Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The Trouble with Blank Walls

So…blank walls are kind of exciting.  They are a fresh start, a space of possibilities, a blank canvas if you will.

But they are also kind of overwhelming.  What to fill them with?  What proportions will look good?  Do I even like this art?  Does leaving it blank highlight or diminish the greasy little fingerprints over the bottom 1/3 of it?  : ) It is especially overwhelming if it is a big blank wall…at least for me. 

I also struggle with indecision between a few different looks I like.  Should I do this gallery wall, or those big prints, or maybe a piece of furniture here?  I have perfectionist tendencies so it’s hard to battle those and just go for something

(You don’t want to be locked in my brain.  It is a battleground of decorating choices, with depression glass missiles and frames tossed about like catapults.  Yikes.)

I was/am facing this in our kitchen/dining area.  It is one big room with one prominent big blank wall.  I filled part of that wall with the coffee and tea station that I go on about ad nauseum.  ; )  But since it was such a large wall there was a part to the left that looked pretty neglected next to it’s showy neighbor. 

See?

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(That darker spot on the wall is just a shadow from a chair…FYI.  And…the coffee/tea area only takes up half the wall, not most of the wall the way it looks here)

Of course, there are other walls in the house that pose problems.  One of them was the wall behind our TV that I posted about (and kind of solved) here.  Since we moved last June I haven’t actually done much decorating on our walls besides these two locations.  There are a lot of blank walls to fill here!  Slowly but surely I’ll get to most of them…though I don’t necessarily think every wall needs to have something on it. 

Back to this particular wall.  In case it is hard to picture the layout of the room, here is a picture of the kitchen area from before we moved:

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The big wall to the right is the wall I’m currently trying to figure out.  I started doing some more on it, then I realized that I didn’t get enough shelf brackets when I was last at Ikea…bummer!!  It will have to wait until I can get there again.  I am hoping I can go tomorrow (and I really would LOVE to go as it is always a fun outing for the kids and I, especially so with the winter we’ve been having) but it is supposed to snow again so we’ll see if the drive is a good idea.  There are a few other things I want to check out at Ikea so I’ve been looking for an excuse to go there again for a while.  : )  If I do go I’ll be showing you that project (including a fun poster I found!) sometime next week (as always around here, fingers crossed!).

So…do blank walls overwhelm you too?  Tell me I’m not the only one!

8 comments:

  1. Blank walls are the worst. I've been contemplating the area above our couch and either side of the window for sometime now. Should it be symmetrical? Does it HAVE to match? I can't wait to see what you decide here. They're are so many possibilities.

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    1. Oh, walls with couches are tough too. Thankfully in our current house the only wall in the living room that really works for a couch has windows on it, so I don’t have to think too much about it. YES, too many choices!! Looking forward to seeing what you do with yours!

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  2. We have a similar wall in our kitchen. At first I didn't know what to do with it, but then with the lack of storage, I put a hutch and a pantry closet. It's not my favorite look, but I guess it's functional. Did you make it to Ikea? I see you posted this Wednesday and sure enough it snowed Thursday. I'm ready for Spring!

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    1. Oh yes, we have a storage shortage in our kitchen too...so I have a dresser and a hutch in there. Kitchens have to be functional!
      No, I didn’t make it to Ikea...we got 6 inches of snow that morning and was lucky to make it to our son’s dr. appt! I was a little bummed but it was for the best as the roads were awful! We’ll try again another day. : ) And YES to spring coming asap!

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  3. Yep, blank walls intimidate me too. Esp. if it's a large wall and there's something on the other side- I never know how to balance it out! And I know what you mean about greasy little fingerprints- they've decorated our dining room. :)

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    1. Oh yes, it is so hard to make things look balanced!! I haven’t quite figured that out yet myself.
      Have a great weekend Lisa!

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  4. Ha! How'd you get in my head?! ;)

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I look forward to hearing from you!