Hey hey! Happy Friday! I don't know about you, but the shorter weeks always feel the longest. I am so ready for the weekend! Long run, ocean water swim, kids' first soccer games and projects!
I think I've mentioned on the blog that once Ironman was behind me, and once I took a week or two of just enjoying doing nothing, I was ready to get back to my project list. I've put everything on hold basically all Summer so that I could focus on training, and now that I am done the race, it's time to get back to the projects!
One of those projects is to hang a gallery of frames and art in my home's massively tall, three floor high, stairwell in the center of the house. It is a lot of unused wall space and pretty cavernous. A total blank slate that definitely needed something. This is just one of the walls (and yeah, that's popcorn ceiling. it's really great #sigh):
So for this big wall, which is the tallest one, I knew I needed some large art for the wall. I am doing a gallery of frames on the wall adjacent to it, and I thought adding a bunch more frames on this wall would be a little too much. Not to mention ... I wasn't sure how I would be able to actually hang the frames on this really tall wall. So, I decided to buy four oversized square Ribba frames from IKEA and create my own simple, chic artwork.
I was inspired by the home of the blogger Monika Hibbs (formerly The Doctor's Closet). Her house is amazing and exactly what I want to do in my own home. It's like she opened up my brain and my Pinterest boards and was able to do in her house exactly what I love and want. Amazing. Ahhh-maz-ing. I fell in love with, well, everything, but in particular in this case with the simple abstract shape art prints and the tone on tone striped painting over her fireplace.
First, the prints. My frames were silver, but I liked the silver and gold mix, so I decided to replicate those shapes using gold paint. It was very simple. I bought two pieces of heavyweight poster paper from Target ($.49 each) and cut them in half. Then I lightly sketched the shapes in pencil and brushed on the gold paint. And ... done!
I had to hang them, which was daunting for several reasons: (1) it's one really tall wall and I don't like heights and (2) hanging Ribba frames (because they are hung by a cable in the back) is a pain in the neck. I found this incredibly clever suggestion on the View Along the Way blog -- I used a paint stirrer and screw to do it! You've got to click over to see the ingenious idea. I am sold! In any event, hanging them wasn't bad at all. Only the top right print was scary but I managed to do it. Here they are in place on the wall with my apologies for the poor lighting.
I will eventually replace them with actual art, but for now, I'm really happy with how they look!
I had another canvas to do - one that will hang on one of the stairwell gallery walls. I wanted to keep the canvas very soft, so I drew my inspiration from the same photo above. This was super simple and Little helped. We taped off a canvas with painters tape in two inch segments.
Then we used a champagne metallic paint on the white spaces. We brushed it on and before it dried, we pulled up the painters tape. Then I used the same metallic paint and added a bunch of white to it, and we brushed that on the stripes that had been covered with the painters tape. We also brushed over some of the painted stripes, just to soften the look. Here's the finished product:
I'll be sure to add a picture of the canvas among its friends on the wall soon. Just like the prints above, this isn't a forever piece - it's a temporary solution that will blend in nicely with the rest of the photos and art. Stay tuned for more progress on the stairwell walls!
Have a great weekend, all.
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