Vintage Educational Charts

This one has been a long time coming, but I'd say that the educational chart trend has hit critical mass.  The official date and time was, oh, this past Tuesday?  I believe these were in one of the One Kings Lane tastemaker tag sales, listed for a cool grand or so.

And just last week, I saw these at Minneapolis's own Hunt and Gather, for less than half the OKL price.

(I will admit, these are quite awesome--and they are HUGE).

Back in the fall, I had considered using one of these in Oliver's nursery,

but Oliver's mom is a teacher and thought this hit a little close to home to have it in her, er, home.

I know I have seen them EVERYWHERE, but in putting together this roundup, my search was not super fruitful.

Let's see.

Steven Gambrel in Elle Decor.

Amy Larocca's house in Domino (I was almost too lazy to scan this one, but you guys are worth it.)

An insect chart in House Beautiful

A Sneak Peek on Design Sponge.

Okay, make that two.

A creepy anatomy version on the Readymade blog (SO sad that Readymade is no more)

This one's not totally what I'm talking about, though.  There seems to be a preference for french educational charts, I suppose because they are in French?  Kind of like how adorable french accents are on little children?

There also seems to be a preference for a black background.  Maybe more dramatic that way.  And for hanging it unframed.  Like this one, from Rue Magazine.

Incidentally, love the black on black.  

Here's one on a blackboard wall, taking the school house thing up a notch or two (via pinterest).

Want one?

Get mammals, here (do you know three potato four?  No?  Well, have fun over there.)

Get botanicals, here.  Oh, they have zoology, too.  

Or make your own and report back.

Seriously.

Overscale Botanicals

I was having this momentary insanity thinking I should title this post "Feed me, Seymour!" but I fear that, apart from the obvious issues, I may be dating myself just a bit.

I've been noticing a ton of giant botanical images around the joint lately.  While I am satisfied--for now--with my framed artisan paper in the dining room, I'm always on the lookout for something better that I can afford or DIY, and looking at my inspiration folder I see an awful lot of these huge pairs of flowers.

This California home by Nathan Turner was the first one where I stood up and took notice.

[via nathanturner.com]

I mean: yellow!  I love that each one is a single bloom, and that the composition places the flowers differently in each frame.  I have some old polaroids from a shoot at Real Simple where we shot really interesting flowers in bud vases on seamless for the monthly calendar (do they even still do this?), and I'm wondering if they have enough resolution to blow up this big.  Those were professionally shot and styled, but I bet, with a good enough camera, you could make your own version.

I'm also loving these big, saturated green ones.  They feel like leaf pressings on steroids.

[via pinterest]

[Lauren Liess, Pure Style Home]

For a moodier approach, how about something like this?

[pinterest]

Gorgeous. I love how sort of dark and ethereal these are, and especially love how casually (and crookedly!) they are tacked up over the little table.

And in reverse, white floral on black ground:

[I guess I could have cropped this ad, but this way it self-credits]

I find it interesting that all of these are in pairs, maybe in tribute to all those classic botanical groupings with dozens of plates on a wall?  (Speaking of which, how about super sizing the whole grouping, for maximum effect?)

[via Cote de Texas]

Maybe it's simply because people like the balance in pairs, or decorators have too much wall space to fill.  No matter.  I'm a fan.

Oh, but this lonely guy works, too, don't you think?

[ via Southern Living]

So what do you think?  Would you go big?  What's your favorite?