After design school, I (Kayla) took up a hobby in ceramics. The only part I was ever any good at was glazing and, at the end of 3 years, I had an extensive collection of irreverently colorful, wonderfully imperfect, and mostly unusable bowls. Most of the glazes are not food-safe and the rest have cracked bases so, until now, they’ve lived quietly among us — stacked on shelves, sadly under-appreciated. But I love these bowls — particularly the colorful insides — so as Wes and I continued our living room makeover, we also began strategizing a way to install my bowls on the wall as abstract pieces of art.
FIRST ROW
• 1 The finished installation! So happy! Now let's look at how we did it...
• 2 The blank aubergine wall; Benjamin Moore Caponata (Affinity)
• 3 My little army of non-functioning ceramics
• 4 Planning the grid on the ground. Since the bowls themselves are very organic in their irregular shapes, sizes and colors, we thought a organized grid system would be an interesting contrast. We broke the rigidity of the grid however by making allowances for clusters of small bowls in random places.
• 5 Bacon eats and drinks out of 2 of my (few) water-tight, food-safe bowls so this was a little perplexing to him, seeing 30+ bowls on his floor.
SECOND ROW
• 6 The bowls are measured 9" from center to center in both directions on the grid. We measured and taped that grid on the wall so that we could easily eyeball the exact hanging of each bowl.
• 7 The magic product that made this art installation a reality is the adhesive plate hanger which uses a water soluble glue and is applied directly to the base of the bowls then left to harden overnight. Each bowl had to be weighed and have its base measured to determine the appropriate size disc (about half use the 1.25" disc, which holds up to 1 lb; half use a 2" disc, which holds up to 2 lbs). These things are incredibly strong and we have no fear of them releasing. If you did want to remove them, they completely release with no damage done when submerged in water.
• 8 Wes carefully hanging one bowl at a time, in order via planning pictures.
• 9 One bowl had to be replaced because the base was so irregular it was hanging too precariously on the wall. There are 3 others (pinch pots) that are stable enough but will need to be shimmed to hang properly against the wall.
• 10 Yea! The end result is wonderful and changes all day depending on the light, casting shadows like a bunch of mini sundials. All of the color really brings the purple wall to life, too.
Related Posts on Our Living Room Makeover:
Living Room Makeover: Un-Color Coordinating The Books
Decorating for the Sexes: Aubergine for Men
Furniture Stress Test: How Often Do You Rearrange?
Coffee Table for Blu Dot Sectional: Round or Square?
Originally published 5.14.2009 - AA
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Excellent! I made a couple of those bowls, myself, so I know how you HAVE to keep them... this is a really great use! Be proud!
unique and interesting. you appreciate the inside and outside of your pottery better this way.
i love it (despite the dust issues)
I love the pots idea.
The first picture is so lovely- everything is perfect except for the ikea locker thing in front of the mantle.
IF you had asked me, I would that thought that was a truly ridiculous idea. But I find it very appealing. And relaxing, in a way. And that really surprises me. Really works with the rest of what's going on in that room. Great job!
The end results looks amazing! I'm not really understanding the point of the dog photo (to show the scale of the bowls?), but I'm also charmed by your use of the singular! Wow, only one person took up ceramics? How unusual!
SOooooo Gorgeous. Love it!
What an awesome post and a great result!
I have several plates that I want to display on the wall and these hangers will be perfect for that use!
This is great. One question, though. The adhesive removes when submerged in water? How does that help you get them off the wall?
Great job - love the look of the finished piece.
The dog photo is there because dog people think everyone wants to see their dogs. Right?
But I do love the bowls. It brings the eye up nicely, sort of hiding the TV in plain sight.
i am totally stealing that idea of using the tape to make things line up (i usually just draw a line)... and i totally love the bowls, the overall affect is just beautiful - and it shows the artists creative past.
Kayla here with a small clarification on the hanging:
The adhesives are circular "discs" of fabric with a hook attached - the disc glues to the bottom of each bowl and the hook hangs the bowl on the wall using a nail.
