know photoshop?

A few months ago, I was shopping the Z Gallerie website and I spotted this print of New York city streets. I loved it. I then ran over to Tysons to look at it because I really wanted to put a cool, large piece in our master bathroom. I had the print in hand ready to purchase. But then a great idea came to me. :)


Even though I adore New York City and Brad and I love visiting, the city itself doesn't have much significance to me. I mean, we have never lived there, and I really like for the pieces in my home to have meaning. So, I was talking to my cousin, Heather who does graphic design jobs on the side. She was over at my house and I showed her the print I wanted on the Z Gallerie website. She said she could absolutely make me my own custom print. Soooooo.... I thought how great to make a print with a bunch of street signs on it that actually have some meaning to Brad and I! Like, the street where we got married, the street where we first met, got engaged, etc.

So, here is the Z Gallerie New York City print: (Which I still really like by the way and think it is super reasonably priced considering it is framed and matted) Instead of purchasing a new black frame, I had this old picture in my goodwill pile. I bought this 8 years ago when brad and I first got married. Yeah, my style has changed a bit over the years. :) So, I took the print out and measured it. I gave Heather all of my words and street names and gave her the exact measurments of the frame. I believe she did it all in photoshop and then printed it out through shutterfly and they mailed it my house. This was the frame I already had. I spray painted it in a matte black. (Make sure you use Rustoleum spray paint. It is by far the best) This is the finished product in my bathroom. So, I already had the frame and it only cost $20 to print and ship to my house. So, this could be a quick and cheap piece for your home if you know how to use photoshop. If you don't have a frame you can use, you can always get a really large ugly print (make sure it has a mat) at a thrift store and spray paint the frame. OR get this frame at Ikea. They have huge sizes for cheap.

Here it is again in my bathroom. If I didn't already have a frame, I probably would have made the print much bigger since that wall is pretty big. Oh well. I think it looks good enough.

I was going to do just street names, but I threw in some words as well. It makes me happy when I go in the bathroom and see all the words that have meaning to brad and I.

Also, if you don't know how to use photoshop, Heather would love to have some extra jobs and she can ship it right to your house. I'm not sure what she charges, but it's reasonable. You can email me if and I could give you her contact info.

I was quite happy with how it turned out!