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Need help with photo collage!

row_014
10 years ago
I need some help with my photo collage above my piano! Do I need to drop my wedding pic even further? Is it ok that the pics go wider than the piano? Or should I rearrange so it stays within the piano width? The wall is a dark purple (looks brown, second photo is a bit better colour) and I think I'm going to do all black and white photos. Please help!

Comments (93)

  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    Hi Rina! I feel like you're an old friend even though we've never met ;) thanks for your advice
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    Ditto!
  • PRO
    LB Interiors
    10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago
    Just thought I would post the collage without the invisible rectangle surround. It will look like this on the wall.
    Photo Collage · More Info
  • maryjennings
    10 years ago
    This is perfect!
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    One more option! What do you think?
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    Here's LBs suggestion and another variation
  • PRO
    LB Interiors
    10 years ago
    That works too. If it is going over the piano, I think the rectangle works nicer than a square layout. The scale is better with each other.
  • PRO
    LB Interiors
    10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago
    I like the left one. I'm looking at the wieght of visual space of each item, for it not to look lopsided re: visual weight. So sizes and color make a difference They all can work.
  • PRO
    LB Interiors
    10 years ago
    I would spread them out to create a longer rectangle over the piano. Not so close together. To get that look, it would be more like my drawing sketch.
  • Carla NN
    10 years ago
    I am a professional photographer and I have many clients in high end homes with personal photographs in all areas of the home. It brings warmth and story telling to the home, in my opinion.
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    LB, maybe the rectangle won't work then, coz I can't go any wider than the layout I posted. That's as wide as the piano is!
  • PRO
    LB Interiors
    10 years ago
    Oh, okay, understand. Thanks, didn't know the dimensions of the piano or the pics. Thanks for the clarification. So any tight grouping will work. I was just looking at the dark background pics for balance to the group as a whole. Whatever feels best for you : )
  • decoenthusiaste
    10 years ago
    Bottom row should have their lower frames all the same level. After that you can let the group get more loose and irregular, but within a footprint which you can tape off on your wall with blue painter's tape. Cut out poster board shapes for each framed piece and use the tape to play with them within the taped footprint. Once you have it worked out, mark where the hangers are and the nail holes should be for each picture on the poster board shape. Then simply hammer your nail or hanger through the hole, pull off the shape and replace it with the actual framed piece.
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    Another variation on LB's design, allowing a smidgeon more breathing space.
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    Hmm. Bottom left should be moved left just a centimetre or two; that won't be noticeably wider than the piano?
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    I don't think it will work Rina :( the arrangement I posted in that format was the absolute widest it could go. It would line up down the sides of the piano so going any wider would be noticeable :(
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    Hi. I used the size you had in the last one you posted -- the one on the left. Moved the upper centre two pics apart a bit without disturbing the outside line, ditto turned the two on the right to horizontal instead of vertical. And come to think of it, you may be able to get the space by shifting the wedding pic a smidge to the right without crowding the small horizontals. In any case, adding two centimetres, one on each side, would have about the effect of the yellow line below. Measure and see. ;-)
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    I hung them up... Do you think I need to shift the bottom right photo across to be in line with the ones on top? It feels top heavy on that side
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    Congratulations, Row -- another red-letter day. I don't think it should be moved, but I've moved it for you below so you can have a look. In the pic the bottom frames don't look perfectly lined up, but that may just be the pic.
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    It's about 2mil out. Can't notice it unless you get up real close. Thanks for the visual of it moved across. I'll live with it like this for a couple of days and see if it grows on me ;)
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    I don't know what to put on the window wall now! I have this collage frame there for now but not loving it. I could paint the frame black but I think I would like some art there?
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    Good plan, to live with it a bit. Two mil? Oooh, aren't you a sloppy thing then?

