Last week I hung the first artwork in our oldest son’s room.
You might remember when we shared the design board he and I created for his room. Poor kid has been waiting (rather patiently) for his mother to step up her decorating-a-teen’s-room game and pull it all together. This artwork was a move in the right direction.
He wants his room to feel cozy and Northwest-y and when I came across this photo of evergreens, a lake, snow-capped mountains in the back, I knew he would love it.
Here’s the best part: the artwork was free!
Have you heard of UNSPLASH? It is an online resource with amazing hi-resolution photography that you can download and use for free. Photographers from all over the world contribute their work – there are over 200,000 photos of anything and everything you can think of.
Unsplash was originally created as a resource for stock photography for websites (think things like styled desks, moody coffee houses, close-ups of tools, etc.) and has grown into a massive library and community of generous photographers.
While searching through images, I came across this photograph which felt perfect for Ethan’s room. The great thing about these photos is that they are not just for web use, but they can be printed as well.
I downloaded the photograph and ordered a 20″x30″ print from Costco. It was done the next day and I paid $9.99 for the print. We had an extra frame from IKEA in our stash of frames, which worked perfectly. It was just slightly smaller than the print, so I trimmed it down and popped it in.
You can’t really tell unless you look very close but the image is a little pixelated – just something to be aware of if you print large-scale like I did.
There are literally thousands of photographs to choose from on Unsplash. Here are a few of my faves:
And here is the one I used for Ethan’s room:
How great are those?! I could spend way too much time looking through and imagining where I could put more photographs around the house.
Thanks to the talented photographers who share their work with all of us :)
What a great resource! I’ve never heard of it, but I’m glad you shared!
Emily, I am curious. You take beautiful pictures….why would you not pick from all the gorgeous photos you took on your trip across the US? So much more personal.
I have a bunch that I’m using for a different spot in the house :)
I would love to see what you do with a collection of photos to display!
I’m in the middle of a decor spruce-up, this is a treasure trove. THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I
Thanks! I have been wanting a horse photo for a long time! We are from Eastern Wyoming and there are lots of ranches out here. I ordered mine from shutterfly.
Oooh, I hope you love it!
This is fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing! I can finally get more art up on the walls.
can you boost the resolution for large scale printing in photoshop?
There is another great site, Pexels, which takes all of the free stock images available and loads them into one site, so images from unsplash, life of pix, etc. end up here. Some really great images out there!
https://www.pexels.com/
Any other suggestions of places to get pics printed? Our Costco is too far.
you could order online with a site like shutterfly.
I love UNSPLASH – I use them a lot for my Quietude posts on Sonday!
I used this on my graphics class, it’s amazing when you’re making posters or book covers or anything :) There is also freepik.com, pixabay.com/en and 1001freedownloads.com, all worth checking out ;)
I love Unsplash! And Pixabay, too! Mixing some of the photos I find there with some vintage prints from The Graphics Fairy is going to be my approach to art on the walls once we finish the reno and I can actually start with décor! lol
This is super! Thank you so much!
Melissa
aaahhhh….thank you for posting this! I’m always trying to find free, hi-res photos. I’m definitely bookmarking this.
I love Unsplash for blog photos but never thought to print these out as art pieces. Great idea!
Thanks for sharing Emily. I am sure I will get sucked in for hours looking at all the gorgeous photos.