NEW HOME UPDATE: Adding Some Jewelry To My Rooms!

 

Artwork and lighting are like the jewelry in a room and since my new home had absolutely NO jewelry except for a few lights we decided to hang a few pictures.

I have a theory about walls and artwork…….

“If you want someone to stop and look at the wall and what is on it, then hang something there, but if you just want them to walk by, don’t put anything on the wall!”

Over the thirty some odd years of consulting with clients I found so many would have pictures on a little slice of wall that had no meaning to the whole context of the room or the home. 

Many homeowners feel compelled to have something on every wall in their house. 

The results can give you a scattered look, and make the home feel busy, and disconnected. I know none of us are trying to achieve that look for our homes.

In our new home I have a few focal walls, these are walls that your eye will naturally go to even without something being hung on them.

Design tip: When hanging art start with your main focal points in each room.

This is where I start with hanging my artwork. The very first area is our entry hall the place that I will greet my family and guest…..

“Your entry introduces your

guest to what they are about

to see, feel, and experience in your home!”

My theory on entrances to homes……..

“You are about to enter the place we love, and call home, as you enter I hope you know your are welcomed here. We hope we have made you just a bit curious about how the rest of our home will look by our choices in colors, wall treatments, and the other elements we chose to greet you.  We love beautiful things, but nothing is too precious in our home that it will ever be more important than YOU.  We hope your feel at peace, and relaxed while you visit here.”

Our entrance hall is a small area. You will notice that the front door will swing into the wall on the right of the table so that area had to stay open. 

There are a couple of things that I would like you to notice. I left the area on the left of the table open instead of pushing the table closer to the wall that divides the rest of the hallway that opens up into the kitchen.

This is called giving it some visual air space. When you do that it can make the area look just a wee bit larger. 

If I had pushed the table further to the left, it would have looked crammed, making the person viewing it, think. “ Oh she barely had enough room for that table! This is a really small entry!” Not the thought process I want to take place.

I have a few options of tables that could have worked in this space, however I chose the mirrored table for it’s reflective qualities, also creating a bit more visual space. 

The other reason is I wanted to reflect more light. Even though we have a window in the door, (still so happy about that one!) the entry appears darker than I like. I love light and lots of it!!

So what should we hang over this mirrored table? A mirror? That would give more light reflection, but with the glass in the door, and the mirrored table I felt we had enough reflective surface. 

I wanted something  that was happy, something that introduced a little color. I had the perfect piece. It was large so it would fill in the area nicely, it has a portrait light which will add more light to the area.

We tried it and it worked beautifully. It is an original oil painted by artist Dorothy Spangler. 

It was a gift from a very dear friend, so when I look at it, I smile for two reasons, one because of HER and the other because of the subject matter. One of my other favorite things in life, FLOWERS!!

Ideally the table could be about  4in. longer on each side, but for now this is working out just fine! Isn’t she a cheerful greeting?

In the future I will probably be getting a runner, or a rug. Nothing has spoken to me yet so I will wait until I find the perfect rug for there. I also have some really great plans for the walls and the ceiling, but that will have to wait for later.

I am not sure you can see it or not, but I have the little tiny LED lights in the plant, more sparkle, more reflection = more visual space!!

As you walk down my entry hall it opens up into the kitchen/great room, and to your left is a big wall.

I have plans for a, “someday piece of artwork,” for this wall, but until then I have a really nice piece to use there.

This piece was chosen for two reasons. It can be seen from the entry piece, and it introduces some of the same color found in the floral as well as it introduces the color scheme  that is in the great room.

I purchased this vintage sailboat blue print and had it professionally framed with a very simple white frame. 

The print is bordered by a thin black mat, and then a white mat. Simple, just how I like it. 

I love the way the buffalo check fabric ties in with the blue print. 

The print itself is fairly large, however I visualize a huge colorful art piece, eventually. I will be on the hunt until I find the perfect piece that speaks to me.

Once I get that print I also visualize a long bench upholstered in cobalt fabric with Lucite legs so it will have a see-through quality, and not visually take up too much space.

Something like this….

I can just see a huge piece of art with this on that wall. This wall is actually straight across from my kitchen counter…..

So when I look for another piece of art I will keep in mind the scale for the large wall, and also a good combination of colors for our home, and most importantly the subject matter that speaks to me. Art should speak to you, draw you in.

As you walk forward you enter into our great room……

As you can see two of the walls are all window, but the wall to your left is the focal point of the room and that houses our TV and fireplace.

I have some big plans for this wall in our future and I wrote about it HERE, if you would like to read about my plans. However for now we have to put something up above the fireplace.

We found that nothing but a mirror would work behind the antique black clock and a mirror would be a bit redundant with the TV because of its shape and refective quality, like the screen of the TV.

The clock was moved to a better spot, and we hung an oil painting of the ocean, and sail boats. Again it looks a bit small for the wall, but once we do the molding treatment on this wall it will be the perfect size flanked by sconces!

When sitting in this room this piece takes me away to my favorite place, the ocean. It makes me feel peaceful and at home.

We have quite a few more pieces, but as I have been with these, I will be strategic in where I hang them I will take you all on for the ride in my new home and in my thought processes!!! I am a teacher at heart!

 
I hope you,"enjoy the process," of following along with our journey in our new home, and come back as we continue to make it our HOME!!