Alright, not everything works as well as planned. I vow to share with you the good, the bad, and the ugly, because no one’s perfect, but at least you deserve to know what doesn’t work before you try it yourself :) This isn’t an “ugly” one per-say, but it’s bad… gulp, OK, OK… borderline ugly.
I was craving a little visual interest on the wall behind the front door in my entryway, so I decided to make it a place which I could display my collection of (then) brass frames and some photos (yes, I still print photos). These are frames I’ve accumulated from garage sales over the past few years – just the cheap kinds that were popular decades ago. To take a stab at transforming the space, I painted the entryway white, and invested in some 3/4″ quarter-round trim which I carefully cut to length and superglued in place on the wall to create 3/4″ ledges for the frames to sit on. Once I began to display the brass frames, I decided that they might look better in white, so I spray painted them all (the brass look was cheapo anyways).
Come to find, 3/4″ isn’t quite wide enough to sufficiently prop a picture frame. I made it work for awhile by double-sided-taping a spot on each frame to the wall to help keep them upright, but it didn’t work out for long – they gradually fell or were knocked off. Right now, I’m in the process of removing those glued shelves and coming up with a new solution for decorating the entryway. Ideas welcome.
5 Comments
A couple ideas – First, what about painting the wall an interesting color and then doing some sort of stencil?
Second – what about using the Command adhesive velcro strips to hang all the framed photos in a collage way?
Third – what if you painted it a simple color, then hung a set of these fun glass “hanging bubbles” from the ceiling?
Hi Jane! I actually did try out adhesive (not velcro, but little bits of double-sided sticky foam tape) and that helped a little bit, but felt too… affixed. I liked the idea of swapping out photos on a whim and the stickiness was too permanent feeling. I installed a light in the ceiling (not hanging bubbles, as much as I like them), and I do like the idea of painting a different color – I’ve been thinking a light gray.
Ok, I know I’m commenting about a month after you asked for suggestions, so if you have already decided on something feel free to ignore me. What about making something similar to the postcard ledges YHL made for their office at their last house? ( http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/07/office-progress-getting-our-art-groove-on/) It looks like your space may need somthing that doesn’t stick out very far because of the door, otherwise I’d suggest the Ikea Ribba picture ledges. You could even reuse the trim pieces from Plan A on the edge of the ledges if you wanted to.
Also, I really like the idea of grey behind white ledges.
Thanks Cait! The comment is totally helpful because I’m still undecided. I really love the idea of doing little shelves like theirs, and it’s probably along the lines of what I’ll end up doing – I just need a little bit more of a ledge than I had before, and the way they’ve routed a little groove into the wood is a good trick. My distant second option is paneling the back wall (which may sound weird) so I’ve been shopping (unsuccessfully) for really, really thin boards (of any paintable material) that are maybe 6″ wide – I’d install them horizontally one by one and leave a little gap between each board and then paint the whole thing white (or gray or a completely different color like teal, who knows); I think it might be an interesting detail, and I could hang a few pieces of (thin framed) art on top of that the ol’ fashion way with a couple of hooks. It’s true that I can’t have anything too thick behind the door, even with the doorstop in place.
That sounds like a good option, too! Looking forward to seeing what you decide on!