Filling up the Walls

We have delicious high ceilings in this house which we love.  They make things seem so open, airy and light, but they also leave giant walls to fill.  Lots of huge open spaces means things can feel a bit sparse and undone.  The task of filling up our wall space has been a bit overwhelming and shy of dropping a ton of money on artwork (which is out of the budget) I’ve been a little perplexed as to what to do about it.

I finally finished a little photo gallery above our sectional sofa – I’ve had this fantastic barn board look name sign for awhile and while it’s not small – it wasn’t quite the right scale to fit the space so I knew I needed to add in another element.  When I saw this farmhouse window on VarageSale I realized the combo of the two would be just what we needed.  The name signs are handmade and hand painted by my friend Kristina and doesn’t she do fantastic work?!  All of her artwork is just stunning.  In addition to the family name signs, she also does hand painted names for nursery walls and door plaques too.  Check out her site – it’s Bouncing off the Walls.

Here’s the before:  EMPTY.  Boring.  Bland.

 

And here’s how it looks with the window photo gallery!  Love!  I think I might finesse the placement of the string I used for the photos.  I used picture wire to hang the window and yarn to hang the photos and I think I’d like it better if it was all picture wire – I ran out….  But overall, this is just what we needed for the space.  We can share some cute pictures of the kids and I love all the texture it brings.  What do you think?  By the way, my walls are not purple.  This winter light is crazy pants!

Here’s a close up.  You can see the detail Kristina puts into the signs.  She layers in colour and gives so much depth and interest to her pieces.  And the window – my goodness.  There are rusty nails, cracks, flaking paint and just so much history there.  I love love it.  What do you think?  Instead of string, should I put chicken wire in there?  I didn’t want it to be too ‘farmy’ because this house is a new home – but I thought about chicken wire.  Either way, the black yarn isn’t exactly right.  I’m sure the right thing will come to me!  When it does, I’ll update with the solution.

I do hope you check out Kristina’s site and maybe you’ll get a spark of inspiration from her like I did.  Sometimes it takes a while for the pieces of a puzzle to come together and sometimes it takes a bit of hunting around for just the right thing.  I’m famous for finding something I love and tucking it away until the circumstances are right.  Besides, half the fun is in the hunt!