Need help with decorating

coasterqueen wrote: I used to have wood shelves up on my walls in my great room on the left side of the tv. On the right side I just had one large frame with 3 pictures in it. I have never really liked those shelves so I thought I'd take them down this past weekend and make photo collages instead. Well....it's not looking how I thought it would look, or something. I'm so darn picky it drives me and my husband literally insane

Do you have any suggestions, how does it HONESTLY look to you? I only did the left side right now until I decide what to do. Obviously I have more room on the left side than I do the right to do a collage, so it won't be "even" on both sides when I'm done. Please disregard the disaster I call my great room.

ETA: The two small pictures in the lower left hand corner of the collage - I moved those down just a bit after I took the picture.

Our Lil' Family replied: IMO, that wall is too big for what you are trying to do. I think 4 tall skinny prints would look good spaced out evenly, higher than the tv on that wall. It will also help make your ceilings look even taller. I'll search for examples and post a link.

Our Lil' Family replied: Something like this.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.as...880604&RN=2202&

mom21kid2dogs replied: I think you could either have the collage re framed in a single larger frame (mats and bigger/consistent sized frames hung as a collage would help also would work also). I saw a cool idea in a scrapping mag a long time ago where a person took a large,ornate curtain rod and attached several 12X12 scrapped frames she did. She hung them on varying lengths on the rod with ribbon and hung them in an expansive stairwell. It was very cool. I think I may have the picture of it somewhere. It's on my "if I ever have time I'm gonna do this" list.

coasterqueen replied: Thanks ladies. It does look really odd. My problem is when I brought the piano into the great room I had to get rid of my sofa table which had all my photos on it. Now I have literally no where to put them. Originally we thought about getting two large ladder shelves that lean against the wall on each side of the tv center and put all the frames on there. Well, I thought this way would be cheaper, but isn't looking right. Plus if we did the ladder shelves we'd have to move the computer back to the other corner that you cannot see, which is a fine place to put it since I don't have my grandfather clock there anymore, but it's not ideal. I can get rid of the tree, that's not a problem.

I just have to find somewhere to put all my photos and don't really have anywhere else in the house to do it.

Our Lil' Family replied: Ahhh, I can relate! This is why I haven't bought a new entertainment center yet. I want one that I can use for all my framed photos, like I have now. I have two shelves on one of my walls that has photos on them, which is what I'm picturing you having before. What didn't you like about that?

ETA: I don't know how long that wall on the left is but if it's not too long those photos, or shelves with photos would look good there.

luvbug00 replied: i say space them out some more and make them more random in size and shape. I'm usually rather symmetrical but in this case i think a little randomness would look cool.

coasterqueen replied:
Well, I'm not sure why I don't like the shelves. I guess for one they don't hold a lot of pictures and I have all those I showed you in the collage plus about 15 more. Second I guess i was just looking to have something black on there. We recently got new end tables to match the tv console and they are black. So the only furniture that is not black is the computer deck and piano. They are staying the brown wood color. I dunno, I always thought the shelves looked weird, but I bought them from Pottery Barn and spent way too much money on them so I kept them. Do they look good on the wall to you?

Here are a few pics I had with the shelves on wall. I don't have a clear picture of the whole wall, but these will give you an idea of what it looked like before.

coasterqueen replied: #2

Our Lil' Family replied: It's going to be hard with a wall that big. I'm a very symmetrical person so I think it needs balance so whatever you do on one side should be mimicked on the other side, IMO.
I think I see 3 shelves, right? I say paint them black! They would look great! See if you can find a 4th that would match...doesn't matter the color, paint it black also. Then you could do two on each side (staggered) and then add something else (not a picture) that could hang there as well.
Also I think the pics you have hanging now would look better if they were reframed. I know that costs $$ but I think a collage wall like that needs to have frames with mattings, maybe not all but I think you need bigger frames.

So you could do 2 things:
1) Use 3 shelves you have now, paint them black, move them to left wall. Do something totally different on large wall, no photos.
2) Do collage wall on left wall; look for 4th shelf, paint all black and do that on both sides of tv with something in the middle.

