best bets

Best Bet: Mike Miller’s Framed Silhouettes

A bold piece of art usually calls for big spending, but Mike Miller’s silhouette portraits from West Elm are a wallet-friendly way to freshen up bare walls. Silhouettes have a reputation for gathering dust in a closet at your great aunt’s house, but Miller, who runs an antique business when he’s not gluing collages, puts a punchy twist on the Victorian imagery. To make the originals, he snips figures out of old photographs (look closely: One of these silhouettes could be someone you know!) and then affixes them to a clean, simple background; the black frames add weight and polish.

Framed Silhouettes, $19-$79, at West Elm or online.

Best Bet: Mike Miller’s Framed Silhouettes