Wall Collages

There's always that one room in the house that gets neglected. All of your time, effort, and money go toward decorating the rest of the house, but that room remains cluttered, messy, and utterly devoid of any style. For me, "that room" is the bedroom. We've lived here for two years and, little by little, the house is starting to look like a home. I admit it's still got a long way to go until it meets my standards, but at least each room has some style.

Except the bedroom.

This is where the unopened mail, unsightly half-finished craft projects, and random things that just don't fit anywhere else, end up. Nothing matches, there are stacks of 'stuff' everywhere, and it's not a place I like to spend much time.

Today I decided my bedroom will be neglected no more. I've been working on it all day and one of my many projects is a picture collage above the dresser. If you think this sounds easy, you'd be wrong. I, being the perfectionist I am, analyze every little detail. I want to achieve minimal holes in the wall, so I can't afford mistakes. I've laid the frames out on the bed and rearranged them numerous times but I just can't decide what look I'm trying to achieve. Circular? Rectangular? Touching? Irregular? I thought I'd look on the www. for some tips and, of course, one thing led to another and before I knew it I was clicking here and there, finding all kinds of things, not necessarily related to my search. I didn't exactly find what I was looking for but I found some helpful tips and ideas for anyone else who might be searching.

This post, on Design Formula, explains how to measure and line everything up for a number of different looks, including stairways. I especially find stairways interesting because I'm always drawn to the beautiful stairwell pictures from Pottery Barn. Have you seen these? Pick up a Pottery Barn magazine. Gorgeous! There are also companies devoted to taking the sweat and tears out of a project like this. The Picture Wall Company, for instance, sells kits where all you do is hang the pre-configured poster on the wall, mark the locations for the nails, remove the poster and hang your pictures! I think I could handle that.

Not really what I'm looking for, but I saw this photo collage on My Notting Hill and thought it was a lovely little way of displaying some vintage photos with which you don't know what to do.

So, after all of that mindless searching I didn't exactly find what I was looking for, but I at least got other little ideas here and there that I'll store away until they're needed.

Aside from being a perfectionist, I'm also a little impatient. Let me just state the obvious and say the two don't mix well. I think I'm just gonna go for it and hang the pictures my way. I hope it turns out okay. Wish me luck?