Huge Wall

Huge. Around 22' long if memory serves. Our basement is finished, and the only solid wall (w/o a door or some kind of opening) runs down the left side of the basement. The huge TV is now mounted at one end, and the door to dh's office is at the other. The room is divided by the sofa (facing the TV, obviously), and the area behind it is kid's playland. We used to have one of those giant world maps http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...X9P81DD9PQVMWE hanging on it (and it barely took up any space), but I never really worried about decorating it b/c the basement was all playroom. Now that it's our family room (and the map is down, it had some tears), I want to hang pictures.

My idea was to get large prints of some of my best photographs from our trip to Europe and frame them, but a straight line would be ridiculous, and groupings are tough b/c the room really is split in half.

Ideas?

[scrub-jay]

I tend to hang them offset from one another at all heights. The only consistency is that I try to have frames matching in some element (either in style or in color). I also deviate on my frame size. Good luck!

And have fun!!

[HouseofWool]

I vaguely remember seeing something where the designer blocked off a large square/rectangle on the wall with painter's tape. Then he hung an assortment of photos in all different sizes within the square. All of the photos had the same inexpensive black frame. It looked really pretty cool and was much nicer than a line of photos. Obviously the painter's tape will come down once the photos are hung. I think he had sheets of paper that matched the sizes of each of the frames and used those to play around with the arrangement so that there weren't a lot of extra holes in the wall.

I've been seeing some gorgeous ways to hang up prints on the Pottery Barn website. If you go to where you can buy the frames on the web site, they have lots of sample walls with their frames very artfully arranged. Some of the arrangements are for larger walls, with what looks like up to 20 frames of all different sizes. I think something like that would look great, especially if you can put up photos that are either all in black and white, or perhaps that share a dominant color (like photos that all have some blue in them, for example), to create a unified look.

[houseelf]

I'm just impressed that you are going to try it. I can't commit to anything decoratively speaking.

Please post pics when you're done!

I would if I understood how to ...

I've got (what I would call) a very successful set of photo groupings on my first floor, on either side of my fireplace. The groupings aren't want are worrying me so much, it's the expanse of the wall, and HOW to break it up. I just don't know!! Rather than doing all black and white, I tend to use all the same frame, with large mats, and that way the colors of the various pictures don't tend to compete too much.

I've been looking on etsy tonight and am considering having a "family rules" sign made to hang in the middle of the wall, and then to photo groupings on either end (spaced down the wall, not immediately next to the sign). http://www.etsy.com/listing/51298859...hy-word-art-in I think the size posted is too small, but am convo'ing with the artist. She's offered a 2'x4' ... which is pricey ... I dunno.

[HouseofWool]

I really like the family rules sign, but getting much bigger will get really expensive to ship... Yikes.

[Ladybug]

http://www.marthastewart.com/goodthi...-an-easier-way

There are some other ideas on the side to click on. I always like her picture gallery ideas. I have a whole notebook full of them. I put a picture gallery up on two long walls upstairs and they look awesome. I got the frames at michaels (usually 40% off) and on the weekends they run an extra 25% off entire purchase coupon so I got them for less than $6 per frame and they look just like PB frames and matts.

[Vishenka69]

Are the shots you're planning on using just landscape/architecture or do they include you? I would probably contain the Europe shots to the family room half and do some fun shots of the kids on the playroom half (coordinating the frames to keep a clean look).

The pictures I was going to use from Europe are all landscape / architecture, so I'm probably now going to use those upstairs. Since I'm going to have a HUGE sign that says "Family" on it, I'm going to do family pics on both sides, interspersed with some of the kid's framed artwork. Fortunately we use the most awesome photographers in the land, so I won't be putting up crappy snapshots.