Make sense?

coasterqueen replied: Yep, makes sense but sounds expensive, lol. I'm trying to do that "decorating cents" thing here. What about a ladder shelf on each side of the tv stand? This room has always been an issue for me. On the right wall, which you can't see is the fireplace in the middle of the wall. Then a window on each side and the deck patio doors on that wall as well. On the left wall you saw the two prints on there, then there are two large openings, one to go to the kitchen and one to go to foyer and to hallway to kids wing of the house. Then on the back wall opposite of the tv is the entrance to the mudroom and our room, basement, and garage. Also on that wall is the piano. Our couches are in the middle of the room because of the "walkway" to the patio. Hard to explain, but a lot going on, lol. We have 11ft ceilings so the room feels tall and large. We wanted tray ceiling because cathedral always felt too "hollow' to us. If I can just figure out that stupid wall. Now I wish I would have left it alone because I just ignored it. It looked a lot better when we had our old entertainment center on that wall as well - it looked more fuller. Then DH got the flat screen and that black tv stand and it's drove me crazy every since. lol. I just want a simple cheap fix or I'll probably just go back to what it was. Stupid me didn't keep the inserts to these photo frames so I can't take any of them back. So that's money down the drain.

Thanks for the help, too. I really appreciate it. If the shelfs won't work, maybe I'll see about doing the other suggestions. I'd put those shelves on the left wall, but I'm afraid one of the kids will run through that area and knock something off. One of the couches used to actually be on that wall so the room was more open, but you couldn't see the tv from that couch so we moved them out in the middle of the room.

grapfruit replied: I'll have to think more. But maybe if you add color and something w/the pictures? Like add some mirrors and stuff. Different picture frames in the same finish helps keep it cohesive. Like all silver frames but w/different designs. But if you add paint to the walls maybe that will not make it look better/different/pick your word Again I'll think some on it...

coasterqueen replied:
Thanks. Actually there is color on the walls. It's a taupe color. Guess it's not dark enough, though. ETA: I just looked at the pics again and the pics just can't show you the color of the walls because it looks like the ceiling and tray is same color as walls, but it's not. We just have LOTS of light in this room.

coasterqueen replied: Ok, I like the idea of having black shelves on each side of the tv - 2 or how many would you think? Then maybe putting two pictures of some sort of artwork above the tv.

bluebear replied: As someone with an artistic background and framing knowledge, the pictures are too close together. I wouldn't put all the pictures on the shelves because they can be knocked off, especially right near the computer. (First thing I noticed.) Try spreading the pictures apart all around the wall. Maybe put a shelf above the television and put a clock on it, or a military flag (something of an idea)
Hope to help!

Our Lil' Family replied:
At least 2...just depends on their size. You can also hang a photo on the wall just above the shelves...but not far above...that would still give you some shelf space. I've been wanting to do this with my shelves but just haven't.

Our Lil' Family replied: Ok, re: those ladders....while I like them, they look nice...unless you are trying to change your style to a more contemporary look, from what I can tell from your pics, nothing else in your house is contemp. KWIM? But the tv stand is kinda....so are you trying to go that direction?

coasterqueen replied:
I classify myself as one of those mix-matchers. Whatever I like, I just get and hope/pray it looks ok. I have no sense of style or artistic ability whatsoever to decorate anything.

jcc64 replied: The problem is that the collage is getting lost on the wall, as others have already pointed out. You need to either add more pictures, or mat and reframe the existing ones, which gets expensive. I think what's giving you trouble are two things: 1. your ceilings are high 2. your tv is fairly low to the ground. To make a collage work on a wall this size, you're going to need many more pictures, that I would continue over the television and down the other side. Either that, or scrap the picture idea altogether, and get some larger prints that can better eat up some of that wall space.
As far as the ladder idea goes, I think they are attractive but the stuff on the bottom will probably always be at risk of getting knocked down, especially with dogs and kids in the house, and to me, they wind up being another pita thing to dust.
Good luck, let us know how it works out.

kit_kats_mom replied: We have those types of shelves. I Just have large decorative boxes and board games on the bottom shelves. I've never had a problem with things getting knocked off. I'll try to dig up a picture.

We also have a giant wall that needed filling up. I used fabric and embordery hoops and made an abstract wall piece that was large and under $50.00

kit_kats_mom replied: Here is a picture of the "artwork" I made. I got 3 different textures of fabric in each color of our living room (cream, dark brown and apple green) then I just stuck it in the hoops and hung them up.

coasterqueen replied: Those are pretty Cary!!!

Thank you everyone for your help! Very much appreciated all of it. I think what we are going to try first is black shelves on each side of the tv center as that will be the cheapest way to go for the moment. Ryan would like to put a big clock above the tv center as we do not have our grandfather clock in the room anymore. I know I won't be able to put all my pictures up on those shelves, but I think I can do a collage somewhere else. I have a collage down the hall towards the girls room that I actually haven't updated, so maybe I'll put these pictures in there instead. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm also redecorating Kylie's room - she wants a horsey theme, and so expense-wise it's my main priority.