First things first: were we saying foxes might be the new “it” animal—moving in on birds and giraffes? This video might be proof we’re onto something.
Now that that’s out of the way, on to our regularly scheduled program.
Sherry and I have long liked the idea of surrounding a TV with art to soften the big black rectangle it makes on the wall. With a sizable collection of frames to choose from (128 to be exact), picking the right pieces wasn’t quick. After more deliberation than I care to admit, we finally hung the first frame collage in this house.
Here’s the bare wall we started with:
Sherry did most of the arranging—credit where it’s due—and used the floor as her work surface. The large gap in the middle marks the TV location. Beyond considering frame sizes, our main goal was to choose artwork that wasn’t visually demanding—nothing too bright or high-contrast. We didn’t want the art to steal attention from the TV shows.
Once the layout looked good on the floor, we began transferring it to the wall—starting with the frame in the center and making sure it was aligned with the TV. Oddly, even though Clara was asleep we had Little Einsteins playing. A bit of Mozart in the background made hanging frames oddly soothing.
We built outward from the center, holding each frame up and eyeballing its position. We aimed for relatively consistent spacing but didn’t obsess over perfection; a little irregularity gives a collage character, and we can tweak things later. After taking a photo we noticed the frame immediately to the right of the TV was a bit too close, so we made a mental note to nudge it out after finishing the opposite side.
Here’s what it looked like with almost everything on the wall—except for the bottom-left frame because we forgot to account for the light switch. That oversight also made us realize we should have centered the TV on the ceiling beams first. It’s funny how things that look right on the floor sometimes reveal issues when brought to the wall.
We weren’t thrilled about those miscalculations, and I had a bit of déjà vu. Thankfully we’d only used small picture-hanging nails up to that point—no anchors or heavy-duty screws—so shifting everything a few inches to the right (eight inches, to be exact) was simple. In the end we covered all but one mistaken nail hole, so our frustration was short-lived.
Compared to Sherry’s initial floor layout, the final wall arrangement stayed mostly the same; we swapped three smaller outer frames for two larger ones, which looked cleaner once everything was up.
The room isn’t finished, but it already feels more personal with favorite pieces on display: wedding photostrips, the lot drawing of our first house, and a map we brought back from Hawaii. I wouldn’t be surprised if we swap a few frames over time just for fun.
We were especially happy to give our pin map a place of honor, and Sherry was thrilled to hang two faux white taxidermy pieces. Hopefully the deer that visit our yard aren’t offended.
So that’s the tale of two screws, two anchors, thirteen nails, and twenty-nine holes in the wall. Anyone else patching up a few extra holes lately? Hopefully fewer unintentional ones than we made.