Monday, March 10, 2008

Frame Up


Image from this site

It is so hard not to jump in with both feet and do this thing 24/7. I'm in trouble already!

I've cleared out all the picture frames on my shelf, washed it, and done an initial sort. I understand, now, why my "picture frame projects" have stalled: I don't really like the frames.

I bought a bunch of cheap single profile frames fom Walmart several years ago, painted some of them, put them up, took them down, rearranged things, and then stored them with garage sale finds and old ones with the glass and backing falling out....

The initial sort has been fairly easy: any with pictures I want have been separated from the frame and the pictures put in a shoebox, the frames tossed. (Really, they weren't even good enough for Good will).

But there's more sorting to be done: I've all sorts of frames, seemingly missing glass. I think the glass is just "somewhere else." I hope I find it soon. Of course, I also have the opposite: glass missing frames.

And then, there is The Project.

There is one, and only one project I still really want to do. I have a bunch of old photos of the family, including a few childhood pics of my mother, of my husband and, even, of myself. (Photos of me and my childhood are rare. I think there may be about five in existence). I want to frame them and put them, artistically, on a wall in the upstairs hallway.

I've dithered for years on the whole collage thing. The standard advice is: keep all the frames the same for a unified, cohesive look. Same size, same colour, same material. (Yawn). Or, vary only one of these elelments at a time. But if you do vary them all--change all the images to black and white. Hang the pictures so that there is an equal distance between the frames, either horizontally (or more usually) vertically. Or, hang them so that the outer edges form a circle, an oval or a rectangle or some other recognizable shape. I think that covers the possibilities in the "art of picture arrangement."

But, then there's the free-wheeling look: any fame, any size, any finish, any arrangement, any filler. I think of it as the "frames as wallpaper" approach, and it's one I like (on a small wall in a boring upstairs hallway, especially)!

I'm not sure if I should actually DO this project while the cure is on: or just stack the frames and the pics together "for a later date."

Of course, if I purchased the cool wallpaper above, I wouldn't have to worry about all that, would I?

PS: I called one shop I knew bought old videos and Mella was spot on: they'd offer me 25 cents per. I figured I stood to make about $5 so I donated them instead. And they're gone! Dropped them off with a bunch of other things today. We've got the job rolling, we've got wind under our sails, we're moving along....

9 comments :

Colleen said...

I'm enjoying catching up on all of your Basement Cure happenings. I think it's really FAR more difficult of a task than the typical cure because 1. lots of random STUFF, most of it that isn't necessary, and 2. very little constant visual feedback. Like when I spent a ton of time on my living room/office, I was constantly reminded of my efforts. Lots of hard work in the basement = noticing it only occasionally, maybe once a day. So Brava! And keep up the good work :)

Alana in Canada said...

Thank you for the encouragement! Interesting point about the visual feedback. My pantry/laundry room area is in much better shape: just because I am down there many times a day. The other part, well, I can just avert my eyes and keep walking.

scb said...

Yay for getting rid of the videos! And STLColleen's point is very good, isn't it? I wouldn't have thought of it, but she's right.

Watch out for galloping Cure-itis. I'm feeling a twinge or five of the symptoms, myself.

thefarmersdaughter said...

I think that your basement will be one of the most difficult- and exciting - cure projects. STLColleen is right- because it will never be "pretty" it might be harder to motivate yourself to keep going. But, this is so important to have an organized and functional storage area! Keep up the good fight

Colleen said...

excellent start getting rid of the videos! I think if the picture wall is something you've wanted to finish for a long time, it is a good Cure project that will give you positive feedback every day (which may be valuable as you work on the basement which may be less obviously successful for a while).

zooza said...

I went for the free-wheeling look when I did a similar thing with frames on the wall behind my landing strip. I have to redo them soon, as a big lamp has replaced the vase of flowers, but this is what I ended up with:

http://zooza.wordpress.com/2007/01/06/landing-strip-postcards/

It was quite fun to lay them all out on the floor and come up with an arrangement. It only took an hour or so.

Poppy Frock said...

I am also planning to do a photo wall going up our staircase during this cure....I am planning to mix frame styles and color/b&w photos. I thought it would be more fun and interesting and look less "Real-Simple" and more "real-life" But that's just my take on it...I personally like the bohemian, jumbled look of a real collection of meaningful objects well-loved.

P.S. I adore that wallpaper...I could imagine using it in a small space and letting the kids draw pictures in the frames.

scb said...

I'm with the others who say the less structured look for the photo wall is the way I would go. I'd prefer a mixing of sizes and shapes and not complete alignments, if it was me. were me? (I'm never sure of that little grammatical quirk).


As for wanting to Cure 24/7, I answered your comment on my Week 1 thread by saying something like "Curing isn't a 'supposed to', it's an add-on. Teaching your kids comes first. If I had kids to teach, my priorities would be very different."

Mella DP said...

Good job getting rid of stuff! And valid points all regarding the challenge of this kind of task, where the payoff is almost entirely in functionality rather than in visual aesthetics.

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