Ta Da! Original Art - and other neat stuff

So, we have just put up our first big original art purchase, and it took FOREVER.  It's an amazing piece by Geoff Balkman, who was selling his work at the Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh.  But before the big reveal, here are the before pictures:

 

 The three photographs are from our wedding, and the large, square piece is a Kandinsky print from the Guggenheim - my husband found the frame at Ikea on the cheap (genius!).  All other frames also on the cheap from Michael's.  The print with the yellow bridges is one of my most ingenious gifts to my husband, who loves Pittsburgh with all his heart.  I found it at JHill, where I long to buy just about everything on the site.  They have beautiful travel prints inspired by cities the world over, and some iphone covers I am itching to get my hands on.

Another "before" shot - including our totally hideous 70s chandelier, which our landlord has inexplicably kept all these years

The painting we purchased is, as all of Balkman's paintings we saw, in multiple pieces, giving a really neat effect.  Here it is waiting to be hung on the wall:

My charming husband obligingly shows off my favorite panel of the painting

Progress!

Almost there...

Done!

While it looked nice on the wall on its own, we kind of felt like the wall needed something, so we flanked it with our other Pittsburgh-themed art, the JHill print and another piece I gave David - a pack of letterpressed Pittsburgh landmark cards that I matted and framed in another Michael's frame using my mat cutter.  Sidebar: I just found the etsy shop for the Pittsburgh landmark cards, which I just thought were sold in local shops (lots of places stock them around here) - they have TONS of beautiful stuff!  Check them out!  Also, the project of cutting the mat and framing the cards was pretty easy, and my husband loooooved it!  Click here for the post on our first Valentine's Day as a married couple.  And let me know if you'd like to see a tutorial on mat cutting!

So, here's the finished wall - the weird shadow up top is the ghastly chandelier:

And one more photo, featuring the gaudy chandelier.  Seriously, is there any uglier light fixture in existence?

I'm quite pleased with how the wall looks, and super thrilled with our purchase.  For those of you who don't know Pittsburgh, the painting is of the 16th Street Bridge.  It's one of our favorites, so we were pretty psyched when we saw the painting in the seller's stall at the festival.  He was a very nice guy and is apparently just starting to sell his artwork.  His stuff is great, so once again, do check him out here.

Please do link to your original art purchases and nifty wall decor in the comments!