Postcard Wall Art: How I Framed 8 Marimekko Postcards From Our Finland Trip
We went to Finland last year chasing the Northern Lights — and we actually saw them, which still feels like a small miracle. But the souvenir that ended up meaning the most didn’t come from that night at all. It came from a Marimekko shop, in the form of a 100-postcard book I almost just left sitting on the coffee table. Instead, it turned into the postcard wall art that now hangs in my kitchen, and it’s become one of my favorite small things in the whole apartment.
My style leans neutral and warm, so bold Marimekko prints aren’t naturally “me” — the first time I saw them in that shop, I actually thought they were a little too loud. But something about them grew on me fast. There’s a confidence to that much color and pattern, and I loved the idea of one unexpected, vibrant thing breaking up all my neutral tones. So I bought the postcard book, not entirely sure what I’d do with it.
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The Book I Almost Just Left on the Coffee Table
The book itself is called The Art of Marimekko Postcard Box, and I actually bought it thinking it would just live on the coffee table as a coffee-table book — the pink-and-navy cover looked so good lying flat, I figured that was the whole job. Then I opened it and realized every single one of the 100 postcards inside is a completely different design: animals, florals, abstract patterns, fruit prints, all in that unmistakable bold Marimekko style. That’s the moment the idea clicked — instead of keeping all 100 tucked inside a book, why not pull a few out and actually put them on the wall?
How Do You Turn Postcards Into Wall Art?
Pick a small curated set of postcards and mount them together in a multi-opening frame — that’s genuinely the whole project. I went through the full stack and pulled my favorites, mixing animal prints with florals and a couple of graphic patterns until I landed on a set of 8 that felt balanced together. That mixing-and-matching part took longer than the actual framing did, and it was honestly the most fun step.
What Frame Fits Postcards Without Cutting?
The IKEA FISKBO frame — its openings are sized for postcards, so nothing needs to be trimmed. That was the detail that made this project so easy: I dropped all 8 postcards straight in, no scissors, no cropping a design I loved to make it fit. If you’re starting from a postcard book or a set of travel postcards, look for a multi-opening frame built around that standard postcard size before you reach for anything else.
How Do You Keep Postcards in a Frame Without Tape Residue?
Make washi tape loops — pull off a strip, fold it back on itself sticky-side-out, and press it behind each postcard. Washi tape has just enough hold to keep a postcard in place, but it’s gentle enough that I could peel a design up and swap it for a different one while I was still testing combinations, with zero residue and zero damage to the postcards or the frame backing. I probably rearranged that layout four or five times before I landed on the final 8, and the washi loops made that completely painless.
Where It Lives Now
It hangs right by my coffee machine, which has turned into one of my favorite little corners of the apartment. It’s a small thing, but it brightens that whole spot every morning, and it’s such a specific, personal reminder of that trip — the cold, the Northern Lights, wandering into a Marimekko shop with no plan to buy anything. The rest of the 100 postcards are still in the book, which now does double duty living on the coffee table exactly like I originally pictured.
The Cost Breakdown
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Marimekko postcard book (100 postcards) | $25 |
| IKEA FISKBO frame | $7 |
| Total | $32 |
92 postcards left over, so there’s plenty of room to swap this display out for a different mix whenever I feel like it — or start a second frame somewhere else in the apartment.
My Honest Take on This Project
This is one of those projects that costs almost nothing and does more for a room than plenty of things that cost a lot more. It’s not really about the frame or the postcards on their own — it’s that every time I walk past it, I think about that trip. Memory pieces like this are what actually make a home feel like a home, more than anything you could buy new and blank off a shelf.
If you’ve got postcards, ticket stubs, or any small paper keepsakes from somewhere that mattered to you, this is about as low-effort and low-cost as personal wall art gets. Pick a small frame with the right-sized openings, pick your favorites, and use washi tape loops if you want the freedom to keep rearranging until it feels right.
