My gallery wall is making me nutty! Yes, it's true. I have posted about my adventures in gallery wall assembly previously. But there's more. So here is the before once more. I had been gathering frames until I had enough for a good collection. I liked the original tones of the golds and silvers but thought that it might look even better if the frames were all painted the same color. (Mistake number one.)
Here I had everything laid out in my high tech workshop. I do all my painting on top of plastic tablecloths. (This one had a lovely rooster motif--so sophisticated!)
Here they are primed and ready for the paint. (Odd photo. Not sure why I thought it would be an interesting blog picture...)
I had decided on a bright cheery color since I wanted to try something that was different from my usual muted tones. I really like the idea of pink. The shade, unfortunately looked much better in the photo than in real life. In reality the color was just too weird. I tried another shade of pink but still wasn't loving it. In fact, I didn't even like it.
So then I took it from bad to worse. Those paint colors looked great on other things in my house but ended up looking slightly hideous when combined on the wall together.
So here it is at the moment. I found another gold mirror that should probably be aged a little to tone down the shiny gold. I removed some of the frames to give the arrangement a different look. I brought in the silver. It's better but it's just okay. Not good, not great and especially not fantastic. (I want it to be incredibly awesome but I'll settle for just "me not wanting to tear it off the wall.")So my reason for posting this unfinished wall is to shamelessly ask for ideas. (I'm having decorator's block.) So be a champ and help a girl out. Please save a fellow blogger from having an embarrassing gallery wall. (Quick! I'm thinking about glazing next!)
Ooh, I'm considering doing one of these on my living room wall, too. And I was thinking about painting them very similar colors. I may just leave them as is. Sorry, I know that doesn't help you.
ReplyDeleteI think I read somewhere that once you find a color on a swatch you like, go 1-2 shades lighter, because it looks much darker once it's on the wall. Have you tried adding some white into your pink paint to make it lighter and see how that goes? I definitely think you need to stick with one color because the frames are all so different. One color would unify them more. It's true that originally they were different colors, but they were all neutral colors, so it worked. My advice would be to pick a one color, and paint all of the frames that color. The second problem could be that there are a few frames that aren't painted (the mirrors), which also might make the collection look kind of haphazard to you. Have you tried removing those elements and just dealing with the painted frames? I'd try it to see if maybe you don't like the overall look better. Then you can either paint those frames also, or put them someplace else.
I have to add that I am very jealous of the top sunburst mirror. It looks gorgeous! If you say you got that at Goodwill, I will cry. ;)
Does that help at all? :)
Thanks for your ideas! Yes, It definitely needs some work. The top sunburst mirror I bought at Hobby Lobby. (Wait until they're half off.) The shiny mirror I did find at Goodwill. It still had it's Pier 1 store tag on.
ReplyDeleteI'm so amazed at all the great stuff you find at Goodwill, Marshalls, Hobby Lobby, etc.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! I added it to my reader and showed it to a couple of my other friends. I'm always looking forward to what you'll do next! :)
Maybe the wall color is problem, it's hard for beige to be awesome. I do like the last photo best :) Imho I think that the lighter in color the frames are the more ornate they should be. A simple frame would look best in a brighter color.
ReplyDelete