See how lonely and sad this family picture looks, all by itself, above my couch? Now, this isn't a small print. It's a 20X30 inch Gallery wrap and I absolutely adore it. But even though it is a large print it just doesn't look right all by itself. There is way too much empty space!
Doesn't this grouping of pictures look a lot better? The space above the couch is nicely filled with plenty of room on the sides for reading tables and lamps or whatever you would choose to put there. FYI the smaller prints are 8X10 inch gallery wraps, but of course framed prints will work equally well.
My secret for hanging prints is to cut paper into the sizes that I think I might want and then carefully tape the paper on the wall, moving the "pictures" around until I get the arrangement that I am looking for. In the grouping above I didn't have any idea of the sizes I would need until I saw how the papers looked on the wall. Another added benefit to this method is that once you have everything exactly where you want you can hammer the nails into the wall through the paper and then just pull the paper away. It works a lot better than trying to hang by eye and you have a lot less nail holes in your wall. I do this EVERY time I am working on a new wall in my home.
Another tip for hanging pictures is that they should be hung so that the middle of the picture is at the eye level of an average sized women. In the case of a grouping I would place the main center picture at eye level or in the case where you have rows put the middle row at eye level or the middle of the entire formation at eye level. It is very common for people to hang artwork too high, especially in homes with tall ceilings. Hopefully these tips can help.
I love to have art on my walls and I consider portraits of my family to be the best kind of art. I stare at them every single day and they bring me great joy. With just a little time and planning you can have beautiful groupings of family art on your walls. Much better than a few pretty 4X6's shoved in a shoebox somewhere! Good luck and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Next question... Where do you get your gallery wrap prints done? And Mandie, where is the poppie field? I have been DYING to go see it, but have no idea where!
ReplyDeleteI get my gallery wraps done by a pro lab but I think Mpix will do them for you. I have tried them out in the past and liked their products. They are actually an off-shoot of one of the pro labs that I use. Places like Sams etc. may do them as well but I don't recommend places like that for wall art. You get what you pay for and it's worth it to pay more and have beautiful art on your walls that you can enjoy every day.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the poppy field, it blooms in the spring and is by the White's home. It is on their property but they are really nice about letting people come see it. I will try to remember to let you know next year when they are in bloom but any reminders would help a lot! It's beautiful but you would never know it was there until you go back from the road to see it.
Thanks Mandie! I am so in awe of you! :D
ReplyDeleteI like your tips about hanging paper sizes first before nailing it..etc. I do struggle with that and Varian and I will take turns holding things up and moving across the room but that's not very accurate. Our walls are so bare now but I hope to start getting some photos on the wall. Do you like the gallery wraps more than framed photos?
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily like them any better, they are just different. I think it's fun to try the different ways to showcase photographs that my labs keep coming up with. I just like to try different things. :)
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