Posted byOffbeat Homies, I need your help! I grew up as a scene kid. I followed bands, went to tons of shows, and brought home tons of rock junk. The signed posters and concert ephemera set my dorm room apart, and worked okay in apartments, but now that I’m an adult in my first house they don’t look right.
I love my stuff, but I need to find a compromise between overgrown scene kid and a totally bland tract house.
This is kind of the crux of Offbeat Home, right? How do you make your quirks and preferences right for the realities of your life? If you don’t want to go full-on goth or punk or crunchy but you also want some flava in your casa, it’s a delicate path. What are the best ways you Homies have come up with to make a home that feels grown up, but still indulges your subculture?
Paint a neutral colour (neutral can mean red, maybe I should say solid colour) behind bulk artwork to make the colours of it pop out. As everyone has said, frame your posters and other eclectics. Group some of your 3d items on display on shelves, sideboards, mantels. Pick and choose. If you have a lot, then rotate your displays. Growing up doesn’t mean growing old.
We have collections of loads of different toys, band art, video games etc. Some of it is tastefully displayed others are just put where ever I wasnt to look at it after all its me and my bf that are there the most.
I Just prefer to never grow up. 🙂
Like everyone said, frames. Shadow boxes, or those cool ones where both sides are glass so you have a clear border around the poster through which you can see the wall.
I have a collection of kitschy record jackets I’m about to make into wall art with 12X12 canvases and Mod Podge. Mod Podge could make posters and canvases into something awesome, too. Paint the sides of the canvases coordinating or contrasting colors (or colors that unite the pieces into a theme), Mod Podge to canvas, Mod Podge over the canvas. Voila!
PS – also, make yours a not-bland tract house with color. You can give it more of a cafe or rock club feel with bright or dark colors, and if it won’t shrink the space too much, black or colored ceilings, too.
I love that everyone has suggested frames, because as a framer I love doing things like this. I frame Thomas Kinkaid prints all day long. It’s really fun when I get someone doing band posters, tickets and t-shirts in jersey cases, and cool geeky prints. My favorite so far was when I stretched 3 canvases depicting scenes from the Big Lebowski.
Plus it gives me the chance to pull out some of our more unique frames and mats. we just got a great line of colorful ones that are going to look so cool with some rockabilly art in them.
Okay, so this might be a weird suggestion but I have done it with some of my artwork that I wanted to keep but not necessarily hang on the wall…. Maybe decoupage a piece of furniture with some pictures and thing? I had a coffee table that I bought at a yard sale for five bucks and then covered it in pics from old rolling stone magazines. Then I put my faux vintage record player on it…
Just a suggestion.
Thank you! I have a huge Pez collection and I’m not fond of putting them all out. I put one out here and there around the house. And now I can add a picture collage! Great idea!
I also love the idea of 3D items. Our signed wedding guitar is above the fireplace. Growing up I use to pin my stuffed animals to the wall. (by their collars!)
I am a big fan of tin vintage signs such as “All GAMBLERS AND FANCY WOMEN MUST SIGN UP WITH CAPTAIN BEFORE BOAT LEAVES FOR NEW ORLEANS”. I have them hung in a hallway embellished with dried flowers.
Pick your favorite pieces, enough to properly flavor your home, and let some of the not-as-awesome-or-meaningful ones go. And yea, framing posters make a HUGE difference when trying to update your look to something more adult while still paying homage to your quirks.
Considering i’ve been thinking over the last week that i might have to – gulp – get rid of some of my posters, you guys have just made me very, very happy. 😀
We had the same issue, and as many others have said, our outrageously huge collection of Ames Bros. Pearl Jam posters are now eclectic wall art with the addition of frames. We even painted our living room the perfect shade of blue in order to showcase the best of our collection (that shade appears in all of our favorites, oddly) and the basement – the “game room” area – is home to the rest of the mix. We’ve gone from the “refugee dorm room motif” to something somewhat grown-up and fancy, and we’re pretty proud of ourselves! 🙂