Wall Art: What’s Your Style ?
May 12, 2010
Have you ever felt the frustration of a blank wall staring at you and you’re at a loss how to decorate it ? Me to! Where oh where do you begin? I’m staring at the blank wall in our living room with the same dilemma.
I’ve shopped my house and pulled all sorts of different artwork, frames, and artifacts together. Now, I am in the process of displaying it all in a cohesive way. I’ve been gathering inspiration and carefully observing different styles. Meanwhile, I thought I’d pose these questions to all of you:
1) Do you prefer a wall display that is balanced
through symmetry and/or repetition ?
Style Court
Apartment Therapy
Kishani Perera
via Decorpad
Better Homes and Gardens
Southern Accents
Ballard Designs
Veranda
Southern Accents
Southern Living
2) Or does a salon style gallery wall appeal
to you ?
House Beautiful
Domino
Southern Accents
House Beautiful
Coastal Living
Steven Gambrel
DIY Ideas
Nate Berkus/Elle Decor
Pottery Barn
Charlotte Moss/House and Garden
Cottage Living
Better Homes and Gardens
Apartment Therapy
Pottery Barn
I’ve done symmetrical frame displays in my office and daughter’s room, but for my living room, I’m truly liking the appeal of a gallery or salon wall that looks collected over time.
And I do love this idea by Better Homes & Gardens to tape paper to the wall to test proportion and spacing before you start pounding holes !
Better Homes and Gardens
Have you made a statement with art on a wall in your home ? Do you prefer a symmetrical grid like display, or a more asymmetrical and whimsical salon style gallery ? Got a link to a fabulous wall art display? Do share, I could use more inspiration while I tackle this project !
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Tags: salon wall, wall art, wall gallery
You forgot another kind of wall art design — one, oversized piece that becomes a focal point. And that’s my favorite kind. :)
See??!??! This is EXACTLY my problem. I like them both. A lot.
Sigh.
There was a time when I would have said, “Give me symmetry or give me death!” but nowadays a more unstructured salon-type arrangement is much more my style. It’s much more forgiving and the rigidity of a symmetrical design just feels too formal. I am SO not formal! :)
I prefer the symmetrical look. The salon style makes me feel antsy, like too many things need to be adjusted {you know when one picture is off kilter and you just need to adjust it}.
Wow! I am in this very predictcament! lol So, you seem to be a frame lover like myself! I am going to be taking some of these fab ideas you posted and come up with a wall of my own! Thanks for the inspiratioon! ;)
I like symmetry. I’m slightly anal retentive about things being tidy that way. I shared this with you before, but here’s a link to my wall display that I recently did featuring “mock” canvas portraits:
http://crib-tales.blogspot.com/2010/03/thrifty-canvases.html
I’m facing the same problem with the living room, which is visible from the kitchen. Over the table in the kitchen we have a gallery style display of homemade postcards that my husband and I sent to each other when we were dating. So I feel like I need ONE big piece for the living room wall so that it’s not tons of tiny little things everywhere, right? My solution for 11 months: leave it blank. :(
Although I enjoy these styles and they are obviously well done, for me, I prefer one oversized and dramatic piece to all of the smaller collections. Maybe they are, in the end, just too busy for me. Fun that we don’t all go for the same look.
Pam
I like the gallery wall the best. I’m actually in the process of doing it myself. I’ve already traced my frames and cut the paper now I just need to starting sticking them to the wall. I’ve decided to do it in my entryway and master bedroom. To tie it all together I’m using the same off white color on the frames and I may add a plate or something round to mix it up. I’ll send the pics when it’s complete. Ok, now I’m even more motivated to get that little project complete!
~Beth
I like both. When I do arrangements on our walls, I always start out thinking I am going to take a gallery style approach. By the time I am done, it is more symmetrical.
I am working on arranging family photos up our stairway. I am shooting for a gallery look, but I am betting it will be symmetrical by the time I am done!
I do both. Even in the same room . . . Over my dresser I have pretty scrapbook paper laid out in rows, similar to your first picture. And across the room over my bed I have shadowboxes and shelves sort of zig-zagged. But I think overall I’m more of a symmetrical person. It’s my type A personality. ;-)
I love the look of both, although some can be overly done and really make you want to hurl because of how busy they get. It depends on the room and what it is you are displaying…I think, personally. I like the look of the gallery wall, best, and if it incorporates a mix of varying size picture frames and other items, such as a mirror, floating shelf, plate, etc.
