Tuesday Tip Day- Save a Space for Art

One of my favorite tips for hanging art is to save space on your walls for future purchases. A lot like saving a seat for your best friend on a field trip, saving wall space for art affords you a good company and a good time. Art, a good time? Mais Oui! It's not fun to hang art, then buy more and take the old down, patch holes, paint, and re-hang with the new work mixed in with the old... over and over again. You will stop hanging the art after a while and decide it's your "look" to leave it stacked against the wall at the floor. If you "layout" the wall with future art purchases in mind, you will have very little need for moving the work once you hang it.

Most people who purchase art usually purchase one piece at a time. It's good to buy art this way instead of purchasing for a whole room, which is really expensive and doesn't necessarily give the owner a room of their favorite things. When you buy art, you need to buy what you love. You will be living with the work for many years, it can be a good investment, and you will support talented people. How to buy art coming soon... maybe tomorrow!

Three of the best ways to save a space for art are:

1. use mirrors

2. use unpainted canvases

3. use empty frames

To do this you will place any, or all, of the three types of items above in the format you would like the final layout to be on your wall. Mix in you current art with these elements and when you go shopping in galleries or outdoor shows, you will have a general idea of what size work will fit where in your home. I, also, like to use groupings of mirrors to "hold the place" for larger works that I have not found or purchased yet.

Depending on your style you might want to only use one of these types of place holders. For example, if you have a contemporary home with light colored walls, blank canvases would compliment your room while waiting for the real work to arrive. If you love your bold red dining room, gilded frames would be a better choice. If you prefer a "Country French" look, mirrors made from scrap wood frames with peeling paint could be really cool.

Wondering how you know what size art you will be buying in the future. It's important that you be observant! Notice in magazine photographs that things are usually groups in threes? That there is usually a large art piece above the sofa and in the entry way? That items not grouped in odd number are symmetrically grouped? These are cues to guide you.

Notice the example below, the art work on this wall is staggered in on the outside of the "square", but the distance of art to art is equal on the inside. This wall contains two HVAC vents, as well as the future placement of a TV. Use this as a guide for making a wall a feature!