A Pop of Pretty

Wall Art Ideas + DIY Wall Art

Wall art ideas and DIY wall art tips and ideas. My favourite art with a focus on modern cottage and coastal lake house style.

How to Tame an Art Wall {Gallery Frames}

How to Tame an Art Wall {Gallery Frames}

If you know me, then you know things rarely stay the same for long around here!

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Like, for instance this gallery wall over our sectional sofa that I talked about a little while back. Here’s how it looked back then…

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Gallery wall with canvas

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I was happy enough with how the gallery wall turned out, but after living with it little awhile, I decided it was a little busier than I had planned. I think that’s because of the saturated colors (the reds and teals) AND the fussy lines in all of the pieces (i.e., the florals).  I felt like it needed to be tamed! Plus, I had really wanted to incorporate some family photographs to make it feel more personal.  I’ve experimented quite a bit with gallery wall groupings in our home, and photos are definitely the key to bringing a collection to life. (For some other gallery wall tips, click here.)

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So a couple of days ago, I decided to remove a few of the ‘fussier’ pieces (the basket, the mirrored botanical print, and the wine label art), and replace them with some simple modern gallery frames. I’ve always loved, loved, loved photos in gallery frames, but was reluctant to use them on this particular art wall because of the more traditional style of the painted canvases.

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Gallery wall with photos

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I was wrong!  I immediately loved the contrast between the clean lines of the gallery frame, and the more detailed canvases.   The simplicity of the gallery frame (with its white matting) helped bring some much needed ‘quietness’ to the collection.  READ MORE

St Patricks Day Decor: Fun New Printables {“Kiss Me. I’m Irish”, “My Heart is Irish”}

St Patricks Day Decor: Fun New Printables {“Kiss Me. I’m Irish”, “My Heart is Irish”}

St Patricks Day is in less than a month.  It’s a rockin’ holiday around here, given our island’s deep Irish history.  Last year at this time, I threw together a few of my favorite Irish sayings and Irish blessings, and created some free printables that could be used to decorate for St Patricks Day.  They proved to be popular, so I thought I’d add a new one (two different versions) to the mix.

 

St Patricks Day Kiss me I'm Irish printable 2013
To download, see below.

 

St Patricks Day Printable - my heart is Irish
To download, see below.

 

To download them, just right click on the high res files below and them save them to your computer and print them as you wish (for best results, 8×10 and smaller).  Then find a frame, pop it in, and shazam…instant St Patricks Day decor!

READ MORE HERE

Hey, Sectional. Meet your friend, the Gallery Wall.

Hey, Sectional. Meet your friend, the Gallery Wall.

A couple of posts ago (in Beauty & The Beast: Decorating with a Sectional Sofa  – 5 Fab Examples) I talked about how we recently put a big sectional in our TV room, and how it’s been a bit of a challenge to decorate around.

After searching for some inspiration on how to decorate with a sectional sofa,  I decided to create a gallery wall behind the sectional to help balance out it’s huge presence.

If you follow me here, you might know that I’m already a big fan of the eclectic and ‘collected’ style that a gallery wall gives a room. I’ve created small collections of wall art throughout our home, like in our foyer (yellow and gray Sunshine-Inspired gallery wall) and our basement stairway (Colorful, Alphabet-Inspired gallery wall).

The largest one I attempted was in our living room a couple of years ago, but after we re-painted the wall, I decided not to put the gallery wall back up. I’ve missed it ever since! (See: I Miss My Living Room Gallery Wall (The great debate: Simplicity vs Eclectic/Collected Decor?).

So I was excited about the idea of creating a similar wall in the TV Room.  I don’t talk about this room much around here, mainly because it’s,  ahem, “well-lived-in”, which essentially means it’s never fit for photographs, lol.

I can never seem to get a handle on it! It’s the magnet on our main floor for toys and crafts and craziness. The kids have a playroom / family room in the basement, but for whatever reason, this main floor room seems to be their favorite!  It’s small in square footage, but has high cathedral ceilings (16ft), which helps provide the illusion of more breathing room!

Here you can see how the kids use READ MORE

25 DIY Wall Art Ideas {While You Save for the Mona Lisa}

25 DIY Wall Art Ideas {While You Save for the Mona Lisa}

When I first did a round up of  10 DIY Wall Art Ideas last year, I was amazed at how many of you out there were as interested as I am in creating wall art yourself (without being an artist). Since then, I’ve completed more of my own  wall decor projects, and I also did a whole series on the topic of DIY Wall Art Ideas back in October 2012 as part of Nester’s annual “31 Days” party .  So if your Christmas and holiday decor is now put away, and you are staring at a few blank walls, you might be interested in this new round-up of more than 25 diy wall decor ideas, which draws on all of my related blog posts in 2012.

25 DIY Wall Art Ideas

Just click on the picture or the link to take you straight to the post for more details!

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE!