Stuff I Found: Gallery prints from Goodwill

True life: I’m addicted to shopping.

It’s realistically in the top three – if not at the top – of my hobby list, as materialistic as it sounds. But, truthfully, I don’t spend a majority of my time in a mall by any means. I’m all about the hunt. I’m looking for an awesome deal, a unique piece, an awesomely-neglected item that I can spruce up myself, and I have no problem buying things second hand.

On my lunch breaks I frequent Marshall’s and TJ Maxx, the Habitat for Humanity Re-store, and, on occasion, Goodwill. It was there that I found these beauties, in all of their colorful glory, already framed at $3.99 a piece. Yes. Three dollars and ninety nine cents. As in less than four dollars each. Ring me up.

They’re pretty freakin’ awesome if you ask me. And, there were two! I love that they go, but are two completely different pieces.

I did some research and Minguet is a fairly well-known French painter. His daughter currently owns a gallery in St. Marten where she sells originals and repros of his work. These pieces are posters specifically for the gallery itself, which I find pretty awesome. You can read a bit more about the gallery here. I usually don’t fall in love with art from a place I haven’t been to personally, just because I want that connection of having been there, but these prints convinced me that we’ll just have to put St. Marten on our bucket list. The colors and ad-style are what initially hooked me, but also the fact that they are different. You won’t find these in Target or Bed Bath & Beyond, and certainly not for so cheap! (Not that there’s anything wrong with those places. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE TARGET. I have my eye on way too many things from the Nate Berkus line right now…)

These were a quick fix, since the only love they really needed was a frame color change. Not that I hated the blue, but it wasn’t working with my overall scheme, so a coat of gold paint they got!

Err – until I tried to get the frame off?

These babies were professionally framed. I contemplated disassembling them, but I didn’t want to ruin anything and potentially forget how to put it back together (which is extremely likely). So I decided to tape off the glass and just spray them as is.

I was painting a few things gold that day 🙂

Anyway, a few coats of spray paint later and these pretties found their way onto our walls flanking the entrance to the dining room:

I’m still working on my crappy photo skills, but aren’t they cute? I think they make the room feel brighter and more spring-y, which I love.

As a disclaimer, I will say that not all of my Goodwill trips are as fruitful as this one was! I mean unless you want some smelly shoes, a slap chop, and dirty Tupperware – they always have that stuff. That’s the fun in all of it, though! Hopefully you guys will be more encouraged to wander into some places you might not normally go – unless you live in South Jersey. Don’t take my stuff. Seriously. 😛

-Malorie