Our Seattle Cottage: We're Starting to Hang Art
With our artwork and furniture finally out on the west coast I've devised a plan to hang our collection differently from how it was in New York.
There's actually less wall space in the house than in the apartment surprisingly, so that poses a slight challenge but also, instead of the mood being very eclectic and very, very layered I want the overall mood to be more open and airy. I love a good gallery wall and yes, there will be at least one of those, but this time I want to pull the collections together a little differently. How so, well I'm changing up the way the collections are combined and using color to mostly tie them together.
One thing I do have more of are rooms and different spaces. In the apartment we had an entry that was open to the living room, a kitchen, bathroom, tiny passthrough that I utilized as my "dressing room" and a bedroom. In the house we have a separated entryway or vestibule, living room, dining room, guest room/office, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Having these separate spaces will allow me to really divide up my overall collection into small categories.
The few spaces I am definitely planning to have gallery walls hung in are the entryway and living room. In the entry, the walls are in really poor condition, actual large paint drips run down the back wall. If I owned this place, I would definitely skim coat all of the walls in the entire home, but since it's a rental and we aren't exactly sure how long we'll be living there I'm only going to put what I call some cover-up on the walls. Painting the space in a matte finish and a darker color is going to hide some of the imperfections, but also adding a ton of artwork will leave less wall space visible. Sounds like a great plan, right! I'm thinking that this room can be themed around animals. It's where I plan to hang the majority of my horse themed prints, our antlers and the infamous daschund print.
Living Room
In the living room there is one massive wall that the tv is set in front of, which also is visible to the street. It's a great view when you're looking at the house to see a collection of artwork. The gallery wall also subtly disguises the television... (please ignore the current console, the planned one is yet to be finished). The collection is tied together through hues and tones of blue, which actually created a side theme of images that represent water and air. The major focal point however, is my WW1 French nurse portrait gifted to me by my parents. She loosely reminds me of the English nurse, Catherine Barkley in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.
Dining Room
In the dining room I'm creating a general theme that is influenced by Paris with my favorite Paris map, the chinoiserie screen that reminds me of Coco Chanel's apartment, and other smaller prints that fit well within the color palette. The birds are also a nod to chinoiserie style, so they seem right within this room as well.
Guest Room / Office
In the guest room/office, I'm trying to showcase artwork that inspires me to work. Beethoven and Mozart were prodigies and famous musicians, so why not have them set in here.
Master
In the bedroom the artwork is slightly more intimate, where I've hung up images from our wedding, portraits of our pets, and a small gallery inspired by my engagement ring.
Once everything is looking a little more finished I'll take some better photos with my SLR camera and show more of the areas I've mentioned. I haven't had a chance to start the entry yet. So that will be revealed in the next couple months. I thought it would be nice to share some of the work I've been up to at the house.
