Apartment Challenge :: An Early Finish

A while back I started a (sporadic) little series, posting about projects I was taking on in my own apartment to spruce it up a bit.  Well, as these things happen, we ended up moving out before I completed all of the projects I'd had in mind - though really, a home should be a reflection of your life, and as such it is always a work in progress!  Here I'm sharing the final photos of our place as it was just before we moved.  

You can probably see that I did replace the sofa legs (read part one of that project here), a minor detail that to me makes a huge difference.  There were lots of little things that I never got around to, like rehanging curtains or doing anything to jazz up the dining area, and I did diddly in the bedroom/office.  But we'll always remember that place fondly.  We were happy and comfortable there for 2.5 super transformative years.  In moving, one of the most amazing things was seeing just how much we had fit into a rather small one-bedroom apartment.  By living an edited life and making sure that every inch of closet and storage space was organized and used in the most efficient way possible, we were able to keep visible areas and surfaces pretty clutter-free and comfortable.  Once spread out, all of our "stuff" managed to fill our new, much larger place with no problem.  

Stay tuned for future photos of our new place!

Apartment Challenge :: Artwork Hanging :: part 2

Finally!  I am posting some pics of the re-hung artwork.  I actually hung it long ago, but have been very busy and slacking on the blog.  In my first post about this project I showed a few images of some great looking artwork walls to serve as inspiration.  Since I was working with the artwork we already have, I knew I needed a way to make the pieces relate to each other.  I realized that I already had lots of black frames, and so decided that swapping out the few non-black frames for black would be a simple way to create continuity.  Overall, it's a big improvement!

One tool I bought to make things easier was the Hang & Level by Under the Roof Decorating.  It's a bargain at under $15 (available here on Amazon) and makes marking the wall where the hanging hardware needs to go a total snap.   And if you've just been using nails to hang your artwork, stop it right now!   You can get a picture hanging kit at a local hardware store (or on good old Amazon) and stop tearing up your walls and know that your artwork is more safely fastened to the wall.

Apartment Challenge :: Artwork Hanging :: Part 1

You might remember this sad photo that showing the pathetic state of the "artwork gallery" behind our sofa.  There used to be a fourth piece hanging there, but I knocked into it and broke the glass so it had been down for the count for a few months.  But even while that was up, there were some issues:  the artwork was hung too high, and the layout of the four pieces just wasn't working.  Needs more filling out.  Plus Annie Oakley is in a rather crooked frame that my husband and I made ourselves in the early days of our relationship.  I will keep the frame for memory's sake, but I think I will re-frame Annie for now.  

So, finally, I am finding my motivation and will fix this wall!  To get inspired I've gathered some photos of successful gallery walls to share...

Wowzers.  This one is like an explosion - a puzzle of artwork.  And how beautiful is that crown molding?  It is like the mother of all crown moldings.  Where do people find these apartments?  Anyway - drawings, paintings, prints, three dimensional works, photography are all on this wall.  The frames are all different but it all works because there is just SO much of it.  And it might seem haphazard at first, but if you pay attention you can see there was thought put into the way certain pieces would line up with each other.  I definitely don't have this many pieces to put up, but I am inspired by the way they fit their artwork together.  Image via littlebluedeer.com.

Here is a similar wall, below.  Image via theapartment.dk. 

First off, I would kill for ceilings this high.  The gallery wall stretches all the way from the top of the sofa back to just below the ceiling for a huge impact.  The pieces aren't strictly gridded but again there is a method to how their positions relate to one another.  And the fact that they are all similar works with a simple color palette and matching frames keeps this gallery wall feeling a little more buttoned-up than the previous two.  The concept here is really similar to what I did for my entry wall.  Image via Elle Decor.

