Collage Wall Farmhouse Inspiration
How to design collage wall layouts ~ by Legacy Home Staging
First Steps…
*Decide where your collage wall is going to go and what you want to accomplish with your collage wall. Is it to incorporate many of your favorite items, be a decorative way to personalize a space in your home around your family, incorporate pops of color into the room inexpensively or create a conversational design?
*Next gather items you already own that could possibly work from around your home and shop for new items. Gather them all into one place/room so you can see everything at a single glace. You may not use all of them in the collage, but it is best to have all of them in front of you when designing the layout so you can visualize different options. When shopping for new items, I suggest buying the pieces you like and hope to incorporate in the collage. The beauty of collage walls, is that as long as it’s wall hanging and it fits, you can most likely incorporate it into the design somehow.
Pieces to include…
*This is the best part…literally anything. Collage walls are one of my favorite things to do because the possibilities are endless and it never gets boring. You can even do different themes (ex: military, children’s including their picture, special artwork they made framed, accomplishments/awards, office or school wall with signs with motivational sayings, general home décor layouts, etc).
*Some popular ideas for a collage wall in a home would be a family or wedding picture, a shadow box, signs with sayings or scriptures that hold significant value in the home, # sign (this is a sign that indicates how many family members there are), date signs (indicates family members birthdays usually), location signs (latitude and longitude coordinates for the city, their specific address or even a place that has special meaning to them such as where they were married, favorite vacation spot, etc). Scrabble walls are becoming increasingly popular, spelling out family member’s names in a Scrabble game layout. Scrabble layouts can work even if the couple doesn’t have children. Some people use their pet names or words like “Home” and “Love” in their layout.
*To complete the look, you will need a few filler items. Filler items I like to use typically include architectural pieces, cotton wreaths or shapes with no words (to help break up all of the words you have already incorporated into your layout). Good filler items are arrows, cross, small wreaths (cotton or boxwood), small Texas or heart shape, etc. Architectural pieces and shutters are also great to use on any collage wall!
Already owned vs buying new…
*Most collage walls incorporate a little of both. I start by walking through the home and gathering items that could possibly be used in the collage wall so they are readily available when deciding on the layout. Simply because an item has always been used in a certain room in the house, doesn’t mean it always has to stay in that room. Be open minded and consider moving things from room to room if it will work in different settings. You probably already have several items in your home that can be used to create a collage wall that will repurpose some items you forgot you had. Once I have narrowed down what items I own that I would like to use, I shop for pieces I love and would like to find a way to work in. I save my receipts so I can return anything that didn’t fit or compliment the layout.
How to do the layout…
*Once you have several pieces ready, begin doing layouts on the floor, moving things around and exploring different options. Start with the center item and then work your 4 corners and finish by framing and filling the layout.
*After placing the center item, begin balancing your corners and then your sides. For example, if I place a visually “heavy” item on the top right, then I’m going to place a visually “heavy” item on the bottom left to give the collage balance. Balance is the key to making collage walls cohesive and drawing your eyes to the entire design and not only the “heavy” areas.
*In your small opens areas use your filler items.
*Take pictures of the layouts that are possibilities so you can refer back to them later.
*Once you have the layout you like, take a final picture in case you get interrupted and are not able to finish hanging items right then so you can refer to it later without having to start over.
