Marked with a big black arrow, the wall in our dining room just wasn't working. The space was begging for more art. So this past weekend John and I decided to shake up the art treatment upon that wall. We love nothing more than spending a sleepy Saturday afternoon than by changing out art and moving furnishings hither and yon.
Gang:
How was your weekend?
And to clear the air, I made a major goof in my Winter Antiques Show post on Friday, and a Demystifying Design reader graciously corrected me. I mentioned that Billy Baldwin hailed from Hollywood, and I was totally mistaken. I mixed up Billy Baldwin with Billy Haines, who did start his illustrious design career as an actor in Hollywood. My bad. Thank you for calling me out on my mistake.
But back to the weekend…
John and I love nothing more than rearranging the furnishings at Chester Court, or maybe hanging new artwork or busting out the glue gun and embellishing a room with ribbon or sequins. And, happily, this past weekend we did all of the above.
First up, a wall in our dining room was looking a tad tired. We had a fabulous painting by American artist James Rosenquist on our dining room wall, but it just wasn’t working. So John and I went through our cache of vintage prints that we have collected on our travels and then mapped out a new art treatment for the dining room wall. And I think the results are stunning.
Thoughts?
Here's our dining room wall without the Rosenquist painting. The floral-patterned Thibaut wallpaper is fabulous, but the wall really cried out for gobs of artwork to really make a statement.
When hanging artwork, road map it. Lay out your artwork on the floor and move the items around until you have a good sense of what they will look like when hung upon the wall.
John looks a tad Elmer Fudd-ish as he strikes a pose with his handy tape measure, an essential tool when hanging artwork. If you goof up when hanging art, don't worry: You can hide your mistakes... Just don't use massive nails when hanging artwork.
Have fun when you hang art. Here John adds a second row of vintage prints. There are no rules when hanging artwork, enjoy the process and be whimsical with your selections and arrangements.
John hangs the final art grouping. We picked up these prints from our good pal Julie, a dealer at London's Portobello Road.
Here's the finished dining room wall with its new art treatment. Stunning, n'est-ce pas?
Tags: Chester Court, Hanging artwork, James Rosenquist, Madcap Cottage, Thibaut, Wallpaper
Boys have been busy! What an attractive chandelier?
I like it a lot; it’s a definite improvement over the single picture.
I’m thinking of loading up on the artwork in our living room. I repainted the walls an acid green (not at all flourescent but not blah either) about 6 years ago and thought all was well, but as we undertake some recent renovations (moving French door opening to provide wall space needed to hang a flat-screen TV) I learned that my husband apparently does not love the green color nearly as much as I. Well, I’m painting and going with a similar color. Using your concept that green is a neutral color — which I agree with — perhaps the workable compromise is to add more artwork to the walls. This room is by no means lacking in artwork and there are no overwhelming expanses of green since there is one wall of white bookcases, two sets of French doors on opposite walls, a large FP with white painted brick/mirrored wall over mantel, more white low bookcases on a wall, and a single and a double window on walls not otherwise covered. Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks –
I always prefer multiple pictures to just one. Then again, my motto is “more is more, because that can never be bad!” What I loved, was seeing the artwork over your wallpaper. I’m currently redecorating my dining room and will be hanging David Hick’s “the vase” in indigo on the walls (ben moore bold blue on millwork and trim, elephant pink on the ceiling) anyway, I was debating on hanging a bunch or random oils I have in gold leaf frames on what I call the boring wall in the room. However, with the super fabulous wallpaper I wasn’t so sure. Now that I see how it can look by your home, I’m gonna go for it!!!! Thanks guys!