The bedroom gallery wall: an elusive idea that has never really amounted to much.
Sure, I’ve spent hours in my favourite home décor stores looking for cute frames. I am a bit of a photoframe collector it appears. But they’ve all sat in storage for what seems like forever, and as a bit of an indecisive buggar, the wall remains vacant.
Exhibit A – a small offering of frames I’ve hoarded in hope of using them in our master bedroom. Cute, right?
Because we’re always on a budget, particularly when it comes to decorating the house, I’m constantly looking for ways to do things slightly cheaper.
When I created the gallery wall for our dining area, for the most part I created imagery myself or bought downloadable content from Etsy and then used Photobox to get them printed. Definitely a cheaper alternative to buying unique artwork – although I’m a big believer that art doesn’t have to be expensive anyway. Think postcards, or wallpaper samples – that’s what I’ll be using on this wall!
Anyway, this particular feature is going to be monochrome for the most part, so not to compete with the jazzy frames I’ve got going on, and so I thought it would be a good test to see how they look when I print them myself.
Epson have a new set of Ecotank printers out which I’ve been asked to try out and this is just the perfect opportunity.
I prefer home printing where I can. I even printed my own wedding invites. The premise of this printer is that instead of having a cartridge which will likely dry out, instead it’s a ‘tank’ which you refill with ink, and it claims you won’t need to refill for about 2 years.
So let’s see how well it prints.
Let’s start with the basics. The printer is pretty standard looking. It’s not going to be paraded on Pinterest. It’s not the kind of home office item that will get the attention like your cute geometric-designed clipboards or copper coloured stationery. But it’s an essential that you’ll find in most average home offices and in that sense, it’s exactly how you’d expect it to look sat on your desk. Inoffensive. I don’t mind it at all.
Loading it up, the ink is provided separately and needs pouring into it’s proper tanks. For the love of God, wear latex gloves and put down something to protect your work surface. Joe learned his lesson after loading up the blue – this stuff stains. But I suppose that’s a good indicator of the ink strength.
To get the printer installed, a CD-ROM is included, but it’s also a Wireless printer so I just automatically found it using that method. Pretty simple really, especially when you’re much more used to using a laptop all over the place like I am! It means we could technically have our printer somewhere a bit more convenient rather than being restricted to just next to a traditional PC. Ours is currently on the kitchen side because it’s where I do so much of my day-to-day filing.
But back to the fun stuff, let’s see how well it prints.
I picked one of my favourite quotes. Joe and I LOVE the US Office. I honestly think about 75% of our communication is quoting that show. So having “That’s what she said” is ideal for our bedroom wall. If you’ve seen the show, you’ll get it right away.
I printed it onto some plain card in a matt finish, and after cutting to size and placing in my gold kull frame (TK Maxx if you’re wondering) I think it did a good job!
I really like that the black is black. Like, proper black and not a wishy washy grey, like when your traditional printer cartridge is about to die a slow death. So that’s perfect for this little DIY.
I also tested traditional photos. Every weekend we print out a picture of what Luna has got up to and it goes along with her to nursery on Monday mornings. Having that facility available at home saves so much effort, rather than heading to a photo kiosk at Boots every week. I must say, the colour printing is good for more primary-colour-based images, but for photographs, it’s not great unless you use photo paper, so keep this in mind if it’s something you’re considering.
Personally, I think the ink tanks are a great idea! I’m embarassed to say that in the past we have binned a printer because it was just SO MUCH HASSLE to change the cartridge properly. Always getting jammed, and never lining up properly. I know, it’s so bad. I’m ashamed, but I’m sure we’re not the only ones. This Epson printer claims up to 2 years’ worth of ink in the tanks. Pretty bold statement. Obviously not everyone needs to print wall art but for home use I’d be happy to recommend it.
What do you think to ink tanks over cartridges? Do you like the artwork I’ve chosen? Lots more to come in our gallery wall reveal soon.
*Thanks for supporting the brands that support me, and to to Epson for allowing me to test this printer. All words and opinions are my own.
