charm.Frame them in the traditional style (and you can really splash out, since you’ve saved so much on printing), mount with colourful Washi tape or copy Wilson’s scroll-style look here with a pair of dowels at top and bottom.See more of Wilson’s design savvy in the Spring 2018 issue of Western Living Condo, or check out more inspiring small spaces right now.