Monday, June 07, 2010

I've been framed

I have a system of tearing out pages of magazines that have ideas that I like. I usually file them away in a three ring binder, but every once in a while something strikes my fancy so strongly that it needs more attention.

In this case, the article below (which I culled from an issue of Real Simple a few months ago), about turning a corner into a cozy space with the use of a chair, a lamp a small table and some frames, was so spot-on with my needs and sensibilities that I actually taped the whole article to the wall in the corner where I wanted to create this montage. We already had a corner in our dining room (yes, our dining room) that had a great chair and lamp for reading, so a small gallery was the next logical step.

(it should be noted that the torn out article WAS in fairly good condition until Little G got his hands on it while I was frame shopping in IKEA)

Of course, one magazine article haphazardly stuck to the wall above a chair does not an art gallery make. I should point out that my husband was very patient and only hinted a few times during the course of the months that it was so prominently displayed that perhaps I either store the page in my three ring binder or do something about it.

So, do-something-about-it I did!

First, I gathered some pieces that we already had in our house and then I headed to IKEA to find some inexpensive, sturdy frames.

Once I had all my frames collected, I made paper templates the same size as the frames and arranged them on the walls around the chair.

The frames were all different colors as well, so I arranged them on the floor to confirm that my wall arrangement wouldn't bunch too many frames of the same color together.

Then I got to work attaching the frame hangers to all of the frames...darn you, IKEA and your do-it-yourself, cheap, sturdy frames!



Once I had the frame wire on, I measured how far it was from the center of the wire (when stretched) to the top of the frame.


This gave me the measurement of how far down the template on the wall I had to put a nail in the wall. Once I put the picture hanger (re: flimsy nail, since I was too lazy to walk to the hardware store down the street and pick those up for this project) in the wall at the designated place, I tore away the paper template and hung up the frame exactly where I had intended.

And then I just swooshed my hands in the air like a woodland nymph and all the rest of the frames jumped onto the wall.

Ok...so not really...it took some time to get all the frames measured and onto the wall, but once I was done, I was left with lovely scene above. And then all I had to do was put some pictures in the frames:


So there you go...I think the space looks much more inviting now (sorry for the lack of a before picture) and even further separates it as a reading nook. In the future, we hope to switch out the pictures with artwork from the kiddo...although that might be a while since all he currently knows to do with a crayon is try to eat it and then giggle incessantly when mommy tries to take it away.

Have you done any small work, big impact projects lately?

7 comments:

  1. Nice work, MZ! I wouldn't have thought to mix frame colors like that - it looks great!

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  2. Is your house always that crazy super neat? Very impressive for a Mom.

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  3. CjCrash - you are my new best friend. In all honesty, the dining room isn't where Little G plays or we hang out, so it is fairly clutter free. You can actually see the mess in the living room just beyond if you look hard enough...strewn laundry hampers, board books everywhere...

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  4. I love it! Actually I copied the last picture to put it in MY inspiration folder :-) I hope you are okay with it...???

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  5. Love it! And I love that I'm not the only one that has a "binder" I call it my "Million Dollar Binder." If I had a million dollars, I would do everything in the binder :)

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