New Colourful Gallery Wall
We’re currently planning some decorating at home, so I’ve been busy getting samples of paint and trying them on the walls. Looking in the garage I find I have dozens of these sample pots since I never throw them away afterwards if there is still paint in them – after all they can be useful for touch-ups, or for small projects etc. So all this activity gave me an idea for a new gallery wall. Our existing chalkboard gallery is great, but I find I would like to have the wall back to draw on rather than just display artwork, so I thought I would create a new gallery wall.…
The Art Wall Evolves….
After a long, I might say unplanned break, I’m finally back and blogging again. I think that’s the longest break I’ve ever had, though I suspect more might be on their way as Christmas approaches. There has of course been lots happening behind the scenes, and hopefully I’ll have time to share some of the projects we’ve been up to, the new products we now have available, and other news before the madness starts. So I thought I’d start with an update on our Chalkboard Art Wall. This has been a really successful addition to our home – I don’t think I would ever be without a chalkboard wall now,…
Children’s Artwork Mobile
This project offers an alternative three-dimensional way to display children’s artwork. It’s a simple concept with multiple potential variations so you can make it as basic or as complicated as you like. I love it’s kinetic qualities, but unfortunately this made it astonishingly difficult to photograph properly, so all I can say is that the photos don’t really do it justice. You can make them as big or as small as you like depending on the space available. I think a few really long ones would look fabulous suspended down a stairwell. However we don’t have the house for this, so a corner of my kitchen had to do! …
Chalkboard Gallery
I’ve seen a few home ‘Gallery’ walls for children’s artwork around the internet recently, and have been really keen to do something similar. However all of the ones I’ve seen have been fairly ‘permanent’, and I wanted to do something a little more flexible that I could change very easily – mainly because we’re still trying to sell the house. I also really liked the idea of having a wall for the kids (and me) to draw on – there must be a closet graffiti artist in me somewhere. When I remembered that I had an unused tin of chalkboard paint which had been in the garage for years, it…
Box Lid Frames
I’m always on the looking for new cost-effective ways of displaying children’s artwork, and I recently devised this one. I’m sure it’s not original, but I’m quite pleased with it nonetheless, so thought I would share it here. It simply makes use of shallow boxes or box lids to act as a frame. They need to be made of good quality, stiff board to look their most effective, and they can either be used as they come, or sprayed a different colour. Likewise the inside face of the lid which will be visible on the wall, can be either left the same colour as the edges or lined with a…
Inspiration from the Past
Sometimes the old ideas are the best. Paper frames for the wall are far from being a new idea, but have become quite popular again recently along with decorative stick on ‘decals’ in general. They were especially popular in the 18th century, circa 1750-1800, when ‘print rooms’ were all the rage. Unfortunately, few original examples have survived, but there’s a really good rare survival you can visit at Calke Abbey (National Trust) in Derbyshire, where caricatures, instead of the more usual classical prints, were collected and pasted to the walls. Collectors of prints were able to purchase decorative printed borders by the length, and these could be cut and applied…
Art Photobooks
As the stack of artwork created by my children increases, I’ve been trying to devise ways of keeping and displaying the best, while being a little more ruthless about discarding the rest. I’ve already mentioned the Art Portfolio posters which were one response to this, but another approach I’ve taken is to have some made up into Art photobooks – one for each child. The idea being that every couple of years or so I have another made. I love photobooks, they’re a wonderful way of displaying your photos at their best, and many companies offer lots of creative opportunities to personalise them further with colours, backgrounds, frames and of…
