Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Foster Care Visitation Room: Art Wall

After painting, the second biggest step in the Foster Care Visitation Room was installing the art wall. Thankfully, my handy, trusty husband B helped me this past weekend and we got a pretty good start. The first step was to lay out all of the pieces and take inventory.
I took some tips from this episode of Secrets from a Stylist and cut out the shapes of each frame using kraft paper. I labeled each piece of paper with the corresponding art work so that I could not only get the shapes where I wanted them but so that I could organize the frames by color and print. 
I wanted an art wall that was semi close together so I decided for a 2" space around all of the pieces. It felt like I was doing a brain teaser trying to make everything fit without it being too "perfect", but I eventually figured it out. The great thing about paper and painter's tape is that you can take as long as you want without nailing a bunch of holes and throwing a hammer in frustration (oh wait, am I the only one who's been THERE?)
B was a little skeptical of the amount of time I took arranging the art wall, but once he started hanging and realized it was a breeze, I think he appreciated my preparations (ok, I might be putting words into his mouth here, but I do want to point out that there was no cursing or throwing of hammers). 
We decided to build the wall clock into the art wall because seeing as how this is a visitation room, I really didn't want the clock to be the main focus. Some of these families only see each other 1 hour every week or two and I'm sure they don't want to be constantly reminded of the time. This way, if you need the time, you have to search for it. 
Unfortunately, we didn't have enough hardware to hang all of the pieces so we'll have to finish it up later. You might spy some familiar artists on the wall like MadeByGirl, city.light photography and Flapperdoodle, all of whom donated to the room. The bottom print is by Nan Lawson and I donated it to the room because the colors worked so damn well, don't you think? The art wall wasn't the only project we completed in this room (I mean, I was doing stuff while B was working), but more on that later. What do you think of the progress so far? 

20 comments:

Callie Grayson said...

Awesome! love the wall and each piece fits perfectly!
and girl you and b are completely AWESOME!
xx
callie

Pam @ over50feeling40 said...

Good job! I love the way you did this...

Erin Walsh Design said...

That looks amazing! I have been meaning to try this method for hanging since seeing it on HGTV a few weeks ago - you just convinced me:)

LenoreNeverM♡re said...

Brava!
I luv the grouping of art wall, Christina!

avant garde design said...

i love what you guys are doing and have done! and i completely agree with you about the clock. ;)

jillian :: cornflake dreams. said...

wow! that looks great. so smart of you to block everything out. i need to do this in our place once i finally get all my frames. xoxo jillian:: enter to win a leigh viner print!

jdavissquared said...

It looks so great! And, how cute are you in your stylish little working outfit!?

Stephanie said...

It looks so good!!!

And the kraft paper and painters tape is such a good idea! I have so many empty walls in my house because I'm afraid of putting mis-placed holes in my walls, but this would be such a perfect way of designing a picture wall. Love it!

KC said...

looks great so far! you are doing a fabulous job and i can't wait to see the end result!

TERI REES WANG said...

I love that you are thinking...
putting thought and effort into something on behalf of others, and being diligent all along.

Cheers!

Claire Kiefer said...

Christina, it's amazing. And that last print is incredible--I love it and kinda want one for myself (and yes, the colors are perfect). I'm so impressed with all the work you're putting into this . . . it looks great!

Ren- Lady Of The Arts said...

looks great- I've seen this trick before too- but never tried it.

S and O said...

How beautiful! I love all of those photos and it looks great the way you arranged them...
xoxo
Olivia

Simply Mel {Reverie} said...

it's perfectly perfect in every way. and brilliant idea about the wall clock.

Kacie - With Love said...

It looks fantastic! Nice work.

Kacie
www.acollectionofpassions.blogspot.com

Samantha said...

Nice! And meaningful, too.

Unknown said...

Eeeek! This is looking wonderful. Did you get the cushion ok? I realised I never followed up to see you received it.

beauty comma said...

it looks fantastic! i love the colour, it looks like it's both fresh an calm. and it's really good that you've collected so much art for the room; it might be more important for the kids than we think. good luck with the next step(s)!
ps - yes, plenty of little holes in the walls of my (rented) apartment... thanks for the kraft paper tip!

Diana said...

i'm going through my emails and i forgot to reply to this! looks amazing, christina! you did a great job. i feel honored to be a little part of it.

Karlene said...

What a kind and generous gesture you're making to these families in need of a cheery place. i've just read through your blog on this project - awesome job! LOVE your wall decorations - great colour scheme :-)

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