Finally! Some Art for the Living Room

I finally figured out how to get my new frames from last week, hung and they are all level! (at least for now!) I had a really hard time getting these up. They are the frames that have the two hooks on the back panel that holds the picture in, and let me tell you the are never the same from frame to frame(plus, they move around a lot.) I realize I could have just used the command strips, but they start to add up pretty quick, so this is what I did.

First, I gathered my supplies. The pictures here are pretty self explanatory. A hammer, a level, a measuring tape, 10 Large Sawtooth Picture Hangers (about 77 cents a pack at Wal-Mart) and Command Picture Hanging strips. 

Not pictured-  painters tape (this could be improvised with card stock or whatever you  have around the house), a piece of scrap cardboard or soft fabric to lay your frame on while hammering), and a nail with a fat head.

Then, I got to work! I held my hanger up to see where I wanted it. I measured, and the bottom line was at 1 1/8". I made to marks at this point.

I used my level as a straight edge to draw a line between the marks.

I also marked the center point of the frame.

I lined my picture hanger  up to the marks I made, and pressed by big nail into the holes to make a starting point for the tiny nails that are used to hang the hanger.

Because the nails are so tiny, I folded a piece of painters tape in half and poked the nail through. This gave me something to hold the nail with. I just ripped it off once the nail was secure.

Repeat those steps 8 times, or as many times as you need to depending on how many frames you have.

I didn't do them all at once, it was tedious and time consuming, so I did 2 or 3 when I had a minute.

Finally! Time to hang them. I put a piece of painters tape on my level, and marked the distance between my nails. I started on the right side, and measured up the wall about 5' for my first hole. Remember this will be where the center of you frame sits. I just kept lining up to my original mark, using the level. 

I wanted four inches between my top and bottom row so I added 4" to the length of the frame, and measured up from the top of the frame below it.

I used about 1 3/4" nails to hang the pictures. I hung the first one leveled it, then the second one. I then held the level above both to make sure they were level with each other.

I also checked that the lines were staying straight by holding my level across the top of three frames.

Just keep going until all your frames are hung. I had to adjust one of them, and move the nail up about an eighth of an inch, but other than that it all went really smoothly. 

I plan on adding a command strip to the bottom of each frame to help keep them secure and level. 

Mike and I are thrilled with how it looks. The size is perfect for the ginormous wall! 

Now, I just have to figure out what order I want them in. I like them the way they are, but I am thinking about doing it a few other ways.

What do you think? How would you arrange them?

Let there be Art!

I have been unhappy with the art situation in our Living Room since right after we moved in. We have two story ceilings, and a honkin huge sectional, so the art piece needed to be quite large, or else it would just look silly.  

I thought we had finally found the solution when I found a painting that my grandfather has had in his basement for as long as I can remember. It was quite large, and I liked the scene, but once I painted the frame, and hung it, I just wan't feeling it for our space.

I considered painting over it "paint-by-numbers" style, like this garage sale makeover we hung above the console table to the right of our fireplace,

 but I wasn't quite ready to do that, so I took it down, and for the past couple of weeks the wall has been blank. I would rather have nothing than something I'm not crazy about.

While Livi was at school Tuesday, I decided I would browse Kohl's and see if anything caught my eye. I couldn't let that $20 in Kohl's cash go to waste!

Well something certainly did catch my eye, I have been looking for large simple black frames with white mats for a long time. I know they are available everywhere, but I just can't justify spending a ridiculous amount of money.  I found these Crestview™ 11" x 14" Montego Matted Frames in black.

They were originally $31.99, but I got them at 60% off, so they ended up being $12.79, they are also offering scratch off coupons, if you use a Kohl's charge, I have never gotten more than 15% with one of these, so that brought it down to $10.88 each, which isn't so shabby.
I went back today when I realized three was no where near enough for that huge space, and got five more, for some reason they were only 55% off today, but at $12.23 I couldn't complain.
I ended up paying just under $95 for 8 frames. Which is a lot for us, but in the big scheme it's a really good deal.

Now, if only I had some idea what in the world I want to put in them, I don't want to end up spending another $80-$100+ on prints, so I had to use my head, and figure out what I was going to do.

I remembered some really great botanical prints I had seen from the Graphics Fairy, so I decided to check her site out, and see if there was anything that would work.

When I showed the prints to Mike he wasn't 100% sure about them, he was a bit nervous that they would look grannyish, so I got to work adding some boldly colored backgrounds, and modernizing them a bit in photoshop. I couldn't find 8 prints that I loved, and went well together, so I chose four, and just did them with two different colored backgrounds. This is what I came up with.

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I'm still not sure exactly how I'm going to end up arranging them. I'm pretty sure I will do two rows of four, but as far as the order of the pictures I won't know until I can lay them all out in front of me.

How would you arrange them?