Summer in San Francisco tends to bring on the houseguests, and so we've been thinking a lot recently about sprucing up the guest room. Trolling for ideas, we found this simple but clever guest room wall treatment and had to share. A while back, in preparation for an impending stream of visitors, Frank and his wife had to find a quickie way to make their Montreal guest room comfortable and inviting. Having made some wise furniture choices from Ikea, they decided to create a portrait gallery of their friends and family using their existing shots. A few Photoshop hours later...
Honoring those who will stay in your guest room with a place on the wall is a welcoming gesture, and the simple design of this gallery is timeless. Black and white photos never go out of style; the consistency of the close-up portraits unifies the whole display. The arrangement of the frames in a grid above the bed eliminates the need for an elaborate headboard, and the grid can always grow as new friends and family join your circle.
Part of the brilliance of this idea is that it looks so chic, but would be super-cheap to produce. Frank used 5x7 Ikea frames, like the CLIPS frames above. They're only $2.99 for a four-pack!
For more of Frank's photos, see his Flickr page (The Irish Samurai).
Thanks for sharing, Frank!
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Comments (22)
They kind of look like suspects though...
yeah, it kind of gives me a 'most wanted' vibe, too...
I got the most wanted vibe somewhat, but it's also kinda neat - would only work with very good quality photos though in extremely neat environments. Otherwise it would look like cr*p.
At first I thought it was a graphic representation of the ol' notches on the bedpost.
It would feel a little strange to know that all those random people had slept in that bed before me.
I like the idea a lot but I'm not so sure that I would like it in practice...
I did something similar in my guest room. Although, it didn't end up looking like mugshots because I didn't crop faces so close up. I took snapshots of family (usually 2 people in 1 photo, also not like a mugshot) and made them black and white.
Then, I mounted each portrait on square canvas which I painted cobalt blue and acted like a funky frame. It was nice way to showcase family and also add color. Plus, I kept photos to around 10, so it didn't look like mugshots or facebook.
I third the "Most Wanted" vibe.
It also makes me just think of all the people that have slept there before. I mean, I KNOW that lots of people have slept there before, but I don't need to be reminded of it.
That would be cool if those frames were filled with solid colors that formed a gradient across & down the wall... like a pantone color grid.
I second, greenpepper.
A little too much Christian Boltanski for my taste.
I could never stay in this room with eveyone stareing at me, creepy.
maybe replace with nature or flower pictures.
however you feel about the aesthetics of the piece-- i like the idea. I, personally, would love to know who's been there before me. I don't care how many people have stayed in a guestroom before I did-- and frankly if i knew that my guests were so particular, I think I'd rather not have them as guests. Luckily, I can't imagine it coming up in conversation.
We get so many house guests that I think our wall would fill up too quickly but I think its a great memento.
I don't like it.
It might have been better in practice if swapped out from photos from the owner's own family that lives there.
Now I wouldn't get the creepy vibe about people sleeping in the bed before me - I trust that my family and friends would provide me a bed with clean linens.
I think its the close cropping on the faces that gives it the mug shot vibe. I like the idea in general, though.
In my own guest bedroom I have pictures of family and friends on large animals including horses, camels, donkeys, and ponies, mostly they are old vacation souvenir photos which I claimed from mine and my husbands' families. If I could just locate an elephant...
I think I'll stick to what I have now - one on each nightstand and one on my fiance's desk which resides in the room. I felt like it's enough to make it feel homey.
I love this idea! I've been looking for something simple to do on my kitchen wall - maybe something like this, with pictures of friends family checkerboarded with their favorite recipes.
I agree that I wouldn't do this in a bedroom, though. I'd never be able to sleep with that many people watching me!
I took 32 old black & white photobooth photos of my family (grandparents as teens, dad as a baby being held up by my grandma, aunt on a date with my future uncle, etc) and scanned them into the computer, printed them out at 5x7, and used CLIPS frames from IKEA. I plan to hang them in a grid but I am currently without walls to do this. :) I figure either a hallway or dining room. They wouldn't look right with my paintings in the living area. And I agree with Emika, definitely not suitable for the bedroom. haha
I stayed at a hostel that had a Polaroid wall for visitors. I wish I had pictures, it was pretty cool seeing all the strangers faces; by the end of the visit there was a sense of familiarity about them.
Sorry, had I scrolled down the post I would've seen they used the CLIPS and not given props to that store again. ;)