Remember my client’s gray DR? It has an art wall now!

December 11, 2010 18 Comments

Not so long ago, I spoke with you about “art walls.” We started with WHAT to Hang, then moved on to how to FRAME it, and then how to HANG it.

Seems I got one of my clients all riled up.

There’s a gigantic blank wall in her cheerful gray dining room…

Gray dining room

…(remember this room? It’s painted Benjamin Moore’s AC-28 Smoke Embers, with a Thomas Paul Roman Shade)…

Thomas Paul fabric Roman Shade

…well, that big blank wall was starting to get on her nerves.

So she went on kind of an art bender. She gathered up every framed picture in her entire house AS WELL AS stacks of pretty cards a dear friend sent her over the years.

And then she called me to come make sense of it.

Postcards

It was a little overwhelming at first. But pretty quickly we decided to group the larger, already framed pictures in other parts of the house, and feature these postcards – which were not only pretty, but meaningful to my client – in the dining room.

Postcards

The postcards weren’t all the same shape or exactly the same size, but we determined that most of them would fit into an 8 x 8″ frame.

So we chose 16 cards with the idea that we would hang them in a grid: 4 up, 4 across.

8x8 picture frameChoosing was no small task. But we based the decisions on how well the cards worked together as well as how much we liked each one individually.

Then we ordered 16 square frames from a random online source. (Worked out fine.)

THEN – and this was the most expensive part of the project – we had an off-white mat cut for each postcard. I think it cost about $11 per mat. It was CRITICAL, though: the mats and the frames are the unifying element. Et voila:

Art wall hung in grid

There’s 1-1/4″ between each frame, in case you’re wondering.

We hung these while the client was at work, and later that evening I got a voicemail that said, “ANNIE! I just got home and I LOVE LOVE LOOOVVVEE lovelovelovelovelovelove the art wall!”

So I think she likes it  :)

Art hung in a grid

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s also the creator of the “bossy basic,” a one-time service that jump-starts the interior design process in your home.

Filed Under: Accent wall, Art, Before and after, Benjamin Moore, Client project, Dining room Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Creating the perfect art wall, part 4: That je ne sais quoi

November 30, 2010 8 Comments

This is the final installment in the “How to create the perfect art wall” series.

I believe my living room art wall will be my last obsessive personal project in 2010. Even though (spoiler alert) it might not even be finished by December 31.

Art wall in yellow living room

But to review. Recently, we talked about what to hang on an art wall. Framing. And different ways to hang the art – in a grid, randomly, etc.

Even armed with all of that information, though, there’s that je ne sais quoi that tells you whether an art wall is successful or not. And if it isn’t, you have to make adjustments.

I thought I’d cracked the code when my LR walls were white.

Living room art wall

But then we painted. So I re-hung the art, and all was right with the world. For a while.

THEN my lovely Mona Sofette (in Moss velvet) arrived from Mitchell Gold a few weeks ago. I love it!

Mitchell Gold's Mona sofette

But egads! The successful art wall was no longer successful! The heavy black frames on the largest pictures were too graphic. And dark. They didn’t look right with the soft gray-green of the sofette.

Art wall with blue sofa

Plus I was feeling that after living with this art wall for a few weeks, we needed more space between pictures on those zingy yellow walls.

I took the 3 biggest black-framed pieces down (I left the tiny one) and just for fun, I put up two other paintings on those hooks to see what was what.

Art wall in progress

Potential?

I didn’t have the different scales to play with anymore, which was too bad; these pictures are mostly the same size. But they’re what I had to work with if I didn’t want black frames.

Art on floor

Because there are now 2 pairs of similar pictures in this group (same artist, same frames), the pictures just wanted to be more symmetrical than I’d envisioned. I felt like I had no say in the matter.

Uncle Jimmy hanging art

Art wall in yellow living room

So, symmetry.

Dr. Albert BarnesColor-wise, I like how this looks – can you see the glimpse of the new sofa on the left? But art wall grouping-wise, it feels a little hokey. (Sorry, family. They were here for Thanksgiving, and they loved it. But on second thought, maybe they were just saying that. Now why would that be? Hmmmm…)

Have you been to the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia? Dr. Barnes was this kooky but brilliant collector who bought zillions of pieces from guys who weren’t so fashionable at the time. Relatively unknown artists such as Renoir, Matisse, Cezanne, Picasso…real losers.

Anyway, Dr. Barnes was SO kooky (and arrogant) that he hung the pictures in a very particular way, quasi-symmetrically, with various Pennsylvania Dutch hinges and things hung in between them.

Barnes Foundation gallery

And then he MANDATED through a variety of legal documents that have kept lawyers busy for decades that the art NEVER be moved or re-hung. EVER.

Therefore, packed with masterpieces though they are, the galleries are pretty strange. And tragically, my living room reminds me of them.

Without the Picassos, of course.

Big fat sigh.

Maybe Santa Claus will bring me one largeish, colorful, wood or silver-framed piece of art and I’ll be able to re-hang the whole darn wall in a looser fashion.

In the meantime, Gentle Readers, I hope this art wall series has armed you for battle against those yawning, blank walls in your house. If you follow those suggestions – and then trust your gut – it will look terrific.

Filed Under: Art, Art you can live with, bossy color's house, Living room Tagged With: , , ,

How to create the perfect art wall: 3. How’s it hanging?

November 13, 2010 7 Comments

So you’re surrounded by old favorite and newly-acquired pictures, all resting comfortably in their shiny new frames.

Now what?

