With the right décor, a home can become a work of art.

“Anyone enjoys their environment more when it’s full of things that they’re drawn to,” Tara Davis, owner of Tara Davis Studio Boutique, says.

She loves incorporating art into home décor and brings many original pieces home from her shop and other local stores. Interesting furniture and dolls are a couple of items she uses to decorate her own home.

Davis prefers handmade art to mass produced art as she views it as more ethical and it also allows for customization.

Bringing home new pieces to use as décor is something she gets excited about.

“Really, for me, it’s almost a warm fuzzy feeling,” Davis says. Art is a way to make a home more original and personal.

She has many people coming into her boutique looking to incorporate art into their living rooms by way of items such as pillows or ceramics. Davis says she helps many people choose the right original piece for their space and loves helping her customers find the right way to bring art into their homes.

While she admits it’s difficult for young people to be able to afford art, she points out that small, inexpensive works can be put together to create a larger piece at an affordable price.

Small, functional items can also be used on their own.

“If you have a vase, you may as well have it out on display even if you don’t have flowers in it, because it in itself is the art,” Davis says.

She loves the idea of using ceramics as art. Customized pottery, such as mugs and tea pots, can be put on a shelf on display when they’re not being used.

“People seem to really like a piece even more when they know the artist behind it, as opposed to buying a factory made item off of a shelf,” Nicole Veldman says. She is the co-owner of True Roots Design, a Winnipeg business that creates and sells handmade wood boxes and signs.

She says people like True Roots Design’s trunks because the pieces are functional, but also art. Customers can have their trunks customized to be a certain colour or have a specific saying, so it’s also something personal they can store blankets in or use as a coffee table.

“Or take a garbage can – most of them are ugly plastic bins, but it’s easy enough to create a beautiful wood box to contain it and voila! Suddenly an everyday item can become a work of art,” Veldman says. “If you have to see it every day, why not try to make it a piece of art?”

Davis agrees that everyday items make great art pieces. Coasters, clocks, and blankets are a few of the many things that can be brought into the home to make art a part of everyday home living.

Published in Volume 70, Number 10 of The Uniter (November 12, 2015)