This Beginner’s Guide To Creating A Picture Wall

So my picture wall is finally complete, and I’m happy with it.  Some things I love, some things I don’t, but it was a learning experience.

Here’s a list of things I learned along the way:

1.  Live with your layout…for awhile.

You may remember the awful picture of paper bags on my walls that I posted last week.  It seems silly, but it’s my #1 “must-do” piece of advice.  I lived with the paper cut-outs of my picture frames for almost a week, and continuously tweaked them until I got them just how I liked them.  I would literally walk by and just move one up an inch, and then twenty minutes later move the same one again down an inch, but I thought of them as a giant puzzle.  I knew eventually I would get the pieces just right.

2.  Don’t be afraid to mix frame sizes, shapes, and styles.

I say this for two reasons.  The first being I like the look of it.  But second, by mixing the frames together, this picture wall can easily grow with your family.  If all of the frames are the same, in a few months when you’d like to add more pictures, you may have trouble finding those frames again.  If you already have an eclectic mix, a different frame can easily fit in.

3.  Consider the architecture surrounding your wall.

This picture wall is along a staircase, and I liked the look of the pictures moving up along the steps.  I don’t think putting them in a straight line, or a box formation would have worked given the stairs.  Plus, this “mosaic” formation will again make expanding the picture wall and adding more frames much easier.

*A Little Something Extra*

You may also notice these pictures are not in traditional mats.  Most of these frames were grabbed out of my mother’s trash can, so I had to get creative with how I was going to show off the pictures.  You can find a full how-to on how to mount the pictures to both the fabric “mat” and cork tile in my latest piece in the Berlin Patch: How To Turn A Simple Frame Into A Showcase For Family Photos.

Enjoy,

Nikki, In Stitches

Added Later: The picture wall made the move with us! Take a peek at how it looks now!