Ka-Ching! Price Drop.

It's nearly the new year, and we're starting off 'new' a bit earlier! Over the past several weeks, we've been discussing our price structure, and have decided to keep it a bit more basic, without much reliance on promotions or regular 'special' offers. The result - a much friendlier price structure!

Wall Material

Material	Old	New
StickIt™	$10 per square foot	$6.80 per square foot
Canvas	$10 per square foot	$7.00 per square foot
Fabric-Backed Vinyl	$8 per square foot	$6.80 per square foot

These price changes take will take place immediately (which is now), so we're all ready to go. Oh, we have canvas print updates as well! 

Canvas Prices

Size	Price
16x12"	$52.67
20x12"	$57.33
20x16"	$65.11
20x20"	$72.89
24x12"	$62.00
24x16"	$65.11
24x18"	$76.00
24x20"	$80.67
24x24"	$90.00
30x12"	$69.00
30x20"	$92.33
30x24"	$104.00
30x30"	$121.50
36x12"	$76.00
36x18"	$97.00
36x24"	$118.00
36x30"	$139.00
36x36"	$160.00
40x12"	$80.67
40x16"	$96.22
40x20"	$111.78
40x30"	$150.67
48x12"	$76.50
48x24"	$124.10
48x36"	$171.70
48x48"	$219.30
60x16"	$127.33
60x30"	$177.65
60x40"	$227.23
60x48"	$266.90

That's it! Like I said, it's all effective immediately (we just couldn't wait), so feel free to check it all out for yourself. Stay tuned for more updates later on! We have lots coming up in the next few weeks & months! 

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Wall Murals: Why Cover Your Entire Wall?

Sometimes when we say the words "wall mural," people envision a print that covers every inch of their walls, which can go beyond what a person budgets for the project. Today, I'm here to bust that myth apart. To be clear: full-wall murals & Lifewalls are stunning, visually appealing, and add an incredibly unique flare to any room. But.... so do partial-wall Lifewalls & murals! In fact, a very good portion of our wall prints have been smaller, partial-wall ones, such as prints that extend across a wall in a single strip, or ones that just serve as a wall-spicer-upper.

Partial-Wall Mural in Kids Room

3 Main Benefits of a Partial-Wall Mural or Lifewall:

1. Affordability - This makes sense. You're not covering your entire wall, and so you won't be spending as much on the print itself. Depending on how small you go, you could easily save a few hundred dollars vs. covering an entire wall.

Use a bunch of your own pictures for a long, partial-wall LifeWall. 

 2. Ease of Installation - For the partial wall prints, they usually come in smaller, fewer panels that need to be applied. This means it should be very easy to install. I personally helped install the prints at Caldo Italian Kitchen. We did have multiple panels, but due to their size, it was so unbelievably easy & quick to put them up. In fact, I thought it was rather therapeutic. This opens up entirely an entirely new door: mural installation as stress relief. Might take a while to catch on, but I believe in it. To make it easier, our StickIt material applies by peeling & sticking. No mess, no hassle, and you can redo it a bunch of times if you want.

This is just my dog Blue. 

3. Unique - You won't see a lot of wall art like this. Most people stick with traditional prints they just 'hang' on the wall. But sticking it on? Come on - that's different!

From Caldo Italian Kitchen (see previous post). 

Hope you're interested in this idea! We're pretty excited about it. Like I said, it can all be designed on our website. And if you have trouble with that, just give us a call or an email and we'll help you out. Bye!

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What's a Lifewall?

One of the most frequent questions we've received is just that: "What's a Lifewall?" In short, we view a Lifewall as any sort of wall print that involves several of a person's favorite photos. The "multi-photo" concept is what distinguishes a Lifewall from any sort of mural or canvas print. It can be on any sort of our material - StickIt™, fabric-backed vinyl, or satin canvas. However, it's got to say something about your life, and be intended for a wall (duh)! That said... let's see some examples! Here are a couple that are currently displayed as examples on our website:

BUT... I know. These aren't real life Lifewalls. So, here you are! Real ones designed by a real human being on our website!

We were told the process was easy, and yes, fun! He didn't do them all in one sitting, of course. Thankfully, after you create an account with us, you're able to design and save items in your cart if you want to change or finish them later. By the way, all of these Lifewalls were printed on StickIt, our repositionable material. So... installation was super easy & mess-free!

 I hope this helps to illustrate what a "Lifewall" really is. The options are unlimited. You could create your own with fewer pictures, borders, more or less text, etc. But the concept is there. Your life on your wall! 

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A Few of Our Projects...

We love to do the murals, Lifewalls, and canvas prints for homes & individuals. But that's not all we've been up to! Over the past few months, we've been busy with projects for businesses around the area. I don't have pictures for all of them yet, but I couldn't resist to show off a couple of what we do have.

 1. Caldo Italian Kitchen - We were initially supposed to just do a couple of thinner murals for Caldo, located in Marshall, MN, but the project evolved into doing some peel & stick signs, a canvas print, and even a couple ADDITIONAL murals. Here's what I have for Caldo:

 I promise - as soon as I get pictures of the remaning murals (one is over the bar and another is vertical near a window), I'll update this post. Until then - take what you can get! Note: the murals here were all printed on our repositionable StickIt fabric. It applied very easy and we have had great success with it.

 2. Acapulco Mexican Restaurant - I had never actually heard of this place before they came to us with a project in mind. Since then, I've heard some great things! While I don't have a picture of the actual installation or finished project, I do have a cropped concept of the mural. It was about 9 feet tall and 40 feet wide - one of the largest prints we've done thus far. The owner was great to work with, and even kindly invited us up to see it sometime. Personally, I can't wait for it.

