apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

what are they using to hang the plates... any idea?

I really like this, mostly because its not too "match-y". Its also very familiar to me.
My mom collects decorative plates as souvenirs and then hangs them on her kitchen wall. She tends to get colors/styles representative of the area, not a plate with like "Key West" stamped on it. Its a great pop of color and she likes the reminders of fun vacations and family time. She has a gorgeous plate from her trip to Italy several years ago.

I like the idea of the modern plates in varying sizes, but i guess I would like to see them hung in a more orderly pattern, in direct contrast to the plates themselves - otherwise its a little too much like a collision and the whole becomes a distraction away from the very interesting parts.

Sunan, it looks like the plates are hung with your standard plate hangars (available at Michael's in various sizes and different finishes for a couple bucks each). I have a collection of vintage lace-edged milk glass plates hung in a similar way in my kitchen, and I love it!

I love the 3rd picture. I have been trying to do that forever but it's really hard to find that many plates that go together and look good. I first saw a picture in Ty Pennington's magazine like the 3rd picture but i think the plates were arranged in a circle. Can anyone find that pic?

Thank you for posting this Leah because to be quite honest, I would've never ever thought that I'd like this kind of decorating. I think Sunan had a very good point, WHAT ARE they using to hang the plates. I really hate ruining walls, but I also think that this idea is best suited for a summer home. I think there needs to be a lot of open space that's constantly getting lots of natural sunlight for this to fit in pefectly.

I bought plate hangers from the Container Store, but as I am moving I have not used them yet. They stick on to the back of the plate, but are supposedly removable. They offer a variety of widths:
http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=235&PRODID=73805

You can also use high grade industrial velcro with the plates and on the wall. This worked to attach our cable box to the wall, I know it will work to hold a plate!

I too, didn't think I would be into this idea until recently over the past few years plate designs and graphics have really taken a step forward. there have been so many new and interesting plate/patterns out there now that they truly are works of art.

This may be my favorite installation of plates-on-a-wall:

AB Chao's dining room

It's the first one that ever made me think, oh. Maybe I should do that too.

I am surprised by how much I like this. It would be perfect in an airy kitchen or dining room. And it would be the perfect answer to my wanton desire to purchase random plates from the Anthropologie sale section. The plates could be changed out seasonly to subtly reflect different color palettes, too.

I have a plate collection in my dining room and everyone loves it! I have a mix of vintage plates and newer ones. The plate in the middle is from Etsy artist trixiedelicious. The "choice word" painted on it in black Old English letters is a fun surprise amongst the others!

I've used those adhesive plate hangers, and the plate fell off after a couple of weeks. The plate I used was about 5" diameter, not very heavy.

I love the look of the plate just floating on the wall, but I went back to regular wire plate hangers. Luckily, it was a enameled copper plate, so it survived the fall.

I'd love to see pics from all those who have plate collections.

faith--I love Lori Andrews one you posted, she's a beast. The tone on tone looks fabulous!

annabethw- love your anthropologie idea. I spend way too long swooning over their plates and then putting them back b/c I don't have a use for them...

as for the plate hangers, in the 3rd picture looks like they're hung with regular white plate hangers that you can get at any craftstore. In the first pic, it looks like they're hung by some backing like the one from the container store that ValHalla shared.

I've despised plates hanging on walls my entire life. Not really sure why, but the passionate hatred for these things runs very deep in me. Doesn't matter if it is Granny stuff or modern, I still loathe them.

Christina @ Pardon My Vintage: thanks for the warning about the adhesive hangers. Did you scrub the plate clean before attaching the sticker? (I am the kind of person that would skip that, but I noted it on the directions)
I'll proceed with caution.

I used those adhesive plate hangers on a project I did for a client, they looked fantastic, but one of the plates jumped off the wall 2 weeks later. Luckily it is just a model apartment so no one actually sleeps in the bed below where it landed... that could have been extremely dangerous.
If you are going to use the adhesive hangers I strongly recommend strictly following the directions. Hand wash each dish thoroughly and let them dry the full 24 hours.

I love the outcome of the look, but the application over a bed is not practical for an actual living situation...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lsven/3256742866/

I did wash the plate (it was vintage, that's the first thing I do when bringing items home) and followed directions so that the glue would set ... I was even stubborn enough to buy more when the first two failed me. :-)

Maybe these work better on surfaces other than metal. Looking at the website, perhaps I should have used something other than dish soap:

"In the case of metals any oxide formation should be removed first with a proprietary cleaner and then cleaned with neat detergent and rinsed in clean water."

http://www.dischangers.com/about.php

Oh well. I guess the lesson here is to proceed with caution.

I just recently moved out on my own for the first time. I had a tiny budget (500$) to furnish and decorate my whole apartment, so I had to get creative about what "art" I spent money on. I inherited a lovely set of china that is too delicate to use every day so I hung them in my dining room using plate hangers like these (got them at the dollar store and bed bath and beyond).

http://www.hooksandhangers.com/images/plate_%20hangers/butterpat02.gif

and I really have loved how this turned out.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1682767&l=7e9e5357b2&id=500186656

mlleErica - your unique arrangement is inspiring!

thanks for your suggestions... very helpful!

I recently purchased the adhesive plate hangers for a project in Southern Living at Home. However, I could not get the hangers to adhere to the Terrace Appetizer Plates. I have used the plate hangers before without any problems, and love not having to see the wires. I bought them at AllPlateHangers.com. They were very helpful and refunded my order. They mentioned that this has been a recurring problem with the Terrace Plates.