Hang Loads of Art Above a Bed

Have you seen this month’s issue of Lonny Magazine? There’s a 24 page piece featuring editor Michelle Adams’ Manhattan apartment, and let me tell you, that girl likes her art! Check out her bedroom! Look at all those pieces framing her bed. Pretty inspiring huh?

I know what you’re thinking – I could never pull that off. So why does it work? There’s lots of things tying all those pieces together.

Frames – First lets look at the frames, they’re all similar in weight and in one of three neutral tones – white, black, and pale wood.

Scale – With the exception of the huge focal point in the centre all the pieces are similar in size.

Balance – There’s a similar amount of art on each side of the bed. The design isn’t a perfect mirror of symmetry, but I bet if you tallied up the square inches of art on either side they’d be very similar. This helps add a sense of balance and purpose to the placement.

Tones – There’s not a lot of bright colours competing for attention here. Really, all the pieces are quite neutral with a few pops of pink that tie in to the rest of her home.

Arrangement – Michelle has subtly divided the art into three different areas – above her bed and above each nightstand. It really helps make things more orderly and not too overwhelming. Lots of space around the large square print in the centre makes it the focal point while the rest of the images are accessories. Plus with the giant piece in the middle stretching close to the ceiling it allowed her to hang the prints next to it quite high too.

Oh, and Michelle also shared some of her advice on collecting:

I love that she just collects the pieces she loves and worries about where she’ll fit them in once she gets them home.

So what do you think? Is it the perfect amount of art or too much for your taste? What’s your philosophy about adding pieces to your collection? Have any of her tips inspired you?