HomeStyle: Wall Collage

In my basement lives a large family room. Translation: tons of walls, where nailing up a framed family photo or two just isn't going to cut it. I don't know about you guys, but for me it's hard to fork over $millions$ for great large-scale wall decor...but it's also super hard for me to live in a big, empty-walled room.

My budget-friendly solution: Create a wall collage of many smaller but similar framed pieces => large scale for little cost. I had loads of different frames that were sitting in a battered Sharpie-labeled "dishes FRAMES" cardboard box on a dusty top shelf. Pulled 'em out, removed the glass, and spray-painted them white. I think I cleaned the glass, too. *gold star*

I'm kind of in love with the minimal-realist artist named Charley Harper. Sadly, so are plenty of other people, which means the prints are a little out of my price range. Enter: free downloadable art like this website and google images. I found images I liked, sized them electronically, and printed them out.

After framing all the pieces, I played tetris on the floor with the frames until I found an arrangement I liked. Pounded some nails into the walls (I'm pretty cavalier about doing that...as my husband will tell you...but I figure, hey, they're easy to putty-and-paint over if I hate it. Worth the risk.) and hung them up. Bing-bam-boom.

Despite the funky lighting that these photos convey, I like the real-life end result. Here are the things that, to me, make a hodge-podge collage "work":

(1) All frames have a commonality. In this case, it's the color. The size, shape, width, matting, and layout are all different, which makes the overall space visually interesting but not distracting.

(2) Likewise, all artwork has a common theme. In this case, birds. You could do landscapes, buildings, faces, water, plants, inventions, etc. etc. etc.

(3) There is balance to the layout, with regard to the visual "weight" of each component. This helps it to look good both from far away and close up.

And, the best part about it: It's a great way to make a statement, by grouping many smaller (and, in this case, cheaper) things together to become one larger unit that's both interesting and delightful (at least to me).

Do you guys have any secrets for cheaper-but-still-awesome large-scale wall decor? I'd really love to hear. No, seriously. Tell me. Tell me now.

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