Something I have been struggling with as I work through my finances; being real with myself about the true cost of items.
During COVID-19, my empty living room walls (more on this later) have been starting back at me.
I’ve been meaning to get these prints on Etsy for years, I mean YEARS! I have stalked, I mean poured over all sorts of images and panels and stretched canvases over the years to find something like this so when I finally bought them, what happened? I realized I didn’t know how to stretch canvas to create a floating frame. Before you hang a canvas print, you need to stretch and mount it on wood or do some sort of floating frame (unless you are going very raw and nailing up the canvas)!
So now, I have the canvas images, which were actually quite affordable- they are fabulous and came from Italy so quickly – in a tube in my basement. I thought at the time I was getting ‘deal’ by buying art in this form, but in reality, I am still out for either the materials to frame myself, or the cost of having it professionally done.
Why do I do this? Well, being very budget minded, I have to wait to get the pictures done- I am not very handy so I will be getting it done professionally- and the cost means that I will have to delay gratification to get them done. Ultimately, I will pay cash to get them framed and am really excited for that to happen in November. The other side of this want vs. need post is: I waited for so long to get what I wanted. Should I have just settled for something similar to what I wanted, but made in China? Or could I have found a cool print at a garage sale? For me I have these insecurities about choosing things on the spot and being confident in my choices.
What about you- do you buy things that are affordable but unfinished and then don’t have the money to complete the project, or do you start a lot of projects and feel guilty about not finishing them?
Melissa Winning 