Santa Ana Hts. PAC Information

Your Staircase

The places that you hang your art pieces and the technique you use for hanging it are often determined largely by the architecture you have inside your house. For instance, hang a long vertical grouping of picture frames on the wall going from the one floor up to the next at a small, winding staircase. A great thing for this area might be around six botanicals framed and hung up in sets of two, or maybe three black and white pictures hung vertically over one another in gorgeous black picture frames.

An Elegant Grouping

Grouping together six selections of art in matching frames is one of the most dramatic - and stylish - ways to display artwork. You do not have to spend a lot of money to get nice pictures; even the simplest flower prints or photos taken out of garden publications can be really elegant when you framework them correctly. You can even frame dried flowers or dried leaves. You may find some wonderful black or maybe natural wood picture frames that will look very nice when you hang them up in three rows of two frames for a vertical group, or a couple of rows of three to make a horizontal cluster.

Experimenting with Shapes and Sizes

Perhaps you have a big wall that you think is just perfect for a large, tall piece of art, but you only really have horizontal pieces. If you have got three pieces which are approximately the same dimensions and are all horizontal, simply line them up top to bottom on the wall, one above another, and leave approximately a three inch gap in between each frame. Even though these frames do not need to be just the same, it would look better if they were all the same finish at the minimum.

Art that Lives

This could be news to your ears, but in a designers eyes windows are "living art." And not only windows, but also French doors as well as sliding glass doors. Sometimes the French doors inside a room, a glass door, a row of big windows, or a single big picture window can be the main focus of a particular room. Due to this, it is essential to make sure that at least one large wall is left art-free to avoid the eye being overwhelmed with far too many places to focus on. When you accomplish this the room will also feel more peaceful. If you've got a room that has lots of windows and doorways, it would be a good idea to hang only one large piece of art or a grouping of frames on just one wall and keep the rest of the walls bare.

Using Your Windows as a Creative Art Form

As stated above, you should avoid hanging artwork directly next to a window, but most importantly this is the rule if you have a stained glass window. The artwork and your stained glass should not be fighting for attention.

Perspective

If you are hanging artwork (or a mirror) above a table or dresser that is positioned next to a bigger piece of furniture like an armoire, hang a piece of art which is almost the same height as the table or dresser. This will give balance to the entire composition and will prevent the smaller piece of furniture from looking too small next to the big one.

You just may be surprised when you try out these hints and realize how quickly they change your home.