Large Wall Art

The upstairs to our home is an open floor plan. We had the option of doing a closed floor plan, but I really love the openness of our open plan. I love that when I am in the kitchen I can see what Peachy is doing in the living room. I love the the sunlight from our mostly southern facing windows floods the entire upstairs with natural daylight. I love that when we have people over we don't feel closed in. However, there is one thing that I didn't think about when we chose the open floor plan. I didn't think about decorating. I guess I just figured that I would figure it out. In some ways I have. I have learned how to arrange our furniture without having walls to anchor it all. And a while ago I decided it was high time I tackle the large open wall in our living room. (By a while ago I mean around the time Peachy was born. Yes, she is almost 11 months old. I haven't shared this project with you yet because I really am not finished with it. Maybe I will finish it before her birthday. Maybe.)

I believe in decorating your house with real, live photographs. I love being able to see my family and friends as I go about my day. That is just the way I am. So, when we ditched our living room shelves upon moving in, I didn't know where my photographs would go. Finally, I decided to incorporate them into the large wall piece I knew I needed in our living room.

I started with a mix-match of frames that I had collected throughout the last decade. I spray painted them a dark brown. (When you are spray painting, make sure to thoroughly cover the surrounding area. I inadvertently got spray paint onto the driveway. M was less than thrilled.)

Next I cut strips of gross grain ribbon, also dark brown. I then sewed loops in the top of the ribbon. (I am a fan of sewing things. I can sew. I have the machine set up. It is easy for me to sew. If you can't sew, I am sure that you could use a hot glue gun or something else to create your loops.)

After filling the frames, I played around with their arrangement on the ribbon. Once I had an arrangement that I liked, I got out my staple gun and attached the frames to the ribbon.

We mounted curtain rod brackets on the wall and after sliding the loops onto the rod, we hung the rod on the brackets. 

(Here is the part that I need to work on some more. The ribbon tends to pull funny with the weight of the frames. I want to make the ribbon strips again, but this time hang two tails from the ribbon loop. That way I will have an inverted V formation to hang the frames from which I am hoping will help them hang a little straighter. I'll be sure to let you know when I get that done!!)