Great idea and well done! Love it, the wall color, and Bacon.
missmouse - i think the adhesive attaches the hooks to the bowls, not the bowls to the wall - so you just remove each bowl from the nail it's hanging on and submerge in water to dissolve the glue
love the colors - reminds me of those log bowls i've been coveting ... :)
@missmouse - The adhesive part is only on the bowl (or pot or plate). There is a small metal loop build into the adhesive "pads" which can be used in a traditional way - nail, screw, hook, etc.
missmouse--From image #7, it looks like the adhesive plate hangers have a hook that allow you to hang from a nail. Couldn't tell for sure but I think these are all hanging from little nails.
i love the way this looks...completely transforms the wall & so unique. fabulous!
Thanks for such a great tutorial... easy to understand. Nice bowls. It's a great way to display them and not take up a lot of shelf space.
BTW - I'm a "dog person", so yeah, I appreciate the Bacon shot! Cute!
Love the wall color. I would be more interested in seeing the pots clustered together, rather than in a grid formation. There is room for flexibility, though, if you choose to do that.
What is the name and brand of both the gray and white wall colors. They blend so beautifully with the accent wall.
Beautiful! I want to steal this idea but, sadly, don't have that many cool bowls.
Looks great! Great house!
Love this installation, especially against that wall color. Love the dog pic, too!
Who needs a point for the dog shot? I imagine he did what my cats frequently do and just wandered into the shoot... some pets are just hams.
Love this idea, not least because I have some oddball pottery myself (FWIW yours is much better than mine!)
Pictures of Bacon are always welcome, and occassionally demanded :)
wow - this is great - love the color of the wall and love how the project turned out - the ceramics look great! i'd never heard of those adhesive plate hangers - wonder if they would work for baskets too? we have some african baskets that i've been wanting to hang on the wall, but can never figure out how to put them up so they don't tilt forward.
I'm not usually a fan of crockery on walls, but it is done so cleverly here, I'm really enjoying the look. Thanks for the post.
I think this looks beautiful. My only concern would be that eventually that sticky stuff connecting the ceramic to the hook will wear out and you'll hear a loud crashing sound (most likely in the middle of the night). I hope not though because I really like this. I just don't trust any type of sticky tape to hold heavy objects.
Thanks for posting this. I'd always wondered how the invisible hangers worked.
@Tiamat_the_Red: Sign up for a pottery class. You too might have, in only a matter of months, a similar collection (or you might be more talented and have usable pieces). Or you can come look under my guest bed. Or find a high-school art teacher.
(My best friend, a high-school art teacher, has years of accumulated student pottery that was left behind. She has started to imbed them upside down in her lawn, forming a terracotta pathway.)
I think this is beautifully executed.
Gorgeous, and such a clever way to display your collection! The dog -- eh, whatever. I come here for smart DIY solutions like this one!
I love this. Such beautiful interplay between the accent wall color, the trim color and the textures and colors of the pottery. It looks really fresh.
THis is so pretty and I'm so thankful for the tape idea! I've been measuring, pencilling and leveling a grid out on my poor wall to hang a symmetrical frame grouping and it's been a hassle! I do like the organized look of them but I could also see appreciating them in the form of that coffee filter installation post...you know what I'm talking about. Free flowing up a stair case wall. love the colors, love the pots, love it love it love it.
Beautiful, I am really knocked out by the textural quality, I found myself leaning into my computer screen to get a closer look. Great idea and stunning outcome. Bravo!
Kayla & Wes,
Brilliant idea and beautiful job!!
Whoa, great post, likes the contrasting dark wall...such a fresh idea, thanks for sharing! This is a real "apartmenttheraphy"!
Amazing job! It looks incredible.
One question - what's up with the title of the article? "a Wall of Pot(s)"? Are you uncertain as to the singular or plural nature of the pots?