Symmetry! Which is funny, because I would not consider myself a stickler for order, but for some reason I find the salon style too distracting to enjoy the actual art work itself.
My one rule about art is it needs to mean something to me. Either it a photo that I took (or someone I know), or art that I LOVE. Maybe it’s something I picked up on vacation or during a special occasion. I’ve never been disappointed if I follow that rule! I’m in love with the gallery walls, but in my house I tend to go with symmetry. I’m SWOONING over that last photo in the symmetry section from Southern Living.
:: SWOON SWOON SWOON! ::
I like the “salon style” — just have no idea how to get it started! My blank wall is crying for help, too.
The perfectionist in my likes symmetry but it depends on where i guess because I like the random look too!
Maybe I’m a little bit biased but i have to say canvas wall art :)
I have them both in different rooms. I think it depends on the room!
I made a collage wall in my bedroom that sits behind the door and above my chest of drawers in an alcove so it doesnt make me room feel over whelming when you first see it. It consists of all sorts of random stuff from ticket stubs to photographs of friends to things out of magazines so things that hold strong emotional value.
To see it visit my cutoutandkeep profile here :
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/collage-wall
Symmetrical, for sure – but that’s mostly because it’s easier than salon-style! I like the look of salon-style, but am so intimidated by choosing frames that go together but don’t match, and then figuring out how to space them so the display looks intentional and not messy. All that seems to require more patience than I have right now!
I kind of “stole” from you today…or at least, I referenced your post in my blog. While encouraging people to follow your blog. I haven’t published the post yet, but I just wanted to let you know that I like this post. SO much that I wanted to reference it on my blog. Props.
I have made only small statements, after viewing these I want to make giant statement art walls!!! So great!
Symmetry!! Oh, I love it when everything matches perfectly.
I’m a symmetrical kind of wall art lover, otherwise I feel like the room is leaning :P
I love both looks, a gallery style seems more like home to me. In my house I could not decide or make it work so I painted a extra-extra large oil on canvas and it turn out better than I thought it would.
I saw your sneak peek on twitter! One word….LOVE!
I actually like both types of walls but think symetry is the way to go for me because its easier;-) I’m working on one for my bedroom now. Found frames at Michaels for CHEAP! Woot Woot!
Have a great night doll!
I love both kinds too; symmetry seems easier to to do (assuming your frames all have similar hanging hardware in the back), but the salon style is gorgeous when it works.
I did the latter above my piano and was surprised how well it turned out.
I love the gallery wall idea and your treament is exceptionally nice. I don’t think we’ll have one though…my husband doesn’t really like to put holes in our plastered walls.
I’m like both but for my own home I went the symmetrical route. I like straight lines and edges. So that’s what I did for this huge bare wall near my front door. Ironically me and Hubs weren’t very methodical with our plan to hang them so don’t look too close at all the nail holes. :P 2 hours later my Hubs almost filed for divorce. HA HA. Right now I’m doing the fun part. Printing out pictures! Good luck with your gallery wall. :)
http://twitpic.com/1m7dvm
I used a bunch of different frames that I have collected through the years from thrift shops and antique stores and hung them randomly on the wall over our sofa. I united them my using crisp white matts and family photos in sephia tone. The outcome was DEEEEElightful :)
Symmetry is great – but too many repeating patterns are overkill for me :) I like the one off look – a large piece with a number of smaller pieces to one side of it that are aligned perfectly.
Also, beehive hangers work great if you’re hanging many pieces that absolutely have to be straight.
Juliane Evans
Symmetry for sure!! I get very antsy when things aren’t lined up. Otherwise I want to walk around and straighten everything…which I do constantly at my house. :)
I am probably boring but I am symmetry through and through. Whenever I see the gallery style I have an overwhelming urge to rearrange. It just looks messy to me.
I prefer symmetry, but in limited amounts. A wall that is covered in photos, artwork or framed objects feels suffocating to me. It needs to be balanced with some open space to keep it from being visually too busy.
I understand that but where does it take us?
What happens if you get scared half to death twice? :)
I don’t mind the salon style…but I like all the frames to have something in common-usually color, but could be just style in general…
To be perfectly honest… I really like the brown paper! I think I may actually just do that in my home. (Don’t judge me! haha)