Decorating Advice

I love all types of home assessories/decor but my weakness is furniture and wall decor. I actually think this could be called an addiction. My sister and I laugh about it being early stages of "hoarding" but I REFUSE to let it turn into that. I dont let things stack up (except bills) and everything in my house has a specific place. If it doesn't, it gets consigned. (if its small enough, it MIGHT get placed under a bed for awhile) Steal Magnolias helped with this problem for awhile but I dont have time to keep up with it because of my traveling right now and my friend/partner, Sarah, has moved to the coast for work, so....Steal Magnolias is on "hold" for awhile.

On to the addiction part... Ok so as most of you know, I travel, A LOT, for work and it gets pretty boring UNLESS I make the best of it--eat out, visit with friends, window shop, etc. Shopping never seemed to be a problem UNTIL I got hitched, now someone notices EVERYTHING I bring home. The purchasing part has taken me over and my husband has discovered my "next house" stash so either we need a bigger home or I need to fix this addiction. I vote for a bigger house but he told me I'm looking at 5+ years...so until then I've got to figure something else out.

I just LOVEEE house stuff, what is the deal?

When I see something I can't live without and I have no use for, I think of all the people/places that might potentially want/need it, mom, siser, Nic's office, lakehouse, etc. This someetimes works but when nobody else needs it, i'm stuck with it and thats when the complaining begins from the husband. Just last week I found a beautiful antique shelf that I loved but had absolutely NO ROOM for, call my mom up, emailed her a pic and the next day was taking the piece of furniture to Vicksburg. This was win/win for both of us. Mom got a beautiful new shelf/cabinet and I got to purchase it, which feed that urge! Nic wasn't all that excited because he had to pick up the furniture and drive it to Vicksburg BUT at least he didn't have to move furniture around our house to make it fit!

Ok, on to the advice part... So in the past couple of months, I've taken decorating classes from a local Interior Designer-- I just LOVE her taste. I was thinking if I took these classes, she could either make me feel better about the wonderful things I had purchased or tell me what to do with them, how to get rid of them, where to consign them, etc. First piece of advice she gave, IF YOU CAN LIVE WITHOUT SOMETHING, GET RID OF IT. What? This was not what I expected to hear.

Currently I have 8 framed pictures/pieces of art stored under beds in my guest bedrooms because I've run out of wall space to put them OR... I've bought something else and hung it in their place. I can't get rid of these! 6 of the 8 have never touched the wall in this house, they were purchased for the NEXT HOUSE and I have years to wait before that so..... under the bed they go. First step is admitting the problem, SO I'M DONE FOR NOW=)

Wall Decor Lesson
How much art do I need? How big? Where to hang?

For small art work, you need to hang in pairs or sets, just 1 will be lost on a wall. Multiples are harder to work with but can work wonderfully on a large wall (high ceiling room).

For groups of 2, you can hang them side by side, on top of an other or diagonal. Best place for these, small bathroom wall, bedroom wall or hallway. Avoid groups of 2 on mantles! You want one BIG something on mantles.

You want to hang them above funiture approximately 3-6 inches. How far apart do you hang them? Well...that depends on how big the pictures are but usually 1 1/2" to 3" apart. If you hang them too far apart, you'll show too much wall space and mess up the grouping feel.

BEFORE hanging pairs or groups, take newspaper, trace your pictures, cut them out and hang on the wall with tape. This will work out better in the long run, you wont have your husband bitchin' because he has to putty up all the holes in the wall.

Never put a huge piece of art in a small room. The bigger the room, the bigger the art UNLESS you use small groups of art.

Where to hang?
(Rule of thumb) The center of your art should be eye level to an average height person. For a woman, average height is 5'5'' or 5'6'' so it would be hung at about 5 ft. A man's average height is 6 ft.

Ever noticed how men tend to hang art too high and women too low? Its the height difference!

If you are hanging art on top of each other, make the middle of the 2 be the average eye level.

Where to hang?
Never hang art in the center of the wall---always hang in the center of the room or centered over the piece of furniture.
Ex-center of picture should be in the center of the sofa, not on the center of that wall.

Always want to keep art proportional with the furniture. If you have a large sofa or bed with a painting above it that isn't quite big enough, add sconces on each side of the painting.

How to use different types of art and make it look ok?
Art work changes with time. You can have landscapes, flowers, blues themed art, etc. Tie the art pieces in with similar colors or similar frames and you wont notice the difference. You can mix canvas pictures and framed art as long as you stick to similar colors in the art itself.

Where and when to use...MIRRORS.
DO NOT USE THEM ON YOUR MANTLE unless YOU CAN SEE YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR.

Most people put mirrors over mantles because they dont know what else to put up there... rule of thumb, never put a mirror anywhere unless you can see into it. Unless you have a low mantle, a mirror shouldn't be up there! Who wants to see the reflection of the ceiling fan?

A mirror should only be hung where it can reflect something pretty. Never have a mirror reflecting a wall. (in a hallway with nothing on the other side other than a blank wall) Art is much prettier than mirrors, USE IT!

LASTLY
People can gather a lot about someone just by walking in their front door. You should never have more pictures of yourself throughout your house than others. What do you think that tells people about you? Self-centered??

Old pictures never go out of style... find pictures of your mom/dad, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc from years ago and display those folks!

Whatever is in style now in fashion--give it 1 year and it'll be in style in home decor (colors, etc)