Conveying with Collages

This post is not about a particular project, but more about a design aesthetic that I absolutely swear by! As the empty rooms in our new house continue to come together as living spaces, I cannot help but walk around and notice things that really stand out for me. By the way I have filled up my wall spaces, it is pretty obvious that I naturally incline towards collages. I could actually find 9 different arrangements of art/photos/wall decor that form a collage. Some of them were bought that way and some of them come together as I wouldn't like it any other way!

With this post, I want to show you guys how 2, 3, 4 and sometimes 6 different items came together to tell a story. Hang in there as I walk you through my 9 examples :)

1. This beautiful LIVE - LOVE- LAUGH collage has travelled with us through 3 different residences. We were lucky to have a great photographer at our wedding (JKoe Photography) and it was really hard to chose our favorites. We just had to display these pictures and we found the right spot above the couch in the living room. This not only brings back great memories for us, but also is a great conversation-starter with family and friends. We found this one as-is at Bed Bath and Beyond.

2. Mojo has his own special corner in the house, where he sleeps. We brought him home when he was two months old, but the breeders gave us his baby pictures. I bought this frame from Target and put all his baby pictures in it. Meeting this frame in the corner are cardboard letters that spell out MOJO...I stuck bright green paper on the front and hung them with shoe laces on a push pin.

3. The arrangement below is part of the Media room set-up. We bought these frames on sale and came in a set of three at Dania. It has a very sleek and modern vibe to it and we needed these colors on the dark walls of the room. We chose red as the accent color in the room and added some pillows, a wall clock and other red knick knacks to keep the color going.

4. You guys have seen how this project came together in the post Shoes and Decoupage can fix everything. This is definitely one of my favorite collages and even though it is 6 different pieces, they really come together as one big piece of art. Also, don't be shy to experiment with the layouts; cut out small pieces of scrap paper/newspaper of the same size of your canvas and play around with tape, before drilling holes.

5. Our master bathroom has a lot of off-white surfaces- tiles on the floor and shower, all the walls, even the tiles surrounding the sinks. We added a dark shade of gray to add depth. We found some frames at Home Goods that mimic the tile work around the sinks. These were actually 2 different sets and we decided to put them together as one long arrangement. Since the frames are across from the mirror, the reflection gives the illusion of 8 frames in a row!

6. Who says that the laundry room has to be dull and boring? We ladies spend a lot of time in there and there better be something pretty to look at. I bought these frames and posters at Ikea and colored the corners orange with a Sharpie. I added more orange in the ribbons that I tied to the back and used round push-pins to hang them in a slanting arrangement.

7. We were 'inspired' by a model house guest bath painting technique and shamelessly copied it in our house. Light gray on the top, a wide strip of white and dark gray on the bottom...looks amazing! When I found these mirror pieces at Ikea, it was as if they were made for the Ikat shower curtains from Urban Outfitters. So I had no option but bring them together in this interesting mish-mash of pattern, strips and squares.

8. My husband and I went to the University of Washington and definitely bleed purple and gold! I thought getting a Master's Degree was a huge accomplishment for me, but my science-loving, lab rat of a husband got himself a PhD! Graduation was a big deal for our families and they actually convinced us to pay for these photos and make copies and send it to them. This collage has our pictures and diplomas in a grid; where different colors and frame-styles come together to tell a story. 

9. This collage covers an entire wall and holds 28 pictures. It has pictures of our favorite people and moments since we were kids. The biggest challenge was to include all our favorite pictures but work with the orientation of the slots. But it definitely came together beautifully and on many occasions were find ourselves standing across from it and reminiscing in the good ol' days!

I hope you guys enjoyed this tour and I urge you to break free from the store-packaging of wall art...You have to decide what looks good to you and if you cannot find it, you have to make it. But remember, the word is Collection...not Clutter :)