I’ve been trying to figure out what my next post would be for the past couple of days… my thoughts ranged from knives, to DIY carpet cleaner, to purses, to recipes, to pretty much everything in between. (Doesn’t that sound like a random assortment? I think the “knives” piece makes it sound a little sketchy to be honest, but one day you shall see a post on knives. And it’ll make sense. And then you won’t be worried about me ;).)
I decided that this post would be to show you a little art work from our family room, and how to create a look of your own like it. It all started with this lovely idea of a “photo wall.” A wall with assorted pictures in random frames, that all went together super cohesively. My thought was, “I’ve seen so many pictures of that, it can’t be THAT difficult. Throw a couple of frames together, make it look effortless…simple.” Well… about 6 weeks after the project begun, trips to like 8 different stores and approximately 39 holes made (mainly hidden behind the frames), it finally came to fruition!
These photos came from a trip that we took to Paris a few years ago. All of the photos but one were taken with my camera. TIP: If you buy a nice camera, it will actually 1. make you look like you know what you’re doing and 2. create good pictures just by hitting a button. 3. allow you to take 10x more pictures than you think, and therefore at least ONE is bound to turn out like what you were going for. (any actual photographers reading this are probably hearing nails on a chalkboard right now; my apologies.)
So anyway… these photos are taken from places like Versailles, Notre Dame (not where football is played, like the actual church of Notre Dame… where the HUMPBACK LIVES!), the Eiffel Tower, and just random places in between. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to visit such a place in my lifetime, as I never thought I’d even make it overseas. So it’s definitely a wall of celebration. However, I really believe that you kind find beauty in SO many places all around you. You don’t have to go to Paris to create a photo wall. Find your own beauty… in a sunset, a plant, an animal, a view, a light fixture, whatever!
The picture above was of a light fixture! Just at this random dinner one night… but I thought it was beautiful and zoomed in on it and it became one of the main focal points of the wall. (There are also other light fixtures, a bottle of wine, and a hallway featured in the wall).
I DIDN’T EVEN TAKE THIS PICTURE! I TOTALLY AM FAKING IT. It just goes to show, that if you throw in a few photos that you didn’t even take, you can still have a totally personalized wall.
This photo I did take but no one even knows what it is! It’s actually a view finder from the top of the Eiffel Tower…which sounds all fancy, but really, only we know where the photo was actually taken. I just found beauty somewhere and put it on the wall.
There’s another view of it so you can see that the vent is a lovely addition to the art work… but instead of leaving the wall blank, and making that the focal point, the photo wall and clock draw your eye in much more!
The trick with the frames was to get them to all have a cohesiveness in nature, but them to be different looking. Different sizes and shapes, set at different angles. The main theme was to go with an off-white color mixed with the antique silver look. The silver frame set is the one I invested in: http://www.westelm.com/products/gallery-frames-antique-silver-d479/?pkey=cpicture-frames%7C%7C&cm_src=picture-frames||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_–_- . The rest of the frames came from hobby lobby (50% off), Kohl’s (40% off), and Home Goods (always way cheaper). So the initial 4 set was purchased, and everything else was built around that. My advice? Maybe throw up some painters tape and line out the size of the frames you are purchasing until you make a hodgepodge mixture that makes sense to you and your eye. Or go the route of punching wholes into the wall until you get it juuuust right. Whichever. And keep the frames closer together than you think you should. Too much space and it starts to look weird.
So there you have it… how to create a memory wall of photos. Remember that you can make memories wherever you go and in whatever you do. Even if it’s just a light fixture you happen to like 😉