3. The Daily Grind - This is a coffee shop (but they also have food!) here in Marshall just a couple of blocks from us. A while back, we did a canvas display featuring the artwork of Bill Van der Hagen. It went extremely well!

We got some incredible feedback from this show, and so we might do it again sometime! We've paired with another photographer (Mr. John Krohn) since then, so we'll also have a new variety of images to display. We'll keep you posted. That's all I have for now. We might have a couple more larger business/organizations coming up soon, so stay tuned! Have a good one.

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Announcement: Another Artist Partnership!

A few days ago, I wrote about the collection of artist (living, breathing) photography we're putting together for use in canvas prints or murals. Well, I'm pleased to announce that as of last night, we are officially paired with another! Introducing... the work of John Krohn!

 That's just a bit of it... we have a lot more of his great work that will soon be accessible on the website. John resides out in Wabasso, MN and has been doing photography for quite some while. More to come! -Alex

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Stock vs. Artist: Faces Attached to Artwork

One of the best parts of this job so far has been the opportunity to scroll through & interact with a HUGE amount of great imagery that simply rocks. It’s mind-blowing stuff (most of it). Look at this freaking majestic elephant:

Or these horsies:

I love horses. We have some other really stunning stuff too (just look through our collection to see), but I really like animals. Regardless, the downside of these images is that they aren’t attached to a real HUMAN who took them, at least not from where I or the customer stands. They’re beautiful, sharp, clean... stock images. For so many, this is fine and great! It’s some beautiful artwork that fits right into their homes. But for others... more personality is needed. Thankfully, we have a solution: Lifewall’s Artist Collections! A compilation of artwork from local photographers who really care about their work. They have cameras, they have faces, and they have personality. And there’s value in that. We have their work featured on our website with a bio, so people can know where the art comes from, and what it means to have something displayed in your home with real meaning. As of now, there’s just one partnership in the works, but hopefully many more to come! Check out some of Bill Van der Hagen’s work below. He does some amazing wildlife photography as well as landscape displays, making his stuff perfect for what we do.

 So, that’s that. Go to yourlifewall.com and check out the rest of the collections on your own, and if you know anyone who might be interested in partnering with us, let us know!

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A Crucial Decision: Wall Design in the 21st Century

When I was about 12 years old, I first witnessed the pure evil & sorrow caused by the interior designer’s worst enemy: wallpaper. At the time, my family thought it was a super cool project: an awe-inspiring cloud pattern pasted across the walls of our bathroom. It would be a treat everytime we paid a visit there. Unfortunately, the excitement didn’t last long. A matter of weeks later, those clouds were quickly becoming wrinkled, disgusting, and ready to be torn down. My immediate conclusion: Wow, wallpaper sucks.

And yet, to my surprise... this stuff seems to be making a comeback. Does the old pre-pasted or dry wallpaper still exist? Yes. Can it still be a hassle? Ohhh yes. But there’s something deeper, more cultural about wallpaper that makes it a more serious contender than it used to be -- and it doesn’t just have to do with installation ease. Say goodbye to the old-fashioned, nausea-inducing patterns of the past. Today’s wallpaper is flashy, unique, and even textured, meaning that it’s gonna be hard to ignore when brainstorming your next interior design update. To help make this decision easier... let’s compare. Now, we’re not going to consider the old pre-pasted or dry material that caused so many headaches in the past. It’s the 21st century, and so we’re going to consider 21st century stuff: repositionable wallpaper. It comes in quite the types -- vinyl, woven fabric, etc., and often varies in ease & durability. But still... it’s a whole lot easier than any of the old stuff. And with the price being pretty comparable to the other stuff... we’re using it. So, here’s the pro & con breakdown:

Repositionable Wallpaper Pros:

• Easy installation (assuming you do it right) - Just peel and stick, and it will not leave any sort of mess after you’re done.
• Easy removal - Just peel it off. No residue, no nasty chemicals.
• Easier to customize - You can quite literally order whatever design you wish. LifeWall allows you to upload your own images, choose from theirs, or have something custom designed for you.
• Durability - A lot of the stuff out there (like LifeWall’s,) is UV-resistant and waterproof. Add a little liquid laminate for scratch protection, and you have something pretty tough.

Cons:

• More expensive - Custom repositionable wallpaper might run anywhere from $7-$10 per square foot, depending on producer & quality, whereas paint is typically under half of that cost.
• Undocumented lifespan - Most places out there say that their repositionable material will last several years - some up to 20 years. But the thing is... repositionable wallpaper hasn’t been around that long. So, to a certain extent, there’s a leap of faith involved here.
• Limited to smooth, non-porous walls - For some walls, wallpaper simply isn’t an option.

Paint Pros:

• More affordable - The cost of wallpaper can add up quickly. Usually not the case with paint.
• Can be used on several surfaces - Whether its highly textured or not, paint will probably work just fine.
• Easy to install - As easy as it is to learn to apply repositionable wallpaper, it hasn’t been around a long time, and most won’t know how to do it. As for paint though... pick up a brush & go.

Cons:

• Limited design variety - Choose a color, and.... yeah, that’s it.
• Needs a spruce-up every few years - This means another layer of paint down the road just to keep it looking fresh. Of course, this means more cost in the long run.
• Messy - Cover your carpet & don’t wear nice clothing. You don’t have to worry about this with repositionable wallpaper.

Is the author of this post biased? Yes, but who isn’t? Use this list and research on your own to make the best, most-informed decision. Regardless of the list above, it’s pretty undeniable that wallpaper is making quite the scene nowadays, and it’s becoming more and more difficult to ignore. So... look around, choose wisely, and thanks for reading! -Alex

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