Interior View with David Worthington

This month, David considers how to get the right images on the wall, without spending a fortune; It's not always about using pictures

The most expensive picture I've seen in a hotel was on the wall of my room at Cliveden. (We held our annual conference there, taking advantage of their opening pricing.) My bedroom, the Munnings Suite, featured a painting by Sir Alfred Munnings himself! Rough value? Start at £1m+..!

So, how do mere mortals create impact for a lot less?... think posters. They are dramatic, evocative and memorable. They fill large walls with and can often be a good investment in their own right.

Famous posters sell for four figures, but not all are famous and many more are very reasonably priced. I sold a whole batch to a couple who have five holiday lets – nearly forty posters at around £10 each. (More on that next issue.)

Collections of books and other random objects also look wonderful framed as sets, especially down long corridors or up staircases. I know of someone about to use old nautical charts for wallpaper!

Get it right and your guests will walk in, just as I did at Cliveden, and go “Wow, look at that!”

Coney Beach Poster

eBay

This Coney Beach poster keeps coming up on eBay, clearly the seller has a few! It's a convenient 30" x 20" size, which is smaller and cheaper to frame than the British Railways 40" x 30". Try www. frames.co.uk or similar where a 30" x 20" frame costs in the region of £60.00. Be sure to add the word "original" to your eBay search.

Kieler Woche Poster

Kieler Woche posters

Bright, colourful and unusual; in the 1980s Kiel Regatta Week issued a portfolio of reprints of their best posters in A2 size. Find them individually on eBay for c.£30 or occasionally you'll find the whole folio of 27 prints for nearer to £10/print.

Books

Books

Complimentary book covers, framed individually in deep frames look fabulous. Target price for these 1920/30's examples is £20/ book or nearer £1 for 1950/60s Penguin paperbacks.