Your home is where your heart is…it is your sanctuary, your place of rest, your place to rejuvenate, relax & enjoy your time with your family. When it comes to decorating your home & more specifically your walls, there are so many great ways to add your own personality to the art that you choose, and how you display it.
I have always loved decorating. As a little girl, I used to pore over my mom’s decorating magazines & even had a file folder of magazine clippings in grade 7 of images of rooms that inspired me. I would sit for hours looking through the magazines & dreaming of colours, fabrics, textures, furniture & even tried designing what my dream home would be…:) My mom tells me that I could even remember & describe her friend’s home decor in good detail from a very early age even from just a couple of visits. I would remember the little details of how ‘so & so’ had a gorgeous exposed brick wall & brown leather chairs with a collection of old pots with beautiful plants…and how they were so perfectly placed in the room & how the sunlight came through the window & made the space feel almost magical.
To this day, I still pore over my favourite decor & design magazines. I have had a subscription to Canadian House and Home for several years now & I have all the issues still saved & displayed on my bookshelves in my home. And trust me, I go back through the older issues all the time. I have also had the wonderful pleasure of photographing for a few different lifestyle & decor magazines including New Zealand House and Home & New Zealand Life & Leisure. I love spaces and the details that make the spaces beautiful. You can view the tear sheets from these magazine editorials on my commercial lifestyle site here.
In fact, at that early age, I was pretty sure that I would be an interior designer when I grew up…Well, I never became an interior designer, but I actually use my skills of designing wall galleries and placement of art all the time in my photography business. Whether I am helping my clients design wall galleries from the images from their wedding or portrait session, or assisting clients with selection of any of my fine art prints & how best to frame & display them in their home or business.
In Part one of my series “Decorating with fine art photography” we are looking at creating a wall gallery with fine art photography. Here are a few photos of a simple yet elegant way to display fine art prints in your home. This is a corner in my loft studio where my clients can sit and watch their kids being photographed. I also use this little nook as a backdrop for boudoir sessions as well. Anyway, I have created a simple wall gallery using three of my 8×10 fine art prints & four of my 5×7 fine art prints. All of the fine art prints in this image are available for purchase in our gallery (sizes 8×10 & larger only) & soon will be available for purchase in our online store which will be launched in the next couple of weeks!! So excited to launch our online print shop!:)
This collection of framed art is hung gallery style which is less rigid and also works very well with various sizes of artwork & different types of frames. The great thing about hanging your art in this gallery style is that you can add to it later on. This is a great way when you are just starting out with collecting art for your home. Little by little, you will be able to add to your art collection every year. When I am designing my gallery wall, I usually place my frames out on the floor first to move them around until I achieve the arrangement that I like with the pieces that I have. When hanging gallery style, you want to leave about 2-4 inches in between your pieces. As well, you should look for a height of about 66 inches from the floor. You want to be sure that the middle pieces are at eye level.
I purchased a collection of gorgeous frames from my favourite store Homesense. This is a very economical way of displaying your art. Typically, I custom frame all of my work to ensure that the pieces will be protected with archival materials. However it is always great to mix and match and use some ready made store-bought frames for some pieces & then custom frame other pieces. You have to make the choice whether to custom frame or not. Usually, this is a choice that is tied to the cost of the art. If the art is very expensive or very important to you that it will be preserved, then of course you should have it properly custom framed. We do custom framing for our clients all the time when we design individual pieces and wall galleries. It is something that I love to do & something that offers great value to our clients.
Happy Friday everyone! Enjoy your weekend! Our gallery is open 10-5pm by appointment or chance through the week & is open Saturdays from 10-4pm. The gallery is located at 38 Maple Avenue in downtown Barrie. Please drop by for a visit & let us show you Jennifer’s collection of fine art photography…perhaps there is a piece here just waiting to go up on your wall. 🙂
Jennifer