apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Lately I've been seeing a lot of plates used as wall art. Two questions: 1. What does one look for in a plate to display? And especially, #2. How would I hang a new plate? Would that magnet idea work here?
I am definitely not a "country" person, but for some reason plates are growing on me, like those of Thomas Paul or even Lena Corwin.

Is cleaning up and sealing a brick wall something that falls under DIY or would it be best to hire someone? It's not a big wall - about 6'w x 11'h. The bricks have bits of mortar stuck on them that gives it a dull overall look. The mortar itself needs a little filling here and there, so that's not too bad. I just wasn't sure if it would be taking on more than I could handle or involved nasty chemicals.

Why did y'all tell me to go to that Home Design Show. It was 95% junk ...

Don't people hang plates using plate hangers?
http://doityourself.com/shop/platehangers.htm

I suppose the canonically correct Small Apartment answer would be to hang the same plates you serve dinner on, which would be efficient storage but give a rather sparse look during large dinner parties.

Pbphoenix: I have plates on my wall -- Thomas Paul plates, as a matter of fact -- and I am NOT country (I mean, I don't THINK I'm country). There are so many amazing artists and designers working across mediums these days so there are a lot of great items that we aren't used to thinking of as art that I think for one think looks good enough to hang.

That said, I DONT take them down for mealtime use.

Anyway, mine are melamine - so even though I first went and bought this plate-hanging decal-hook thing at the Container Store, it sucked, now I have them up with my trusty earthquake glue.

If however I was lucky enough to own some of the gorgeous stoneware out there, I think I would keep looking for a more reliable method.

(I considered those narrow chair-rail like shelves but decided they would look stupid floating randomly on my walls).

Good luck!

Please, someone read this so I can have my coffee tomorrow morning.

I have a bodum french press. Yesterday the screen and stuff unscrewed enough to fall off. Now I'm trying to figure out how to put it back together in the right order. Can someone with the same f.p. look at their "press" parts and tell me in what order the thing is supposed to be assembled?!

anne:

from the bottom:
the wheel/spoked thingie
the screen
the metal thingie with the spring around the edge
the brown tube thingie that the post goes in
the post
the lid

does that help?

And my random home thread comment:

tonight's dinner:
ango and coconut encrusted tilapia served on a bed of mashed purple potatoes, accented with carmelized shallots adn baby carrots, topped with mango salsa.

For dessert, creme brulee.

Yum.

:)

We're celebrating because I picked up a lecture series. Sweet!

rachel, does the curved edge of the screen go up or down? And does the spring thingy go up or down? Other than that, YES, that's a huge help.

has anyone seen the plate hangers in another finish besides brass? i would love to find them in a chrome or silver finish

rachel the denverian (is that a word?): what a coincidence, I've picked up tilapia for dinner today, too.
Mine was also garnished with shallots and carrots, but that's about all the similarities. I had it stewed quickly with celery stick, lemon, vine, herbs and white pepper and served with Finnish caraway crispbread.

And all I'm celebrating is this fantastic warm weather, the breeze of spring.

luigi,

i found you some white ones! Weren't those good enough??

Anne - the screen curves up around the spring, which is on the top of the plate, so it's away from your grounds - :)


Tat, that sounds yummy. :)

We don't have anything even close to spring weather here - it's snowing (again!)

But we're carmelizing right now, I'm surfing. and then we're watching Coffee adn Cigarettes after dinner while we finish off o a bottle of 47 pound rooster Pinot noir.


Luigi, I think I've seen plate hangers in black, like an iron finish, maybe???

WHY can't Gracious Home put a reasonable variety of products on their Web site? That's the first place I'd look for chrome plate hangers, but is their site any help? Nooooo...

kathryn
the white ones were plastic/vinyl coated, UGH!

rachel, thank you so much, sweetie. I really appreciate taking time out of your celebratory dinner to help me out.

What is your lecture series about?

rachel (in denver)--
You had me at "bed of mashed potatoes." :)

Send your menu/recipes to Sarakate at The Kitchen! Sounds GREAT. And congrats!

Luigi--

We missed you at the AT party!!

rachel - it will come, I promise. (the spring)

Congratulation with the job. What's the subject?

Curtis, if you pick in, away from your out-of-town-guest:
how do you deal with progressive thickening of wall paint?
I went to volunteer for PubliColor today, and was given a wall to paint. Half-way done, my paint (BM, latex) became noticeably thicker in the tray.

What do you do to make it flow?

Thanks for the plate hanger comments/ideas. I thought the brass ones look too country. I'd love to see a photo of someone's collection!

I thought I had seen one on Lena Corwin's wall in this month's Glamour at my salon, but the mag's site doesn't have a link to it.

Luigi has an amazing (and ever-increasing) collection of Fornasetti plates that he has displayed on the wall.

I can assure you that it does not look "country" at all! (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Click on my name to see them.

Anne - I can't bear to think anyone would be without their morning coffee, it's my drug of choice. :) I'm glad I was able to help!

thanks for the drooling over my menu. :) I'm thrilled because it cost $32 total (dessert and wine included), as opposed to the equivalent price in a restuarant. I adore cooking. :)

The lecture series is through a local arts group/photography school called "working wth artists" - my first lecture is a discussion group on Susan Sontag's "On Photography" next month. It's not a paying gig, but it's good exposure. I'm splitting topics with an art historian, I'm the working artist side of things. :) since it's the weekend I'll share the link to my work. :)

Ptoo, I'll definitely submit to the kitchen!! It was so good, we just finished the dinner, now it's time for "Coffee and Cigarettes" (the movie, not the vices)

Quite a collection, Luigi. So how are they attached to the wall? I was afraid glue would damage both the plate and the wall.

