My house (er… 15 square feet of living space that I call home) is far from perfect. In fact, as we speak there is a gaping hole in the wall from when the doorknob attacked it. There is plenty of other things to sigh about (70′s gold oven anyone? carpeted bathroom … need I go on??) BUT despite the drawbacks I really do love my little duplex.

The one thing that has been very difficult for me though has been the white.white.white walls. I love me some color and those white walls were starting to get old (know the feeling?). Well, I did the only thing a renter could do. I went wild with color. Big bold splashes of color everywhere … in pictures :)

So the girl who has a file folder brimming with wall art ideas, finally created her own. AND I’m very very happy about it :) One of my goals as a photographer is to create pictures that bring you JOY. The kind of pictures you want to gaze at all the time because you LOVE your family so much (and because the pictures are pretty ;) … that too!)

SO I hope by sharing how I gigantified my pictures will help give you just a few ideas on how you can do the same in your home! I’ll do a few more posts about good rules of design for wall art, different options for displaying pictures, and why you should go BIG with your prints … another day :) For me, wall art is like light. I just can’t stop talking about it :) In fact, if anyone reading this has walls they want me to just come and take over for them … let me know. I will happily live vicariously through your large empty walls and help you create a masterpiece ;)

So here are a few pics of my walls (keep in mind these pics were taken in the dead of winter with low light ok? :))

Oh, and even though it is mildly embarrassing, here is my “before” picture of my living room wall:

I admit .. I’m cringing a little looking at it. I actually had two 5×7′s on my wall … and not even really in a good group to make them work. Just hanging out by themselves on the end. What I can’t complain about is this: I HAD PICTURES on MY WALL. So if you’re like me, maybe you have some frames lying around and a tight budget … then be darned with the rules and just get those pictures on display :) I had two 5x7s, 2 8×10′s and 1 11×14 on my wall here. I do like the linear arrangement, but I think with larger prints and closer together it would have more of an impact.

I decided not to go the frame route however, here is my AFTER:

I mounted my pictures on foam core board (from Walmart) and arranged them with 2 8×10′s, 3 12×18′s and 1 16×20. Notice how the 16×20 doesn’t even look LARGE at all on my wall? It’s not that big folks :) Here are some more pictures of this wall to give you a feel for how foam core looks mounted on walls:

I hope you can see how the family picture is mounted on thick foam core, while the rest of the pictures are mounted on thin foam core. I wanted to add some visual interest by having the family picture pop off the wall just a bit more than the rest of the pictures. I mounted all pictures so that they popped off the wall, but the thickness of the family picture makes it stand out just a tad more which I like :)

On the wall adjacent to the large family wall I put up a large 20×30 canvas that I actually won (holla!) from (the a.maz.ing.) iPrintCanvas in Lehi. HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend. This canvas is superior quality to anything I’ve ever seen before. He also does GORGEOUS mounted pictures (that look more professional than my diy ones :)) so if you have the money to spend and you aren’t a diy kind of person then I can highly recommend him. Walking in to his office to pick up my canvas was complete eye candy …. his frames, canvases and mounted pictures on display are amazing.

Once again, SMALL wall HUGE picture. Now the canvas is a little too low, but I already had a nail in that wall so I decided to (be lazy) just go with it. Don’t be afraid of large prints!!

I don’t even think this “large” print looks all that large on the wall anymore (though it was kind of a shock when I first saw it ;)

And now, for my favorite wall! My kitchen wall, also mounted on foam core.

This wall is made up o f 5 11×14′s, 2 16×20′s (cut down to 14×20) and one 20×30 (cropped down to a 15×30). While a 11z14 often looks lonely all by itself on a wall, in a large grouping like this it takes on a whole new significance I think. This wall makes the kitchen the happiest room in our house! It has pictures from trips to the park, pictures from hiking and pictures from our trip to Disneyland. All of the pictures are candid and REAL. They are so full of emotion and LOVE. When people walk into my house this is the first thing they see (we use our back door …) and people always stop and look and comment. And I’m not saying that to brag! People love to see happy pictures … and having them big makes them easier to enjoy :)

Here are a few more pics of the wall:

Adjacent to this wall I have a simple magnet board for all those pictures that I love but that don’t make it on the BIG walls. I’m going to change up this arrangement this spring for something more orderly than a magnet board. I tend to like clean lines so this isn’t cutting it for me .. when the new display is finished you’ll be the first to know ;)

And now, one last glance at how it looks from the living room (complete with stacks of library books and dishes on the table ….):

If you are interested in learning how to make your own wall art by mounting pictures on foam core then PLEASE leave a comment. I would be happy to write up do’s/don’ts, tips and a video tutorial if people are interested :)

I know that style isn’t for everyone, but if you like a modern look and clean lines then I think you would LOVE this look in your home. Plus it is WAY economical. Both walls for prints and foam core and mounting strips came to less than $150. And when you consider the SIZE of the pictures you know it would have cost up to 4x’s that amount in picture frames alone :)

And now…. HAPPY FRIDAY, I’m outta here! :D