Monday, May 7, 2012

Collage Adventures

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When you’re growing up, there’s at least one friend you make that is a forever friend. It’s what a real BFF is. Well, that is my friend, Meghan. Her dad dropped her off at our elementary school and told Meghan, “That girl with the crimped hair looks nice. You should go make friends with her.” And for your entertainment, here is said crimped hair on me in 1st grade:

Thank you 80s. You really rocked my tresses.

So, needless to say, Meghan and I go way back. We spent many summers together at her house, or my house, making microwave pizzas and watching Sally Jesse Raphael.

Her mom is now retired, and got the fix-the-house-up bug. Of course, she called her daughter-from-another-mother for some help. They did some great things on their own, like installing these beautiful wood floors throughout the downstairs. I drool on them every time I’m over there. Oh yes. They will be mine. Meg’s dad was ready for a real deal Holyfield TV, so we got rid of the big ol’ entertainment center, rearranged the rest of the furniture for better viewing pleasure, and upgraded a few things. Meghan and I had some fun shopping with Mom & Dad’s money for a few new pieces.

Finally, I suggested a picture collage above the do-everything-table. I love collages and you can see some others here, and some tips here. Meghan’s mom brought out a ton of pictures. Its a crime they weren’t on the wall.
DSC09152Old wedding photos, new wedding photos, and maybe a little room for a future wedding photoWinking smile::cough::Meghan::cough. And of course, it’s the grandkids show, too. Meghan’s older sister has 2 handsome little dudes.
We made a trip to Ikea for some white frames to replace the mish mosh of colors and wood tones. Since we had different colored and toned photos, it was important to let those be the focus, so we needed the frames to be one color. A nice clean white usually does the trick.
And then I made another trip because I didn’t buy enough frames… Some of the older pictures, like the 2 in the bottom right, were professionally gallery framed, so I just taped them off really well and gave them a couple sprays of white spray paint to match.

This picture was the main focus:
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The whole fam damly! Parents, kids, grandkids, and an in-law in a pear tree…
As you can see the actual picture is a little small for the frame. My fix? I found some pretty wrapping paper I had bought a while back from Paper Source, cut it to fit inside the frame’s matting, and secured the picture with some glue dots to the paper. The blue-gray tied in the blues in the picture and the blues we brought into the room’s décor. It also brought in a little pattern. Subtle ways to spice up your life and your collage.

Once I had the pictures in the new frames, I started laying them out. It’s like Tetris.
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I rearranged and rearranged, and rearranged some more until my eyes were crossed. I figured I’d tweak it when I got them in the house to install, but I wanted a general idea of major points… You’ll see why I left the blank space above the focal pic soon…

I gathered up my arsenal of tools:
DSC09197A large bubble level, a small bubble level, hammer, measuring tape, blue painter’s tape, laser level and stud finder, and these Sidewinder drywall hangers. Here’s a closer look at them:
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I had never heard or seen these before Meghan’s mom showed them to me. Out here in earthquake country, you can never be too careful. These hook into the drywall so the tall pointy part is on the inside of the drywall for extra support and security. The hook on the end is perfect for all different kinds of picture back hangers. I used a small nail to hammer into the wall to get a starter hole started, so I didn’t have to stab the wall to death, but its got a sharp pointy end that you can just poke into the drywall. They obviously, don’t go through the studs in the wall… I really like them. Your pictures might sway and wiggle, but unless we’re having a really scary gigantic earthquake, these will hold your pics on the wall.

Time to get to work:
DSC09179See the floors?! Don’t you just want to die? They’re so pretty! They painted the walls, added the pretty crown molding, chair rail, and base molding. We added some ledges and decorative items to the other walls. We moved that hanging glass pendant from the left corner so that it was over the table. Meghan’s dad made that table. Pretty cool!

Here I am in progress:
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My sister was kind enough to watch Will for the afternoon, so it was a break for me, where I could fully concentrate, and do some geometry. Lots of measuring, re-measuring, adjusting, etc. It was a brain workout. From setup to clean up, it took about 4 hours.

And completed:
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And those little heads are why I kept that space open. Sherlock, Dr. Watson, and the bad guy… Meghan’s mom collects these. She has a ton of them and honestly, they’re a little freaky. I’m not a big fan of things with faces on my walls, unless its my family’s faces. She adores them, so I told her we would pick favorites and put them in the living room. Small collections is key. They kind of look cool in the collage.
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The room is coming together:
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Enough pictures for you? Smile

It’s such a great feeling to see a project you’ve been working on for a while, finally come together. Even better when it’s to make someone else happy!

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1 comment:

  1. Woot! I love it!!! My Dad wants to get rid of the lamp now because "it blocks all the pictures"! Yeah!!! (I didn't like that lamp!) Thanks for your hard work...it looks great!

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