And Up We Go!

Fancying up your stairs...

"Looking Up". Enliven the bare wall beside a staircase with an art gallery. Start with a small grouping and keep adding to it over time. Vary the sizes and shapes of the frames, mix in an occasional circle or oval into a sea of rectangles.
(Copied directly from my new cool magazine. Best of Better Homes and Gardens~100 decorating ideas. It's a good one! Buy it!)

{THE STAIRS} I very much enjoy a delightfully decorated stair wall when done correctly. I really like how the pic above demonstrates that it's okay to hang pics close together and it's also okay to hang a lot of pics together of all shapes and sizes. Don't limit yourself to just family photos. You can hang all sorts of pics. Mix and match the things you love.

Question 1: Can you mix frame and mat colors? I think yes if done carefully. Stick with a coordinating color palate. (See my example below? Do you like it?)

Question 2: Can you mix black and white photos with color photos in the same wall display? I don't care for this but if you like it....go for it!

Here's my current stair wall. However, this too has been another one of those "please refresh me" on my To Do list. My favorite part is the vent~thank you 1970's builders. (Pardon my unpainted handrail. Someday it will get painted...someday!)

Stair wall decorating NO NO's: Outdated colored school kido photos and family pics from 1982 perfectly placed in fugly matchy matchy oak frames. This screams I have no decorating taste. (no offense!) School photos belong in scrapbooks. The candid photos you take of your family (colored or black and white) are soooo much more realistic and tell such a better story~Trust me on this one princesses!

STAIR STORAGE...Nice!
It is just me or does anyone else's stairs constantly look like this? UGH! My stairs are constantly a storage space for random crap I'm too lazy to put away~MAID?!


Here's another pic display in my house. The bottom pic. is only about 2 ft. from the floor. My BFF hates this display. (Yes Peeps...you.) When she saw it she said, "Hmm...that's interesting." Let me interpret for you: "That's the dumbest picture display I've ever seen wierdo!"

Here's another pic out of my new mag. I totally love this. Which is strange because this hasn't really been my style. I told you it was my time to reinvent and renew.


Princess Homework: This weekend refresh your stair wall. It's both inexpensive and easy and all your princess friends will be jealous of the fabulous job you did! HINT: Play around with different arrangements on the floor before you start pounding nail holes.