Creating a collection and making it work!

Our old front entrance.

New Front Entrance

So when you first walk into our house from the front door, you are greeted by our lovely living room. It’s nice and spacious and full of great accents (I think!). One of the issues I always had with it though was that directly across from the door is the wall that leads to the hallway.

At first I wanted to put pictures there. However that felt too cluttered, so down they went. Then we went to IKEA and looked at those neat wavy mirrors that they have, but at $15 each pair, and feeling like they were just not quite right for the space, we nixed that.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70179377/

So really the wall sat empty for two years. We painted it grey and took down the horrible wood paneling that was there.  After some brainstorming with my husband, we decided that this summer we are going to remodel the kitchen and that wall will now become a half-way. However the summer is months away!  I want it to look more finished now. So when Joann’s had their entire fall home decorating accents on clearance, I went through and bought as many star shaped wall decorations as I could. I wanted to create the look of a collection without the price or making it match too much. I ended up spending about $20 on 4 stars. They came in all shapes and colors, including one that had a light textured pattern on it.

 I got home and I sprayed them with a satin-gloss black spray paint from Rust-oleum. I let them dry overnight and hung them up on the wall in a corner shape.  I feel like it adds a nice accent without being too heavy, and because the cost was not very much, when the wall comes down I won’t feel like I wasted a bunch of money.  The fact that they are all the same color makes them feel like a matched set without being too polished.

Often times, I really struggle with making everything in my house feel balanced. What I mean is, that I will put two of decorations, or hang things at 90 degree angles, or only use the same color. After I started to notice that I did that, it drove me nuts and I felt like it made the house look like it was decorated by someone who did not know what they were doing ( ok that’s the truth!).  I noticed that in house’s  that looked well decorated (like my Mom’s house), items were not too matchy matchy, and sometimes came in all hues and sizes.  I have definitely gotten more comments on decorations that were personal and unique than items that while they looked great, were a dime a dozen.