I am really terrible at two things: printing photos and committing to art pieces. When my son (second born) started counting how many more pictures his sister had on the wall compared to his pictures, I knew I had to up my game (he definitely had less). Also, the decor in my living room felt stale and outdated. I can’t even say what style it was, unless super confused counts as a style (modern? farmhouse? traditional? transitional?…it was pretty much all of the above).
The above combination of style-issues led me to Pinterest, my favorite place to find home decor inspiration. My goal was to find a way to hang up pictures of the kids in a more artistic manner. My search brought me to a blogpost on Chris Loves Julia about engineer prints. This post inspired me to try, especially since they only cost less than $8 for the two prints!
Engineer prints can be purchased at print shops or certain office supply stores (I printed mine at Staples). They are intended to be used for architectural design/blueprints and are printed on very thin paper. Furthermore, the end product can be pixelated (don’t expect a crisp clear image that you would get from a traditional photo printshop) but I was not as concerned with the quality as I was going in with an art angle in mind.
Here are some things I learned along the way:
- Use a tripod to make certain that the vantage point is the same. My daughter is older, but because I shot her picture differently than my son’s she looks smaller than him. I don’t know why, but this really bugs me and I will probable reprint it. Luckily, printing them is inexpensive!
- Also try to use the same settings on your camera. My daughter’s picture turned out more exposed than my son’s. This meant that her picture ended up more pixelated than his. Try to take a crisp, clean, high-resolution picture to help minimize the pixelation.
- Try to capture their personalities– my son has this new smile that looks almost painful. But it is totally and completely him!
- When picking up your prints, either bring a shipping tube or purchase one if possible. These papers wrinkle very easily and a tube will protect the prints from tearing, stains, etc.
I purchased the Ribba frame at IKEA (24 x 35 3/4″) for about $20. The Hovsta, Virserum, Silverhojden styles from Ikea will also work and are around the same price-point.
The kids love them (especially my son who is pleased with his practically-life-sized photo)!
Have you tried engineer prints yet?
With love,
Shahla
Where did you get the tray from on your ottoman!? We just redecorated to mid century modern style as well and have an ottoman in dire need of a tray
It is from Z Gallerie (like a decade ago and on its last leg!). But they had the best collection of large trays when I was looking.