Crafting Your Own Wall Gallery - Part 2 - Pick A Theme, Any Theme
Question: What should I put on display in my wall gallery?
Not-so-great answer: Anything you want, it’s totally up to you.
Better answer: Although it is totally up to you, we do have a few ideas that might help get the creativity flowing...
Family-First
Everyone loves looking at pictures of people—it’s a proven fact! Especially, pictures of people they know. And babies. With friends and family stopping by for the holidays, why not cater to your audience.
(Source: Healthy Home Paints)
Warning: Family members who are not included in the display wall—for whatever reason—will notice, so don't be surprised if they say something. I know my family members always count to see who makes the most appearances and then boast about it.
Extra Warning: Family members are also likely to take note of the order and size and position of their picture relative to others.
Color-Coordinated
Tie an eclectic group of images or art pieces together using subtle color cues. The result: a wall display that's easy of the eyes as a complete unit, while also inviting a closer look.
(Source: Dishfunctional Designs)
And yes, for these purposes, we're counting black & white as a color. Or fine, call it a motif if you must.
Tell a Story
Think of it as a slideshow people get to take in all at once. Don't include every picture from your latest beach trip, just hit the major plot points. Then fill in the rest when someone asks.
The Kitchen Sink
You know that thing we just said about only hitting the major points? Forget it. Why should you decide between Halloween 96’ and Picasso and the famous hand turkey your little one brought home last week. Put it all up. Deck the walls. Heck, mix and match framing materials as well.
And if anyone has the nerve to ask you what the common theme is, you tell 'em, things that make me smile.
Happy bonus: Changeable frames (like ours) are the wall display equivalent of the gift that keeps on giving. Swap out the sink and throw in an oven when the mood strikes.
Up next, Morgan will discuss what we mean when we say: ‘On a scale of A to Wexel’...
Crafting Your Own Wall Gallery - Part 1 - Deck The Walls
Join along in our four-part series discussing what to do with all that extra wall space you have just standing around. In it, we’ll go over everything from conjuring the inspiration to practical advice for installing a wall gallery in your home. But first, let’s answer the ever-looming question of why now...
Although there’s never really a bad time of year for an art project, you might feel a little more motivated when you know your hard work will immediately be noticed. With the holidays right around the corner, 'tis the season for opening up your home and putting your creativity on full display. Give yourself a new reason to get excited about hosting the same old annual open house.
“Wow, who designed this?” you can imagine friends and family saying. “Oh that, that’s just something I threw together one afternoon,” you can reply, grinning, sparing them the details about how it all came to be. But that’s why we’re here. We know these type of things don’t design and hang themselves. So let’s talk about everything that goes into a project like this...
The Brainstorming Phase
(Source: Minted.com/Moss Cottage)
This has to be one of the most thrilling parts—to us anyway—because brainstorming is the part of the process where anything's possible. Unleash your repressed inner decorator or free your artistic spirit animal or draw upon whatever fantastic combination of the two works best for you.
Try not to limit yourself by only looking at wall spaces commonly reserved for hanging art. Sure, over the mantle is fair game but so is everywhere else. That includes the powder room, the kitchen, even along the floor boards. Go nuts.
(Source: Poppytalk)
One thing we recommend is going outside your home and pretending you’re walking in for the first time. Admittedly, this can be difficult, but come on, give it an honest-to-goodness shot. In each new room you enter, ask yourself, does it feel like something’s missing?
Another fun idea you can try is imagining you’re on Project Runway for interior design (which apparently does exist and is called ‘Top Design’). Okay, so you’re a contestant on Top Design and the host says, “Today’s challenge is Wall Space. Make the most of this home’s boring walls. You have one hour.”
The Planning Stage
So if I was a contestant on Top Design, what would I do … I’d start by thinking up creative ways to incorporate and accentuate existing features of the house. Look, I’d tell myself, this staircase isn’t going anywhere and the hallway isn’t getting any shorter, so what can I do to liven up the spaces we take for granted.
How does traffic flow? In what areas to people tend to congregate? Existing decor aside, where are my eyes naturally drawn? A lot of these things happen on a subconscious level each time we enter a space, but by bringing them to the surface you just might have the eureka moment you’ve been waiting for. This, now this is the perfect spot.
(Source: Rue Mag)
Great, now that you know where you want your wall gallery to go, we need to figure out what exactly to hang...