P.S, I like almost contemporary style (contemporary is a little too modern for me).

I do a lot of weird things. One is to hang a group of photos in individual frames and write or stencil a title, comment or saying above them. It never fails to get compliments.

{{!gwi}}

My decorating is a lot of antiques, eclectic, and...according to my girlfriends..."brave"...to write on my walls. I love setting up vignettes everywhere. Also...my house was this color years before anyone else dared to do it!

~Sandy~

Hi,
Welcome to Melbourne, FL. I've lived here since 1989, got transplanted from TX. I wish you had posted this about 2wks ago because I put boxes of frames out for trash day :-(
We are putting our house up for sale and I had to rid myself of all my trash to treasure unfinished projects to get the house ready to show. Bummer I know! I had a few folks pick up some things, but lots I saw crushed in the trash truck. I was soooooo sad I had to lose all my collected treasures.

Anywho, just wanted to let you know where I shop, other than the side of the road. There is a thrift store on Auroa Road called C.I.T.A ( Christ is the Answer) and also the 2nd store on US 1. The stores help the homeless in the area and the larger store on US 1 houses and feeds these folks. All the items for the stores are donated and you can't beat the prices. Goodwill and SA here are way too pricey!

Anyway hope you find lots of frames and wish I could offer ideas for your display.

Mary Ann

I saw on a home show on tv where they took really large wooden frames, ( not matching or anything), put them on the wall then hung the smaller photos inside them. The wall color would show behind. Making several vignettes, so to speak. I thought it was neat.

I would think they needed to be in indivdual frames of some kind as well, to keep them clean and from curling up, etc. You could mix photos and other interesting wall decorations, pics of the scenes and flowers that you like.

I also saw them use large squares of wallpaper, in a row of 2 or 3, and hung pictures inside. The wall color coordinated with the paper. Very pretty.

I think things like that just look more interesting than many photos over a large wall space spread out. Gives it more visual interest.

Exercise Room? I think I would do a painting directly on the wall that gives the illusion of being outside. A little bit troupe loye (spelling). If you just painted on a blurry road going off into the distance and around trees. by blurry I mean just faint, like you would do when you do that first part of a water color...like a wash, almost an illusion of different colors.

Or if you prefer more of a beach scene that is very faint in color.

Or maybe mountains with pines on them and snowy peaks.

Might make the exercise easier or at least more enjoyable.

If you still want a painting...use a piece of material over a foam core. I have done that with the kids sports shirts. Just straight pin them in the back. Easy to change out as you get tired of them.

Sandy,

I just had to comment on your wall. I love it!! My friends think that I am "brave", too, okay, they call me nuts, but I love to do different things around the house. Now you've got me thinking about where I can "write" on my walls.

Pam

Thanks everyone for the great ideas.

Sandy, I love your room. What kind of paint did you use for the writing.

Mary Ann, I could scream about the frames. I've donated stuff to CITA, but I've never been in there, so I will have to check out.

Donna and Twomonths, thanks for the great ideas. Twomonths, where do you get the foam core? I looked in one art supply catalog and they weren't selling them individually, they were selling 50 at a time.
Lynne

Thanks guys! I'm glad you like what I've done.

I used acrylic craft paints for the writing.

I posted more pics here of other things I've written on my walls. Check the post: "For Pam...more writing on the walls".

I have a wall of book shelves next to the fireplace in my living-room. I plan to write: "A room without books is like a house without windows" above it. There are other quotes/sayings that will be showing up around the house too.

~Sandy~

foam core is just a piece of dense (I guess) foam between two pieces of poster board. I get it at an art supply store or Michaels or WalMart.

I have even gone to Home Depot and gotten the foam that they use for insulation...and used it to put in a "pillow case" of material for my windows to hold out the wind. And one broke. I used it to pin a hawaiian print blouse (an expensive silk one that had a blowing palm and tiki hut) for my daughters living room. You can hang that with just a "t" pin (straight pin) put in wall and push the foam on it. Some foams I have used came as packing material in boxes like TVs come in.

If you have a great photo of some sort--vacation, pet, your kids at play, an ocean view--you can take them to a national chain drug store, a local photoshop or even a corporate retail behemoth and have it cropped to focus in only on the most desirable part of the photograph and blown up to a suitable size on foam core. You can display this using several kits available at retail stores. Or to display your photo even more artfully, you can have it sectioned into thirds or quarters or even cut sculpturally to create a stunning graphic for your wall. It's not traditional, it's not contemporary. It's just different and could be visually energizing.

Just a suggestion.

Cool suggestions, thanks. nbcj, what did you mean by "you can display this using serveral kits available at retail stores?" I like the idea of having photo sectioned into thirds and displayed that way. I'll have to practice.

thanks

I painted my double garage sky blue and hung a lot of big pictures of my family and friends.I also hung wood signs to