Wall decorating is an art in do it youself

Grouping and coordinating art and photos for wall decoration for major impact and effect takes time and effort. The rules of balance and scale apply to wall displays just as they do for furniture and accessories. Whether your style is Traditional, Tuscan, or Southwestern, successful displays make use of color, balance, and proportion. A large picture or work of art makes more impact if it is placed in a prominent spot by itself. Medium size or smaller art pieces used for wall decoration are more likely to be appreciated if they are grouped together on a wall rather than scattered throughout the room.

Test Your Grouping Before You Decide
Standard decorating practice states that it is much easier to arrange your photos or prints using templates before you make your final decision. Cut templates of all your photos and pictures from brown Kraft paper. Arrange them on a table or the floor until you have an arrangement that pleases you. Tape them to the wall with removable tape. Live with this a few days and decide if you would like to make any changes before you go forward with your wall decoration plans.

Carefully Choose the Correct Height
When considering wall decoration, location makes a big difference. Don't hang pictures for your height only. Consider the proportions of the wall as well as the surrounding furniture. A general guideline is to hang pictures 6 to 8 inches above the furniture. If the picture is hung too high, it will seem to be disconnected from everything around it. If too low, it will interfere with the use of the furniture and will not be viewed properly.

As with anything else in home decorating, rules are made to be broken, so if you are not happy with a particular location don't be afraid to go against this idea. Sometimes, pictures are meant to be viewed from a seated position. Be sure and check this out with your templates before you make a final decision. At other times, a huge piece of art may look better closer to the ceiling, away from the mantel or sofa. Only you can be the judge of the preferred location for any piece of art.

Wall Art Does Not Have to Be Square
Don't lock yourself into the idea that all pictures must be hung in straight rows. Let the shape of the area guide your wall decoration arrangement. If there is a dormer in the shape of a triangle, or if you have a cathedral ceiling, arrange your templates to fit into that space. All the outside edges do not have to line up in a straight line. If it helps, cut out a large template of a triangle, of the shape of the area you want to decorate. It may be a circle or perhaps a long rectangle. Then arrange your photo templates on this larger template. This will help you visualize your finished arrangement before you hang items on the wall.

Unify Your Arrangement with Color
If you have a mix of photos or pictures you like but they don't have a common theme, unify them into a group by using matching mats or frames. On the other hand, if the photos do have a common thread, it won't matter if the frames don't match. In fact, having some conflict in the grouping will add interest to the arrangement.

Check the Proportions
When working on wall decoration, you will be able to tell immediately if the framed piece you want to use is out of proportion to the wall space. A piece that is too small will immediately look lost and isolated. A good rule of thumb to remember is that the piece should be about two-thirds the size of the piece of furniture over which it hangs. If you find a photo or picture it too small, group it with other pictures to fill in the wallspace.

Look at the Balance
If you have arrangements with various sizes of photos, make sure you keep the heavier pieces on the bottom. A large picture at the bottom anchors the grouping and keeps it from looking top heavy. If you have a large picture you enjoy over the sofa, but somehow it is not quite wide enough, balance it out with two smaller pictures on either side. Remember, the bottoms do not have to be lined up, and they do not have to be lined up exactly across the middle. Play with your templates until you see an arrangement that makes you feel happy and satisfied. As I say numerous times throughout this site, the only person you have to please is youself. This is your home and environment and the only people you should be concerned about are you and the people you share the home with.

So there you have it, a few tips and suggestions to get you started in the right direction. Once you start really looking at your wall space as a display area, you will be amazed at the ideas that start to pop up in your creative mind (Yes, you are creative! We are all born creative and don't let anyone tell you any different!)