Sourcing and collecting artwork needn’t take a lifetime. To curate your own gallery at home, there are a few things to remember when displaying your art auction finds, favourite photos or holiday souvenirs.
CHOOSE THE THEME
Unify your artwork: consider the colour, size, style and technique of the images and frames. For example, try combining a selection black and white photos with monochrome lithography or paintings in varying sizes and frames. You can create your own story.
SELECT THE SPACE
Decide where you want to hang your art. We don’t all have lofty ceilings but location is key. This will help you work out how many pieces you will want to fit in the space and the sizes of frames you need. A good rule is to have the central point about 150cm above the floor or 30cm above furniture.
DECIDE THE LAYOUT
Before you commit to hammering a nail, lay your frames out on the floor. This way, you can rearrange until your heart's content. We like to start with the largest first in the middle and working around from this. Keep them balanced by spacing them evenly - odd numbers work well. When you’re happy take a quick snap for reference. Remember to use a spirit level to keep them straight and a pencil can help too before you hammer.
And if you really can’t decide, then an easy solution is to use a shelf or two or three. This means you can easily update your display at the drop of a hat without reaching for the polyfiller each time.