Compromise.

Remember when I attempted to turn my blank hall into a beeeautiful gallery wall?

Pathetic Attempt

It was not so good. I thought about getting a ruler and carefully positioning the frames, but I frankly did not like any of the frames and I felt like the hallways was too long and sparse to sustain a random mosaic of frames.

Fast forward a couple of months, I waited in line for and hour and a half one saturday morning to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the MET museum "Savage Beauty". 

It was incredible, beautiful and haunting.

 You can visit the Met Blog and watch the video tour, it is just as amazing as being there and minus the huge crowd. 

After I forced myself to not walk through the exhibit a third time, I purchased a poster from the gift shop: 

Source

 Awe inspiring. McQueen was amazingly creative. He was inspired by historic eras and traditions as well as politics and used his platform to make bold statements. He was also an amazing tailor; his clothes were perfectly constructed. 


I wanted to have a piece of the exhibit I could have in my home and that would always inspire me.

At a local frame shop and fell in love with this:

But a sterling silver frame was a BIT out of my budget.

I settled.

It looks fine, but it does not have that je-ne-sais-quoi. I told the framing consultant I would be back some day for that gorgeous, sterling silver frame. He said he would wait for me...Romantic. 

A friend of mine also ran into this problem recently, wanting some expensive throw pillows for her apartment. The WANT builds up to NEED until we talk ourselves down and settle for something a bit more reasonable and in our price range. It can be frustrating when you know the difference that detail could make. 

Have you ever had to settle on something design related or other because you just absolutely cannot justify the price tag?