How to Decorate Room Walls With Pictures

Pictures create visual interest on your walls.

When you're faced with bare walls in your home, it's easy to be overwhelmed by the available options. Once you've decided to decorate your walls with pictures, you must then decide how to present them in the most attractive way. The good thing is, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to displaying pictures. There are, however, several options to choose from, many of which create an aesthetically pleasing look.

Instructions

1. Choose pictures with a variety of frames that work well together. Sticking with perfectly matching frames gets boring quickly and creates a monotonous cookie cutter look. Opt for one material in several different styles or intersperse a variety of media. Pewter and wrought iron frames are often formed into a myriad of shapes and patterns that allow you to maintain a sense of unity with a variance in design.

2. Vary the size, color and texture of the mattes on your pictures. Opt for a variety of pastels in a floral sitting room, intense hues such as plum, maroon and chocolate brown for a den or cheerful colors including red, yellow and orange for pictures in a kitchen. A skinny matte may work for certain pictures while a wide version suits other artwork better.

3. Vary the height at which you hang your pictures. The days when every picture or photo was hung at eye level or just above are over. Group several pictures together and hang them in a low position over a desk or table. Alternatively, hang them in a higher position above a mantel or over a tall secretary desk.

4. Intersperse other items with your pictures. Hang your framed wedding veil next to the photographs of your wedding day. Preserve your husband's college football jersey, and hang it with some action shots from his glory days. Hang wall sconces on either side of a large painting or underneath it to create an interesting lighting effect.

5. Intersperse horizontal and vertical pictures in one large grouping. Hang the pictures an equal distance from one another and create an asymmetrical grouping that draws visitors' eyes to the room.

6. Prop framed pictures and photographs against the wall on desks, shelves and mantels. It's not always necessary to hang the pictures on the wall. Propping them up creates a modern look and allows you to rearrange your pictures at will.

Tips & Warnings

• Rearrange your pictures from time to time to change the look in your rooms. Switch between rooms or simply change the placement of the pictures in the same room.

• Use the appropriate materials to ensure that your pictures are secure on the wall. Anchor hooks and nails into the wall for heavier items that may work free over time and crash to the floor.

• Be careful when hanging pictures on walls near doors. A slamming door can easily dislodge a picture from the wall when it's not hung properly.

References

• Ladies Home Journal; Decorating with Family Photos: Make Over Any Room with Framed Memories; Kieran Juska
• Kodak: Framing & Hanging Pictures