There are about a zillion “right ways” to create an art grouping. But my saying, “Just fiddle around with the layout until it looks right ” is supremely unhelpful.

So I’ve tried to break it down.

HANG IN A GRID

I find grid hanging to be extremely effective when you have a series of pictures. It’s both authoritative and restful, and it brings an order to a room.

Art hung in a grid

From i on Design through Elle Decor

Just yesterday I was at a client’s house talking with her about an art wall. She has many (MANY) art postcards that are meaningful to her, so we may buy 20 square frames with white mats, frame the postcards, and hang them in a grid in her dining room.

Postcards to be framed

Postcards to be framed. And of course we'll be reupholstering that chaise.

HANG IN A SQUARE

When in doubt, try this. As you’re laying the art out on the floor or a bed, create a big imaginary square: line up the left edges of the art on the left side of the square and the right edges on the right side. Same with top and bottom. And then you can fill in the rest however you like.

It works! Especially if you have, say, 9 or more pieces to hang.

(A few weeks ago, there was a snippet in the Financial Times or Wall Street Journal about this…it was an interesting article.  And naturally I can’t find it now.)

Art hung in a square

Art hung in a square, through musings of a night owl

HANG IN A RANDOM ARRANGEMENT

This is the most difficult to describe, of course, because a grouping will look right or it won’t. I tend to (TEND TO) start with a piece in the center and add one picture at a time, alternating R and L, trying to balance the arrangement as I work.

This is how I did my own living room:

Laying out pictures for an art wall

Starting an art wall

Hanging an art wall

Hanging an art wall

Continuing the art wall

Finishing the art wall

Sorry – there’s quite a leap between the last two pictures. (I was anxious to finish!):

The 6th picture I hung was: the pastel over the Japanese guy

7th: oil painting in bottom left

8th: round wooden piece above it

Last: tiny colorful picture on the far right, which I think is critical to the whole grouping.

Here are a few rules of thumb for the random arrangement:

  • Use an odd number of pieces
  • Leave approximately the same number of inches between pieces – I tend to use from 2-1/2″ to 4″
  • Cheat by hanging hang everything against a boldly colored wall. It helps erase a multitude of hanging sins.
Art on blue wall

From sfgirlbybay

I hope this is helpful, Gentle Readers. Go forth, be bold, and remember that there’s always more than one right answer when you’re hanging art.

(By the way, Apartment Therapy has a very helpful article called, “How To: Hang Art in Groups (Like Kate Spade),”and this technical post from Artist, Emerging is excellent. As is this i on Design blog post, which provided many of the pictures for this series.)

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. Look for her advice about jewel tones in the November 2010 issue of Real Simple. Page 155. Not that we have it marked or anything.

Filed Under: Art, bossy color's house Tagged With: , , , ,

How to create the perfect art wall: 1. What to hang

November 8, 2010 12 Comments

“Art walls” have been on my mind for weeks.

Sort of a clunky term, but it’s descriptive. “Salon grouping” is more elegant, and I seem to remember the phrases, “masterpiece hanging” and “gallery hanging” from graduate school…but I could be making those up.

4 art walls

From Art4Friends

When I found myself suggesting that a Gentle Reader create an art wall in her apartment, I thought it was time to elaborate. Because, look. It’s hard to find big, grownup, affordable pieces of art that you love. And there are a lot of blank walls out there.

Hanging a group of smaller pictures can be a more realistic solution. (Not to mention more flexible and fun.)

Curved staircase art wall

i on Design through Elle Decor

ECLECTIC GROUPING

You must have something that’s meaningful to you. A postcard? Wine labels you collected on your honeymoon? Ticket stubs? A silly sketch? The list you used to carry around in your Filofax enumerating the qualities your perfect mate would have and then when you met him you gave him the list with a checkmark next to each thing?

Maybe you don’t have that last one.

Eclectic art wall

Domino Magazine (RIP) through All the Best

But the point is this: if you want an eclectic grouping, start with something you love. Then mix it in with art you buy online, other personal things, and even an object or two.

If the thing you love is tiny, put it against a mat in a larger frame. Framing larger is safer. Effective art walls mix sizes and scale, but for the novice, it’s safest to say that no piece should be smaller than 8 x 10″ (although you could throw in single 5 x 7″. )

Art wall over dresser

From House Obsession

ART GROUPING

If, after all the time we’ve spent together, you tell me you don’t know where to buy art, I will weep.

Huge art wall

From Roseland Greene

Thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can appear interesting and tasteful without changing out of your pjs.

You’ve heard me expound the virtues of Etsy

Yee Haw on Etsy

"Pumpkin letterpress print," by Yee Haw, Etsy

and 20×200.

Amy Jean Porter, 20x200

"Rose-breasted Grosbeak," by Amy Jean Porter, 20x200

Add to that list the New York Public Library and the Smithsonian Institution for prints of all sizes.

New York Public Library digital print collection

San Francisco (1851). NYPL Print Collection.

SIMILAR THINGS GROUPING

Maps. New Yorker cartoons (consider xeroxing them larger than the originals). English bird or botanical prints. Black and white engravings.

Black and white art wall, Elle Decor

Elle Decor

Even pieces of wallpaper. I’ve mentioned this post before, but Gait Interiors blog has a lovely tutorial on using wallpaper as art.

Framed wallpaper art wall

From Gait Interiors

Start gathering, Gentle Readers! Next time, I’ll tell you how to frame it.

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is a recovering art historian. She is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. specializing in paint colors, space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Filed Under: Accent wall, Accessories, Art, Art you can live with, Artist, Living room Tagged With: , , ,