Projects like this are why I read AT. This comes off as a highly personal take on installation art, thanks to the repetition/variation of each pot. Beautiful job, Wes and Kayla.
Love the look but most of all the tip about these adhesive hangers which, I presume, would work on odd teacups, too. Thanks a mil.
Kayla back, again -
Thanks for the compliments, all! We hoped this post would inspire folks to make the most of the objects we all seem to have lying around. A critical mass of anything usually creates an impressive visual when its all laid out together - makes the sum feel much greater than the individual parts.
We'd highly recommend these adhesive hangers for any type of ceramics or even wood or metal (it all depends on weight, really). We did remove the hook from the one bowl that didn't work out and after only 30 seconds submerged in water it came right off without a bit of residue.
If you embark on your own installation be sure to send us photos!
love it! i have also use those adhesive hangers with great success. i bought them from the container store.
the dog pic was the main reason why stopped to read the article!
oh haunted_studio now you're just being silly...
but it is true... Bacon is too cute... maybe he could be the AT mascot?
Kayla? Wes? Where are those hangers sold, please? I have a few brass leaf dishes (maybe they were meant to be ashtrays?) that would be nice to hang...
Sorry, the link is buried in the post. These particular hangers are sold in many stores (Container Store, as mentioned) but are the cheapest here:
http://www.allplatehangers.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1
and you're rewarded with a cheaper price when you purchase more (which helped us out here)
brilliant! congrats!
I get a lot of decorating magazines, and many, many, MANY of the spreads include a photo of the owners' dog or dogs lounging about against the decorating. Gotta say that as a dog lover, that always makes me linger a bit longer over the photo. :)
Great idea for the bowls, too. Now I'm thinking those disks would be perfect for hanging the gigantic collection of shoe lasts that I've been thinking would look great in a grid on one of my walls.
Mary
Wonderful idea, looks great!
Also, some of us do appreciate a little dog photo now and then!
It's gorgeous! I bought several of those adhesive back plate hangers, but have sadly not had a very good experience with them. Two of the three plates I hung came crashing to the floor after a few weeks.
Truly awesome.
How many times are you going to post this? I like the idea but this is the third time that I know of.
To quote Perez Hilton: brazilliant. Nice work.
I do like this, but why is this being recycled? Wasn't this on AT last year?
I believe it was also on a week ago.
Hand thrown bowls and pottery are beautiful. What a unique way to display them. Great idea!
I love the idea of using painters tape and a level to put your nails in.
Also will have to check out the adhesive disks.
I have only used wire or acrylic plate holders; curious how this would hold up for a heavier 12-14" plate or bowl.
I would hate to hang them only to have them crash and break.
That said, I've got a bunch of Japanese leaf and flower themed tiny plates; I'm going to get some of the disk holders for these and put them up.
That looks fabulous!! I really love the look especially against the purple wall.
I noticed this photo somewhere before (here @ AT?) and immediately saved it in my "idea" file because I found it so lovely. The colors are stunning, and it seems so elegant, yet warm.
I'm also pleased to find out how you attached these to the wall as I was wondering about that. I have some small Chinese bowls I wanted to put on the wall but I couldn't think of how to do so except in a box frame and that didn't feel right to me. This is so much more simple and immediate.
Now I need a "Team Bacon" shirt.
Brilliant. One of the best posts I've seen in a while.
I can't believe anyone would question including Bacon in the pictures. Bacon is our copilot.
Wow. A recycled post complete with recycled comments (from May, 2009). So much for "Home Hacks 2010."
The Wes and Kayla Show reruns are getting a bit tedious.
Boy, this is a tough room. Wish I had a couple of extra chill pills?
Thanks for rerunning this DIY. It still ranks as one of the cleverest ever. I still love it. I'm sure many of our new posters who weren't around in May of 2009 will be inspired. I am re-inspired. Thanks for the reminder.
it's sad how many of your books I recognize from their spines alone... love the pots though!