I was looking back through all the questions that people submitted in the spring for my epic Instagram Q and A :-) and found some wall decor challenges to share today.
Some of these I hadn’t shared over there in my stories with the rest and some were so very worthy of a reshare. These are every day challenges that everyone experiences, so I think they’ll be helpful to see.
Wall Decor Challenge #1
This homeowner had a rather empty looking dining room wall and didn’t know what to do with it. She said she could move the painting if I had any new ideas.
Dining room wall challenge - Should she leave the painting? What would be better?
Dining room wall challenge - You can see the high ceiling in the dining room beyond.
She also submitted this living room, which I did include in my stories. (I usually only do one question per person as I get so many to address.)
She wanted to know what to do with the area where she had the tray and mirror.
I advised her then to get an etagere for that space. It will add some height and be a good place to keep books and collectibles.
After I reviewed her dining room with the high ceiling and tall wall I saw that all her art was more traditional, a little old world style with heavy frames. I thought that once she gets the etagere, doing only one piece of art, the largest one in the gilded frame, centered over the sofa, would be all she needed on that wall.
It would really make that art feel more special.
Once the etagere goes in, I’d remove the rest of the art and leave the one large piece to center over the sofa.
Then, she could use the other pieces in the dining room to create a taller, more impactful grouping. I really like the dark moody art hanging in the hallway too, and that could also be used, stacked on top of the original large piece.
I rather like this dark, moody painting in the hallway and would move it to the dining room. You can replace this piece with something vertical here.
I’d use the larger pieces from the living room on the bottom and the smaller ones on top of those, on each side of the big paintings. I would even suggest reframing the large existing one, maybe with something gilded and a little more trim, similar to the one I would leave in the living room.
I like the way this looks. :-) I’d add some drapery too, to soften the room and a big bowl with some moss or succulents. A rug would also help to make the room feel more “designed”.
Make a bigger grouping of existing art on this wall to create a bigger impact and fill the wall nicely. carlaaston.som
Wall Decor Challenge #2
This next one took me awhile to consider. It’s a rather odd space with a really long sectional.
I’m sure it didn’t start out as a media room, but that’s how it is functioning now. I imagine, with this room right off the foyer by the stairs, that it was built out to be a home office.
I know this is blurry, it came from the video she sent me. I wanted you to get an idea of the layout of the room.
Long sectional sofa with round speaker at one end of wall that can’t be covered up.
I don’t often recommend big gallery walls because often times people don’t have the wall decor items to fill it or to make it big enough to do it justice.
Here, however, I thought this was by far the best option for art. The sofa was so long it needed more than one or two big pieces, and because the sofa wasn’t centered on the wall, having something that staggered down the entire length of the wall was what I found worked best. We had to avoid that speaker too.
I actually love this solution, now they only have to get some wall decor going!
Wall Decor Challenge #3
I love this solution too. I feel like it is so simple and direct, there could be no other.
Unfortunately, the homeowner’s husband didn’t want the tv above the fireplace, so this solution was a no-go for them.
Here was the pic she submitted.
She didn’t like the void above the tv and wanted to put some kind of shelf there or something but wanted to know the best idea for this.
First of all, if you want to have a tv over on the side like this in a deep niche that was obviously built for an older style tv situation, then I think you need to build in something so that it looks intentional. This piece of furniture looks a little crowded in there and putting a shelf in the void above is just going to look patched in.
My solution was to move the tv above the fp, get a smaller console there and put the mirrors stacked, vertically, in the niche. I thought this was a great “no-construction” option, except for mounting the tv on the wall and running the wires.
The mirrors would also brighten up that deep niche and make it feel intentionally designed.
Well, it didn’t help her, but maybe it would help someone else out there, so I decided to publish it. :-)
Do you need some help with wall decor? You don’t have to wait for my next Instagram Q&A, sometime later this summer, for your one question to be answered.
You can get up to 4 questions answered and some thoughtful consideration given to your problem in a Designed in a Click email consultation, OR you can buy my $30 ebook Wall Decorating Guide that details so much good basic info on how to fill your blank walls and comes with lots of real life case studies!
You can be your own decorator and conquer those blank walls yourself! :-)
Solve your wall decorating challenges with this guide! carlaaston.com