Every year around this time I have an urge to make over my entire home. Or, even more extreme, move. (We’ve lived in our current home for four years, and I’m getting the itch to get out!)
Usually I resort to rearranging my furniture to get that Spring Clean vibe. But, as I mentioned before, we’ve lived here for four years, and there are only so many configurations that even work in our living room. Hello, giant couch that’s here to stay even though it renders me unconscious within 0.5 seconds of sitting down.
If you are in a similar rut, I have good news for you. You CAN spring-ify your home easily, by switching out some of your wall art.
In fact, on eBay I shared five spring wall art ideas. The good news is that even doing one thing on the list would make a big impact.
One of the easiest options is this: kitschy botanical art.
It’s easy because there are so many good, free, vintage illustrations out there, just waiting to be your friend. Of course, I’m always a sucker for a good vintage floral paint-by-numbers, which might be easier to come by on eBay or in the thrift store (if you’re patient).
But how can you tell the difference between vintage old/bland and vintage kitschy? At the risk of sounding vague by saying, “You’ll know it when you see it” — it’s true. You’ll know it when you see it.
Illustration styles, colors, patterns are all subjective, of course, but you’ll get a feeling when something is just meh. Read: Aunt Sylvia’s generic living room roses. Or when something is yesss. Read: 1880 rendering of a rare flower on black background.
Here are some I gravitated toward right away.
40 Free Botanical Printables
- Black – Palaquium Gutta
- Black – Prunus Amygdalus
- Watercolor Tropical Leaf Printable
- Blue Leaves x 4
- Beautiful
- Flower Collage
- Succulent Painting
- Live Botanical Artwork – Yellow
- Vintage Yellow Botanical Diagram
- Bright Yellow Wrapping Paper Pattern
- Live Botanical Artwork – Arrangement
- Lavendar
- Yellow Spring Flowers + Quote
- Three Leaves (+ many similar)
- Leaf Pattern (upside down here for fun)
- Live Botanical Artwork – Pink
- Vintage Hollyhocks
- Pink vintage botanical prints x 2
- Vintage Geraniums
- Vintage Water Lily
- Three Red Roses
- Bright Pink & Light Purple Vintage Botanical Magazine Prints x2
- Red Spring Flowers + Quote
- Vintage Flower Diagram
- Dainty Blossom Ampersand
- Spring Botanical Pattern
- Purple/blue Floral Patterns x 4 (three on top row, one at beginning of bottom row)
- Floral Rorschach printable
- Blue Floral Patterns x 4
But wait, there’s more
A few more options I found after compiling this list! Other good resources for botanical illustrations/art:
- Good Vibes (+ 4 more)
- 3 Large Format Botanical Printables
- 50 Vintage Botanical Images
- Search Google Images for “vintage botanical illustration,” filtered under “noncommercial reuse” license
And don’t forget to head over to my eBay post to find out four more ways to spring-ify your home!
Naomi
April 28, 2016 at 1:38 pmI love this collection of spring botanicals, such a new and fun take on it all. Sometimes the botanicals all seem to run together… I have been been looking for some prints for my gallery wall and have run across some free abstract oil paintings for download. But, I can’t decide if they would look silly printed. Do you have any experience printing anything that was originally ‘textured’? Any advice for how to make it look good?
Vanessa
May 14, 2016 at 8:27 amHi Naomi — Good question. I think textured prints look fine on most paper, especially if you frame them, but to give your print a more authentic vibe, you could try a textured cardstock paper (like linen or anything with a pulpy vibe). Hope this helps!
Katty Balle
November 14, 2019 at 5:13 pmThese are so cute! I’m a big fan of botanical prints. Mostly because I want my interior decor to look plant-inspired. But not too much. This is perfect. Thank you for these ideas.