    On the other wall, yes, art, definitely definitely art. About the same size. Two collages in one room is too bitty. I see that collage has colour in it, make sure the art does too. But wow, the purple wall is looking good! The whole room is.
  • PRO
    LB Interiors
    10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago
    I like the collage that you posted. I would not move the lower right photo. Yes art on the other wall. Maybe something a little longer to fill the vertical space .
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    Thanks so much Rina & LB!
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    It's a pleasure.
  • Joe DeVitto
    10 years ago
    the layout looks nice you have posted .. all in a row . makes the wall look wider and even ...
  • PRO
    LB Interiors
    10 years ago
    You are Welcome.
  • maryjennings
    10 years ago
    Hi
    I think the rectangle looks too square. The Perfect dimensions are the Golden Ratio ( x and 1.6 x). Many artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio—especially in the form of the golden rectangle, in which the ratio of the longer side to the shorter is the golden ratio—believing this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing . What is the length of the area above the piano? It will be more pleasing to the eye to get it close to the golden rectangle.
  • abbyjean
    10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago
    I love what you have NOW over the piano! Enjoy that part of your room as I know how hard you have worked on it. Do not have more pics on another wall to compete with them...let them be your true focal point all alone. Choose your accent color and get some art work to hang there.
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    Hi Maryjennings, the dimensions of the photo rectangle is 106x84. To get the golden rectangle I need another 30cm width. I could shift the whole lot right about 15cm and then put a row of three small portrait photos ( same size as top right) down the left side? Rina, my dear friend, can you do a visual pretty please?
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    You're funny. One pretty coming up.

    I aligned the small pics at the top with the other one that is down a bit from the top line, lining them up with the top line just made the composition look as though it sagged at that one point.

    Don't ask my opinion right now -- been working all day, and too tired to have one. It's round about collapse time.
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    PS You're indefatigable.
  • maryjennings
    10 years ago
    Why not do 106 by 65?

    I like big picture in middle of bottom row.

    Lay it out on floor to get right proportions. Good luck!!
  • Nancy Travisinteriors
    10 years ago
    Do middle pic much taller with others on each side of it.
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    What's everyone's thoughts on Rinas visual? I like the size better but does it dominate the piano now?

    Maryjennings, I'd like to keep all the pics of my family (hence why it ended up so big) but maybe I need to cut some back and shorten up the arrangement like you suggested?
  • maryjennings
    10 years ago
    Use 84 by 136 then spread them out
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    Good morning. I have an opinion now I've had some sleep .... I think the wide rectangle does overwhelm the piano, actually. So might as well join the madness and restore it to its noble position as a base.

    (Just thinking of the expression that would have been on my late husband's face if I were doing what you're doing. Midway between 'isn't she a cute little thing?' and 'I think I'm going to have to strangle her'.)
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    Thanks Rina! At least you can 'rearrange' it for me without putting heaps of nail holes in the wall :) if I was doing that for real I think my husband would strangle me! I'm not liking the tall rectangle... What does everyone think?
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    Maybe i need something (have no idea what!) to flank the sides to make it a bit wider and also more of a diamond?
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    It wouldn't overpower the piano quite so much that way
  • armygirl1987
    10 years ago
    Looks good.
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    Yes, I like the diamond idea. Two very thin slivers of mirror in very thin slivers of frame would work. And of course you can find them at any supermarket. I don't think.
  • zhaolei
    10 years ago
    Black is too crowded,
  • PRO
    Hadley House Interiors
    10 years ago
    Check out picturewall.com. It is, without a doubt, the EASIEST way to configure a photo collage! It provides a "map", frames, several layouts. All you need!
  • sbrustein
    10 years ago
    I think if the pictures get too high, they can't really be seen- and since they are photographs that is a problem. So, I would go beyond the piano rather than too high on the wall.
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    Good point, Sbrustein. I got so wrapped up in moving things around (without nails) I kind of forgot why they're there. But you know, Row, I still like best the rectangle you have now, the one you posted before you started going for the golden ratio -- which is a fine thing, but one does not get arrested for ignoring it. My best advice for now is to leave it exactly as it is for at least three months. Then, if you find you're not loving it, you can do something about it.
  • row_014
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    Rina, the voice of reason! I'll leave it for now :)
  • Rina
    10 years ago
    :-)
  • PRO
    LB Interiors
    10 years ago
    Do these appeal to you. But closer together.
    Collage 2 · More Info

    Collage 3 · More Info
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