From the moment we painted the brick wall in our sunroom, we wanted to hang some art. After returning from a whirlwind trip that involved four days and six flights, we finally made time to do it on Friday. It’s surprising how much more lived-in a room feels once art is on the walls. We’ve been slower to hang things in this house than we planned, but after nearly seven years of renovations, hanging art still has that near-instant “finished” effect.
For this sunroom we wanted to be budget-conscious and use what we already own while saving for bigger projects: Clara’s big-girl room, an untouched guest bathroom, and future updates to the front porch and carport. That meant no big purchases for now, just pulling art from storage and arranging what we had on hand.
We landed on an eclectic, asymmetrical gallery that felt better on the wall than piled on the playroom floor. The wood side table on the right looks a touch heavy at the moment, even with wooden artwork on the left to help balance things, but we have plans to tweak that later so it will feel more intentional.
We gathered frames and art-sized objects, then played with arrangements until the grouping felt balanced relative to the furniture and the ceiling’s slope. Luckily, some of the pieces echoed the pillow colors while a few darker items added visual weight. The goal was relaxed and eclectic—nothing too matchy-matchy.
To show how the wall came together we made an animated GIF that shows the order each piece was added. After hanging each item, we’d step back, hold the next piece up, shuffle it until it looked right, and then nail it to the wall.
We skipped precise measuring because we wanted a casual, collected look—no need for complex math unless you’re aiming for a perfectly balanced grid like the one above our sofa.
Curious about how we made that animated GIF? There are straightforward Photoshop tutorials that walk you through it. And yes, we work with the harsh light and shadows in that room—part of the fun of decorating old spaces. One of the larger pieces is a poster of our local magazine cover that we were given after a Richmond tour event, which now serves as oversized wall art.
The right side of the arrangement features two maps: a North America map from an old calendar that was waiting to be used as art, and a vintage map of Richmond that’s moved with us from house to house. While it might read strongly as a “map corner” for now, their colors work well in the room and we’ll likely let this wall evolve over time rather than lock it into one theme.
The left side is a quirky mix that we never expected to hang together, but somehow it feels right. The large brown piece on the far left is a thrifted doily stretcher we bought for a few dollars because it was big, geometric, and cheap—perfect for adding texture and grounding the wooden table across the room.
Beside it are two painterly works: a watercolor print and a painted wood canvas. The lower print was gifted to us during a book tour stop and felt personal, while the top piece is a portrait of our dog Burger, painted by a reader’s husband—uncannily similar to Burger’s soulful, pleading eyes.
We hung everything at night, so process photos were scarce, but we did take one quick shot of our attempt at arranging the pieces before finalizing their locations.
If you need to hang art on brick, here’s the straightforward method that works for us:
- Use a masonry bit to drill a hole sized for a plastic anchor—when possible, drill into mortar rather than brick for easier work.
- Hammer a plastic anchor into the hole.
- Screw in a screw, leaving about half an inch exposed so picture hooks or frame wire can hang securely.
This holds frames and even heavy mirrors well. If you later want to remove anchors, we’ve had success patching painted brick or mortar: pull the anchor out with the back of a hammer, fill the hole with paintable caulk, and paint over it—the texture of painted brick helps disguise the repair.
Less hassle than drilling brick were two prints we finally hung elsewhere in the room. They’re above a temporary arrangement of a table and chairs that are standing in until we find something more substantial and storage-friendly—something that will better fit the seating needs around the daybed and egg chair.
The bicycle prints are currently taped up with masking tape so we can test placement; I’m planning to build simple wood frames for them soon unless the taped, raw look grows on us (it won’t—kidding).
We expect pieces will shift or be swapped out—especially the map area—but for now this is a big step toward making the sunroom feel like a real room rather than a storage zone. We only spent paint money on this update; all the furniture was already in the house and works for the time being. Here’s the new view of the sunroom from the living room with the art in place:
It’s nice to sit on the sofa and actually see something that resembles a complete room through the big slider. After more than two years in this house, finally starting on the sunroom feels great. What are you working on at home? Which rooms do you tackle first—the living area, kitchen, bedrooms—or do spaces like the guest bath, playroom-turned-storage, and porch sit lower on your list like they did on ours?
Psst — We finally wrote about Sherry’s mom’s pre-Christmas visit over on Young House Life. There you go.