In a blog post earlier this year, Holly Becker from Decor8 blog encouraged readers to be bold in decor and design and life, 'leaving safe behind.' I love Holly. She is one of the pioneers in online blogging for interior designers and creatives in general. Her voice and style remain steady and fresh in the middle of the crazy trends, highs, lows, and changes of the online world. Holly's work is often understated and it's rarely brassy or loud. Despite being one to embrace the 'white' Holly's look is distinct and home-y.
Her blog post on resisting trying to look like everyone else, resisting conformity and being willing to take a risk really got a hold of me. I couldn't get her words out of mind. While chewing on some ideas, I grabbed a hammer and nails and did a few little experiments. Being bold is often a matter of perspective. Even small, intentional changes can be bold steps opening the door of the unknown.
I'm convinced a house is not a home until the paintings go up. So every time I move, I'm not "settled in" until there is stuff on the walls. On this most recent move (beginning of January 2015), I put my Grandfather's paintings on one wall. Usually I spread them out, but it was important to do different things differently this time. Out with the same old, same old. In with the bold. Being bold is such a matter of perspective. What is bold for me may be completely vanilla and boring to you.
In the end, 'bold' meant a change in perspective for me. Why not use what I had, even if it wasn't prettified as much as I wanted it to be? I had been carrying around a twiggy branched wreath for months. First it was going to be an autumn wreath, then a Christmas wreath. But the times for those holidays passed me and my lone wreath by.
So I hung it on its own, bare and unadorned with beads, birds, or ribbon. For a flourish, I hung a garland of paper birds from Timmery. (You can find your own garland of colorful songbirds at Atelier Joie Etsy shop).
The next bold decor move I made was to hang my necklaces instead of burying them in a box. Many of my jewelry has a sentimental meaning to me. One piece I bought with one of my best friends when we were hunting in our favorite vintage store in Folsom. Another piece is a gift from a special mentor. My sister gave me another piece. I look at my necklaces and happy memories abound. So up they went on my wall.
I was able to do a bit of a bold makeover without spending a lot of money, time, or energy. Here are some ideas for ways to spruce up your walls with some 'bold decor' without breaking the budget. Sometimes it's not the fancy or trendy that I love. It's the combination of bold color, minimal bling and a lot of soft beauty.
How can we 'leave safe behind' and embrace bolder decor to inspire and create in our homes? Here are some thoughts I came up with.
Hang up the unadorned wreath or garland.
I love wreaths but the seasons were flying by too fast to keep up with changing the decor on the wreaths. So I hung it bare. I think I like it.
Necklaces, bracelets or other jewelry pieces.
As odd as it may sound, hanging pieces of jewelry can be a lovely, feminine way to decorate a room. Consider a cluster of hanging necklaces, much like you would cluster a group of paintings.
Cluster your paintings and photographs in a different way.
Confession: I'm a free spirit when it comes to hanging art. I learned a bit from my Grandpa and a bit from my mom and the rest of it, I just wing (which means sometimes the art is a bit uneven!). For a more formal way of designing an art collage with your art, check out Holly's great post on designing a gallery style art wall.
Add in children's art with your "formal" art.
Mark and Angel (brother and sis-in-law) recently moved into smaller living quarters. One way Angel utilized the limited wall space was to combine paintings from Grandpa H, their kids and other art pieces they had in a horizontal line above their closet. Seeing different genres of art together made each one pop in a way I hadn't noticed before. The art wasn't new to me, but I was seeing it with new eyes. I love children's art. I have a picture my sister Bethany painted when she was eight years old. It goes everywhere with me and brings back lots of happy memories making art together.
Add a splash of color.
Paint canvases with accent colors and add them to the wall. For a bold splash, add a word to the canvas.
It doesn't need to take a lot of stuff or money to make a house a home (or a room a castle). Just a little bit of creativity, a bit of paint, nails, a hammer and a willingness to see beyond what is to what could be. I love that we can change and see new things in older stuff.
Happy Home Making!
The post Being Bold and Brave in Decorating Walls appeared first on Launch Your Creative Life.