So cool! I was checking out Fornasetti on the web because I liked those plates and had never heard of him. Scrolling through an eBay search, I came across a plastic tissue box with a wallpaper-like repeat of classical women--I realized it was the same graphic that we used to have (20 years ago) on a shower curtain in a college apartment. I had wanted to reference it back when someone had asked about cool black-and-white shower curtains, but didn't know how to describe it or how to do a search for it. Now I'm going to go do a search for Fornasetti shower curtain and reclaim some of my lost youth. :)

pbphoenix:
the plates are attached via a plate hanger(a clamp like device with springs that attaches to the back of the plate) which hangs from a nail or picture hook in the wall.

joan: check out the ebay seller "prisqui5". she has a full range of current fornasetti production

P2 -
sorry, I am in job hunting mode at the moment and could not miss a networking opportunity.
Next time...

or possibly sooner?!

Thanks, Luigi.

At one point, Restoration Hardware had 'invisible plate hangers'. They were round adhesive circles that somehow attached to the back of the plate..and had a hook embedded for hanging. I didn't trust the adhesive enough to give it a shot myself. They were one of those gadget items they keep in bins around their checkout.

As far as brass plate hangers..why not take the cheap and easy solution to getting them whatever color you want: Spray Paint.

SJV: The plate hangers that you described are what I bought at the Container Store. Good thing you didn't trust them. Good thing my dishes are melamine, not china.

If hanging china/porcelein whatever, I would definitely use the clamp-hangers that Luigi described. (Earthquake glue, btw, is a gel, and has not damaged any surface I have used it on, including beloved ceramic pcs from South Africa).

Never tried it myself, but Martha Stewart (of course) has instructions for making your own plate hangers. (click on my name)

rachel (in denver):

great photos, great words! thanks for sharing your link.

Jennifer, Nora:

Thanks so much! Very helpful.

Luigi:

Thanks for a look at some great Fornasetti.

Tat -
Actually part of Saturday I went the Architectural Digest Home Show and part of the day I was actually using somewhat dried out paint myself to touch up where some old Time Warner cables had been and over the new too-white ones at a friend's place.

Let me tell you that when you're using flat finish latex BM paint (Linen White, to be exact), I find (and did that day) that just a little bit of water in it (not too much) and stirring it up well works pretty well.

BUT... if it's eggshell finish, just forget it, because it's basically a kind of rubber, and when it dries, it really can't be reconstituted just right, because the sheen is duller or shinier and/or possibly both, PLUS it's the WORST kind of gloppy and gloopy and horrible.

RE: Plates and plate hangers...

I think there are several different sizes of plate hangers, and as far as which plates to hang? Well, I think that is really an under-explored wall arty thing.

I think you COULD have fun with heights and placement, and even do something with solid ones where they're done like some kind of polka dot pattern or something.

They could also be mixed up. Like some of those black toile-looking Spode-ish things next to some of that Fornasetti things (if that's the stuff I'm thinking of). Aren't those the ones that look like blown up details of architectural things? And/or engravings of figures?

Don't forget vintage (square!) plates in mod designs, which are more fun as plates though possibly less fun as wall decor, since the pattern's all on the plate.

Redwing's Concord shape variations are pretty mainstream 1941:
http://wisconsinpottery.org/RedWing/RedWing2002show/2002redwingdinner-1.htm#Concord

Metlox's California Freeform is a little more stylish:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ge1228/calfree310.html

As a wall design, I like the idea of choosing one color -- say, black -- and doing an entire section of wall in a grid of different plates that are black + your wall color. Say, black-and-beige polka-dot, black-and-beige stripe, solid black, black-and-beige toile, black-and-beige plaid, black-and-beige architectural design. (Obviously, not beige if your wall isn't beige, but I had to use something as an example.)

Hey yalls.

Just wanted to give you the CB2 Midnight Bed/Tempur-pedic/Plywood situation update.

I went to Meserole Lumber here in Brooklyn and told them my problem. I had planned on using 2 pieces of 30 x 80 to lay down on each side of the bed. I drew a picture that included the center bar and they suggested laying the boards across, which gave me 2 40 x 60 pieces. They suggested 5/8" because that's what floors are made with and it can withstand "activity."

They fit perfectly. I haven't permanently attached them yet, or painted because I haven't had the time. It turns out with this mattress a rug pad is not necessary, I guess because it's so heavy.

Thanks for all your help!

pbphoenix, when in doubt, go to the container store.

http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?PRODID=73805&CATID=235

Tat,

I painted 6 benches from IKEA like a crazy woman with latex paint. It dries super quick so you don't want to pour too much out at a time and you definitely want to keep your can properly closed all the time. It's a bit of a pain but it's the only way. Curtis is right about diluting it with water, but we're talking very small amounts, like flick your paint pail with a wet hand or something.

Oops maybe Jennifer is referring to that plate hanger I just posted.

OK I'm done.

Thanks, jennie and Curtis.
Normally, I too would pour small amounts into the tray and then add on as I progress, but it was a team effort, so some kid was in charge of preparing paint trays, and I had to use what was given to me.
May be watering down white-tinted paints is not a problem, consistency-speaking. But with colors(i had lemon-yellow), I would be afraid of changing the shade so my wall will look like ugly uneven stripes of related color.