apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Putting stuff on the walls is scary! It's something I've been putting off til yesterday, when I finally got my screenprinted posters in the mail. Put one into a giant RIBBA frame and hung it over my bed, and there's an instant change to the whole feel of the bedroom. The one thing that's annoying is that the matte that came with the frame doesn't totally fit the dimensions of my poster. IKEA has strange proportions when it comes to frames.

I've never been one to be paralyzed by hanging art. I just pick a spot and nail away. Initially in a new apartment, I'm a little puzzled--but nails don't leave such a large hole that a mistake is the end of the world! Hang away!

A few minutes ago the EBay advertisement was showing us a Thomas Kinkaide (sp?) print as I was scrolling down looking for the January Jumpstart winners. I don't want to see any Thomas Kinkaide (sp?) prints or Geddes babies in flowerpots or Leroy Nieman sports prints while I am scrolling through my favorite Apartment Therapy sites. How did this happen? It ruined my afternoon.

I just posted a bunch of great pictures of wall collages on my blog about a week ago... please get inspired at:

www.designformula.blogspot.com

My 79 year old mentor Emily recently needed to sell her home and move into an assisted living residence. Last weekend, I rented a car and drove down from NYC to Pennsylvania to help her unpack and get her beloved and extensive art collection on the walls and displayed around her new home. She has a great eye and we hung many eclectic prints, painting as photos on large blank walls.

The move has been very emotional for her, but by the end of the weekend, her little apartment was transformed from a white box to her own space.

I use the system at arts-supplies.net. Works terrifically!

for cool vintage-looking prints, you can order maps/botanicals, etc. from the New York Public Library. You can do it all online. I have a vintage map of Brooklyn on my wall. And the money goes to support the library...
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm

I would also say, don't rush it. You want things to evolve.

If you're so right, that 'I just threw a few things up' is doubtlessly carefully planned. For experimenting with painting layouts I take a digital photo of each one. The camera is on a tripod and each painting hangs on the same nail so all the photos are at the same scale. I scale tham all down so they will fit on the screen together. If you have photoshop put each painting in a new layer. Then move the around to your hearts content, like jigsaw puzzle pieces.

I do the old craft paper thing - old idea but it's always worked for me. Lay your pictures out on the floor on top of craft paper and move around until you find the configuration you want. Then trace the outline of the frames on the paper and place a dot for the nail(s) in the appropriate spot. Attach the paper to the wall with painter's tape at the correct (eye) level for the piece that is your feature. Nail through the paper, hang and rip away when your done. It's much easier than measuring.

greta-

I also draft all my pictures on a piece of paper; except I'm an architect, so I draw it in autocad and plot on the large plotter at work ;)