Design Musings: What do you think?

Long story short: 18 months ago we repainted, recarpeted, and added a pair of comfy chairs to our living room.  Here are the basics of the room:

I'm happy with the feel of the room, except for this view:



When anyone walks in the front door, they don't see all my lovely, accessorized built-ins or pretty blue wall.  They see beige foyer, beige wall, beige carpet, and brown chairs with no decor or accessories.  Besides fantasies of end tables, console tables, lamps, and greenery (preferably silk, since I can't even keep spider plants alive), I really, REALLY want to get some art on that wall to break up The Bland Band.

I've been told that if you're going to hang art behind multiple pieces of furniture (such as my pair of chairs), you need one item that extends, at a minimum, to the midpoint of both furniture pieces to unify them instead of a collage of smaller things.  So I need something at least 48 inches wide.

(Quick furniture arranging note:  I'd put the chairs on the blue wall, which I don't think needs art, and put the sofa on the white wall where I'd have more options for what to hang behind it, but if we do that, the chairs have to be practically in the middle of the room to allow for rocking/reclining.  We've toyed with a variety of furniture arrangements, but this really is the only arrangement that makes any kind of sense to us with built-ins, windows, traffic flow, etc.)

So back to the task at hand.  I would love to introduce this piece to the room:



Unfortunately, the largest print sold by the artist is 29"W x 17"H.  $45 plus framing, which always ends up with a doozy price tag.  Plus, I don't think adding 10 inches of matte all around to achieve the necessary dimensions will look right.  Back to the drawing board.

Last summer I was at a street fair in Mount Vernon, WA and I saw this piece:

The print is available in a size 42"W x 20"H, which once framed is PERFECT.  I think the blue in the sky might tie into my blue wall enough to forgive the greener blue of the water.  I'm willing to overlook that part since this bridge is one of our favorite spots in Washington, and it isn't far from where Nathan grew up.  The only reason I do not have this piece hanging in my home right now:  $420 just for the print.  Framed I think it was $725.  Or maybe $825.  That's an "ouch" no matter how you slice it.

And so I've been mulling, musing and wishing for a more budget-friendly solution for that wall.  The other day I saw this idea in an old Better Homes & Gardens magazine.  I don't know if you can read the caption at the bottom.  It says "Sylvie created her own artwork by attaching a cotton shower curtain to a batting-covered board..."  :


Now THAT I can afford.  So this morning I went online and perused shower curtains to see what I could find that would fit my lighthouse/nautical theme without looking like a shower curtain stapled to a board.  I have two possibilities, and here's where I want your input.  Mainly:

• Is this a good idea or a terrible one? (and I need you to be honest please)
• Does it look too much like a shower curtain?
• Does it fit the rest of the room?

Option #1:

An attempt to view it in the proposed context (I don't have software that lets me cut out the chairs and paste them over the other image, so use your imagination).  I tried to get the approximate scale, too.

One more time with the general room sense so you don't have to scroll:

Option 2:

Unfortunately, the online image is not complete, so I don't really know what's on the left side of the curtain. I don't really care about the seagulls, so I'd probably make this one with a shorter height to focus more on the lighthouse, water, and sky. Or maybe I'd just prop it on the floor behind the chairs so you mostly see the bluer parts and the whole thing doesn't tower over the nearby door frame.  Hmm...

Here it is in context: (wouldn't it be nice if the image were flipped so the water tied in the blue wall and light from the window to the right?)

Okay, so what do you think?