My Favorite Sources for Cheap (and FREE) Art

Finding art for your home can be incredibly overwhelming. Where do you even begin? There are so many options out there, and it’s really easy to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to find art that “speaks” to us or will be the perfect “forever” option. It gets even harder when you start trying to find sources for cheap art, because there are so many (SO MANY!) that it’s beyond intimidating.

While I wouldn’t call myself an art expert, I’ve spent a lot of time browsing for and choosing art for my own home. So today, I’m here to share a few of my best tips and tricks for narrowing down all the options and finding the right art for your home!

A Quick Note

Much of the content from this blog post is pulled from my eBook, Tiny Tweaks. It’s all about how to make your house a home one small step at a time and contains tons of actionable tips like these. So, if you find this post valuable and want to learn more, click here to grab the eBook!

My Favorite Sources for Cheap + Free Art

Let’s start with the million dollar question – where do I find my art?!

First of all, you’ll need to decide if you’re looking for digital art that you can have printed yourself, or actual physical art prints. Either option is fine, but you’ll generally save more money if you go the digital route! It’s much cheaper to simply buy a digital file (often only a few dollars on a site like Etsy), and then print it with a local print shop. I usually use Walmart to print mine, and they always are running some sort of great deal!

If you prefer getting a physical print, there are still lots of options available to you! Many of the sources I’m linking below have both physical and digital prints, so just keep an eye out on the listing to make sure you can find your preferred item.

Picture Ledge Tutorial + Sources

Where to Buy Affordable Art

Here are my favorite sources for cheap art prints:

Where to Find FREE Art

Looking to really save money? There are lots of sources out there for public domain art, meaning you can download it for FREE and use it however you’d like in your home. I know, it feels like cheating, but I promise it’s legal!

Autumn Landscape, Jasper Francis Cropsey

How to CHOOSE Art

Okay, so now you know where to find great free or cheap art. But, now you might be feeling overwhelmed with the sheer options. There are SO MANY out there, how do you know what’s right for you?

Well, there’s really no foolproof or scientific method to choosing art. It’s about what makes you smile! But, if you’re feeling unsure of how to dive in, let me walk you through what I do, step-by-step.

Step One: Pick a Source

Start off by choosing the website you’re going to be purchasing or downloading your art from. Obviously, you can browse more than one. But, for the purposes of this example we’re going to pretend you’ve decided you want to simplify things and just choose something from Etsy.

If you want to browse multiple sites, of course you should. You can do a version of this on as many websites as you want until you’ve chosen your art!

But, for now, let’s say we’ve decided to choose some art from Etsy.

Step Two: Start by Browsing

If you’re starting from zero and have no idea what you want, I recommend just going to the art page and browsing. Quickly scroll the first two or three pages and take note of what type of art you’re drawn to. Is it landscape art? Is it portraits? Maybe something geometric and graphic?

Choose one or two general categories that you find yourself pausing on as you browse, and dig in deeper to those.

Step Three: Search for a Category

Now, head up to the search bar and search for one of your categories.

A few examples of things you might search for include:

Landscape art
Portraits
Geometric art
Quote art
Still life
Modern art
Quirky art
Abstract art

You get the idea. Choose something you find yourself drawn to and search for it. For this example, we’ll go with landscape art because it’s what I personally tend to gravitate to the most!

Step Four: Browse the First Five Pages

Now, here’s where I get a little specific. I only allow myself to browse the first five pages of a given category. There are typically thousands of pages on a larger site like Etsy, and it becomes overwhelming to me to do any more than that. If I’m on a smaller site and it has less than about 10 pages worth of my category of art, I might browse all of them. But never more than that.

I mean, there is such a thing as having too many options!

As you browse, quickly open any art you find yourself drawn to in a new tab. Don’t think about it or question it. Just open it in a new tab and keep browsing. For this post, I did the exercise myself – here are the options I opened in a new tab when I was browsing the first five pages of the landscape art section on Etsy.

Spring Meadow Painting
Spring Landscape Art
Antique Moody Watercolor Landscape Painting
Summer Meadow
Wildflower Field Landscape
Rustic Landscape Country Farmhouse Painting
Old Pine Landscape Painting
Vintage Moody Woodland Landscape
Autumn Art Countryside Landscape Art
Rustic European Village Print
Country Village Landscape
Cottage Oil Painting
Summer Landscape Print
Clouds Soft Neutral Tone Painting
Sheep Painting
Moody Fall Landscape
Vintage Moody Woodland Landscape SET OF 2
Vintage Print Country Landscape Painting
Vintage Lake House Painting

As you can see, at this point you might have upwards of 20 tabs open, all with art that caught your eye. This is good! Now, you get to narrow it down.

Step Five: Narrow it Down!

Ok, here’s where things get fun! Start by doing an initial purging of what you’ve pulled up. Go through each tab and close out of anything that doesn’t immediately draw you in. Don’t think too hard about it – if it doesn’t make you smile, let it go!

After going through everything once and closing out the things you know are a “no”, it’s time to walk away. Don’t look at your art options for at least an hour or two. Just let it marinate! Then, come back and go through them once more – again, crossing out anything that doesn’t draw you right in.

When you’re going through this process, it’s important to trust your gut. Don’t question why you like something or don’t like it. Just close out the tabs that don’t feel right.

Rinse and repeat this process until you’ve selected your winner! It sounds silly or overly simplistic, but I promise it works every time!

corner of a home with sentimental house art

With this simple method and aaaaall of these amazing cheap art sources, you’ll be supplied with art for your home for decades! Now, go forth and choose some art. I can’t wait to hear what you go with!

And, of course, if you’re looking for a resource that can help you make all sorts of decisions and changes in your home, please consider checking out my Tiny Tweaks eBook! It’s a really great guide for everything related to your home, and you’ll be amazed at the progress you can make by implementing just a few small changes.