The Unconventional Way I Decorated the Walls of My First Home (It Saved Me Thousands!)

I moved out west to Wyoming and Montana after graduating college in New England. I worked as a horseback guide in Yellowstone National Park after growing up riding English as a child and in college. My three seasons as a guide were the perfect way to delay figuring out how to use my English degree, and I was immediately enamored of the West.

After the national park stint, I moved to Bozeman, Montana. At that point, it was a somewhat under-the-radar mountain town a few hours from Yellowstone. Rent was cheap, there were plenty of horses to ride, and the mountains and wildlife were a huge draw. 

Once I got there, I knew I never wanted to leave. The town was surrounded by mountains in all four directions, all painted in striking colors. In late spring and early summer (my favorite), emerald green valleys rise into gray-and-white snow-covered peaks against the blue sky. These colors are the first thing I remember about moving to Montana, and in the 14 years since then, they’re what I still think of each time I describe living here.

I lived in seven different apartments and townhouses over the course of six years before buying my house. Each was special in its own way, but my decorating was restricted by a limited budget and the transience of moving every year as rent skyrocketed. And although I bought my home in 2018, it took a few more years before I had the funds and time to redecorate. 

This is the first home I’ve taken pride in, and I wanted the colors, textures, and artwork to reflect what I love about Montana — the blue spring sky contrasting against the gray and white mountains and the green valleys. Plus, I wanted to include my favorite animals: bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and elk.

What I did not want was the vacation-rental look. My town has become quite the resort destination in recent years, and I wanted to avoid that one long-horn cattle print, wooden placards proclaiming a love of the mountains, and chandeliers made from fake antlers. In short, the goal was to theme my home around the mountains without having it be too obvious.

My mother has beautifully decorated multiple landscape-inspired homes in the northeast, so I enlisted her help when I started redecorating. I donated my old furniture to local families, and we opted for a neutral base using textured, pebbly grays for the furniture and accenting with white and blue rugs, pillows, lamps, and wall hangings to match the mountains and rivers in the valley. I’ve always loved houseplants, and instead of trying to incorporate green into the direct color scheme, I propagated clippings from friends and plant trades. This makes each plant special, and I remember where all of them came from.

One of my biggest goals, though, was to cover the large, empty walls. I had no budget to buy original artwork, but I wanted to avoid mass-produced generic Western prints. So I decided to draw my own large-scale canvases of native Montana wildlife, as well as plenty of horses — a reminder of why I moved here. 

I had let my drawing hobby lapse for years, but during the monotony of lockdown, my brother and I started scheduling weekly FaceTime calls to catch up and revisit our latent drawing skills. Harry is an immensely talented artist, and I felt my own fluidity improve with feedback, practice, and regular calls. 

After a few sessions, I had a large drawing of a horse that was good enough to hang in my living room. Over the next four years, Harry and I talked every week while drawing, and those calls resulted in the big charcoal canvases that decorate my house. I focused on the animals around Montana, but I’ve avoided bison because the density of their fur is intimidating. Drawing a bison is on my list for this year, but don’t hold me to it. 

Picking up the charcoal again helped me appreciate Montana’s wildlife (and horses!) in new ways. Wildlife sightings became even more exciting, and I started taking better reference photos whenever I rode or worked with horses. I began seeing inspiration everywhere, and each blank wall space meant another chance to produce better work, enhance my skills, and connect with my brother. 

The art ended up being the final touch that brought the house together. The interior feels homey and plush, with nods to the Montana landscape of mountains and rivers, and the drawings are a point of conversation. I love walking into the different rooms and knowing they remind me of being outdoors in a place I love.

I truly believe you don’t need to have a drawing background to use your own art on the walls. Pre-stretched blank canvases are an inexpensive, frame-free way to decorate, and you can find basic art supplies at a local craft store. A few ideas include having a papier-mâché collage night with friends, splashing a canvas with paint in your color scheme, and accenting a thrift-store find with gold leaf. 

The options are endless. You can customize the colors and art to fit your space — and bring your favorite elements of the outdoors into your home.

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