Well isn't this cute?  So smart the way the designer hung the artwork to mimic the shape of the bed canopy frames.  All of the works have a similar color palette and theme, and the frames all match too.  I won't be working with the outlines of a canopy bed, but this photo is a good reminder that if you can take cues from some other feature of your interior when deciding how to arrange your artwork, it can make for a nice little moment in your space.  Design by Amelia Handegan.

Lastly we have this lovely little baby artwork gallery by Workstead, a firm in Brooklyn who does gorgeous work.  It's a little more loose than the other gallery walls I've shown here, but it all ties together because the artwork and frames are similar in appearance and size and attention has been paid to how the pieces are placed in relation to one another.  Love the variation in the width of the frames.  Who can resist a tiny little artwork in a big chunky frame?

Ok, so you've seen my inspirations!  Stay tuned to find out how my own gallery wall turns out!

Website Update! Project Reveal!

Our newly updated website is now live and shows photos of our project in Astoria, Queens.  Please have a look!

www.aliveandkickingdesign.com

Apartment Challenge :: Audubon Print Gallery

About a year ago, I received this lovely set of Audubon prints as a graduation gift from a good friend.  I love birds and I love nature illustrations, so I was super happy to receive these prints.  They sat around for a while, and finally I decided that it was time to do something with them!

You might remember my goals for our entry wall from my previous apartment challenge post.  We had a blank wall that needed some love.  So I got to it.

I started by spreading out all of the prints and deciding which ones would work the best in a cluster in that area.  I initially thought I might go with some of the more colorful prints, like this one:

Roseate Spoonbill, John James Audubon

but I just wasn't feeling it.  I know I tend to get tired of colors quickly, so I wound up selecting six prints with more muted coloring and lots of blue-gray, which works really well with the color of my walls.  Once I had my selections I played with taping them up on the wall to see how I wanted to lay them out:

L: Two of the prints I chose to display; R: Mock-up of the layout

I kept the prints that were fully colored in at the bottom, and used the two with white sky backgrounds at the top, so it feels like it gets lighter as it goes up.  The placement of the buzzer phone and light switch also helped to dictate the layout.  The bottom of the gallery is about 32" off the ground to allow space for a small accent table that we use to drop keys, pocket change, gloves, hats, etc.

Next I needed to decide how I was going to frame these puppies.  Budget was a consideration, so I knew I would probably be working with Ikea.  Since the images themselves are muted and not in too great a contrast with my walls, I opted for a darker frame to help set the prints apart from the walls.  I chose to go with an Ikea Ribba frame in medium brown.  These frames do come with mats, which is a plus, however my artwork wasn't standard photo size and I wanted to add a special detail element to the framing, so I didn't use the mats.  Instead I visited Grayline Fabrics in Midtown, which has a pretty wide selection of linens.  Printed, solid, and varying weights.  I selected a linen (Warsa Oatmeal, I think) to use in the frames behind each print.  

L: Linen for behind the prints; R: Wrapped backboard, Coco helped.

I wanted to add fabric to the framing to give the whole thing a bit more luxury and oomph, but opted for linen because it still looks and feels very natural/casual and just always appeals to me.  I thought about cutting mats and wrapping them with the linen, but I didn't want to get too fussy with this project.  I just wrapped each backboard in the linen and plopped it back into the frame with the print.  I trimmed the prints down a bit to show more of the linen and used a bit of rolled scotch tape between the print and the linen to keep the prints from sliding around.  Super simple.  You can see the frame clips a bit (see top picture), but I decided I was cool with that.  I like when you have a peek at how things work.

One of the framed prints

If you ignore the five hour trip to the emergency room that resulted from me cutting my finger and needing stitches (it healed, I'm fine, but do watch your fingers when you're cutting with a blade and straight edge, even if you've done it a million times before), this was a pretty easy, quick project.  Budget friendly too.  I think the cost of the frames and linen was probably about $80-$90 bucks for six prints, which comes out to about $14 per print.  And you could vary this in so many ways: spray painting/gold leafing the frames, wrapping mats in the fabric, using other types of fabric, etc.