Saturday, January 30, 2010

Foyer fun....

I know this may take some of you by surprise, but we do not have much hanging on our walls in our home.  I am sure some of you may think that this tidbit is a bit unexpected.  2009 was a big year for paint in our home.  The whole first floor was painted between the months of March and November.  I did most of the painting in the early part of the year, and then, I developed some issues with nerves in my right arm (I am right handed) so we had to hire out for the rest of it.  Anyhoo, I developed a bit of a fear with hanging things back on the wall since all the walls were perfectly painted.  Basically, I was fearful of disturbing the paint job (I know this sounds crazy), but it is what it is. 

At any rate, I have decided that 2010 is the year to start showcasing our art and photographs.  The first place I started is in our foyer.  Our house is very open so we do not have a lot of wall space in our foyer.  The blank wall below is the "showcase" wall, and it is the first thing visitors see when they arrive. 
As I mentioned above, I have a bit of a fear of hanging items on the walls at this point. Therefore, I needed to develop a tool that would aid my confidence. I decided that before placing any nails in the wall, I would trace the size of my framed art onto paper. I then used these paper cut-outs to determine the positioning of the art by moving the paper pieces around on the wall (adhering the paper with tape once I thought I was in the right spots). The display I settled on is pictured below.
From here, I measured the positioning of the hanging wire and hardware on the art frames.  I can not recall what each photo needed.  From memory, the first photo had the metal teeth hanger on the top, and the second piece needed the picture hanger to be placed 3.5 inches down from the top of the frame.  Therefore, I found the center, measured down about 3.25 inches since the hanger thing was about 1/4 inch and then nailed the hanger into the wall.
Viola!  I am very happy I got over my fear.  The top picture is a wedding shower gift from some dear friends.  The bottom pic is a drawing we had an artist do for us of our home (you might recognize it from the blog too).  Below is the exact view visitors get from our doorstep (I am working on figuring out what to place over the fireplace... I am thinking a mirror, but that is the "easy" way out).

As the year progresses, I will continue to share with you how I accessorize with wall decor around our home.

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