How to Make Eclectic Wall Collages Work
I recently went to the home of a friend who is an artist. Every spot on her walls is covered with the artwork she has created or the art that she has purchased from others in the art business. I would have expected this to look very "busy" but instead it worked. Each piece held its own spot and none took away from any of the others despite the fact that there were different styles and color schemes and mediums represented throughout the house.
It is not easy to make this type of eclectic wall collage work in your home decor. You need to choose pieces that are either similar enough to create a uniform look in the space or different enough to allow each one to stand on its own. You need to select the surrounding furniture and wall coloring to finish the look. When you do this with your own sense of personal style at the core of the design and with an eye towards the broad scope of the entire room, you can really create a home that shows off all of your artistic interests without seeming scattered or messy.
It is not easy to make this type of eclectic wall collage work in your home decor. You need to choose pieces that are either similar enough to create a uniform look in the space or different enough to allow each one to stand on its own. You need to select the surrounding furniture and wall coloring to finish the look. When you do this with your own sense of personal style at the core of the design and with an eye towards the broad scope of the entire room, you can really create a home that shows off all of your artistic interests without seeming scattered or messy.
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The easiest way to make eclectic pieces work in the same space is to make them more uniform with one another. This is done here by using the same frame for every piece and by hanging the pieces in an evenly spaced symmetrical format. If you're not someone who pulls off an eclectic look easily then this is a good route to go to create a polished appearance for your display.
This is an interesting approach because it's heavily weighted on the right side of the display. This draws your attention to the two large photos on that end of the room but then allows your eye to graze back across the rest of the display easily. The similarity in the frames here pulls the entire look together.
You don't need to have frames to create a unified theme with your different pieces of art work. Here every piece is very unique but the theme of nature runs throughout so the display is like one large piece of art instead of separate pieces. The simplicity of the surrounding decor makes this the centerpiece of the room. The images are hung on different levels to create a layered, textured look for the piece.
This is another example of a wall display that combines many different pieces but maintains a theme. Here the colors and graphics are all from the same family so you get a total wall covered with the art. The symmetry of the hanging adds to the simplicity of this style.
Choosing the right furniture for the area is also a great way to make a whole room look right when there is eclectic art on display. Here the best piece is the geometric mirror over the bed which mimics the geometric layout of the pictures. The uniquely-shaped lamps add to the appeal of this room as does the geometric design on the large pillows.
It's posible to create a playfulness in this type of display by adding different types and sizes of images to the array. Here there are six similar images in matching frames but then we see letters, postcards and 3d animals interspersed between them. It's a cute fun look that's great for a kids' room and might also work well in a common space.
Many people have art on display that is three-dimensional rather than two dimensional. A series of shelves is the best option for making this type of eclectic array of objects look right in any space. It can add a lot of personal style to a home office as we see here. This also works well in kitchens, dining areas, hallways and entry ways.
Shelves can also be used to hold framed photos. This is a great look. The photos are in different sized frames with rather unique sizing to the mats that surround the images. The frames are complimentary but not matching. The black-and-white theme allows the pictures to exude a quiet beauty while letting the artistic furniture here really stand out.
Decorating the wall itself to compliment the art that you're going to hang on it is a really bold way to create a full-room style. Here we see graffiti painted on to the wall behind the artwork which is also urban art. This could be expanded with many different themes and styles to create different looks for any room.
Here is another one that I really like: