apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I would love to see more lighting and the large piece of art stand alone.

I like it more organized but your "gallery look" is also very interesting.
Here is one that i really like:
http://www.houzz.com/photos/19388/Tracy-Murdock-eclectic-entry-los-angeles
Good luck!

I'm unsure about this. You've got some neat pieces, but the styles and colors are so disparate... I think you're losing their individual impact.

I think this style of display works best with a tight theme, a consistent color scheme, a single medium, or at the very least, identical frames.

I'm unclear -- did you include a photo of the place that is wanting art? I don't see it.

I think art needs to be seen, so if lighting is minimal, I'd use a swatch of color and texture, like a tribal rug, where you're leaving an impression, rather than inviting gallery viewing.

I see a few things up here, a few more things in a couple of groups down there, something on a column, a couple pieces in the dark under the stairs, a few more things on the parapet railing - sorta split up by themes?

For maximum impact, I'd take everything down from all over this great big space and hang absolutely everything on the big upper staircase wall in one huge mixed grouping - from the bottom of the staircase up to the ceiling and into the loft area.

(Including that woven textile you have hanging over the parapet like a used dishtowel - Either find a way to hang it properly on the wall as a piece of artwork or put it away.)

Very nice pieces but too close together and choppy just not reading well.

I would lose the black frame ones and the smaller ones, find another place with a smaller wall.
Take the big piece lower it and center it on the stair landing, meaning facing the bottom of the stairs center it on that area but lower than now.
Take the one that is red/cream with figures and place on top of the stairs where those four oddly hung pieces are, place it there and lower it so when you are up in the loft it is at eye view.
take the other two larger ones and place them next to one another in the center of the large one don't be afraid of some space in-between.
Right now it is chaotic.

The pieces are quite interesting but there is no unifying element, which creates a lot of visual clutter. Sticking with a particular theme (style, topic of painting, color palette, etc) would be help organize it.

"I think art needs to be seen, so if lighting is minimal, I'd use a swatch of color and texture, like a tribal rug, where you're leaving an impression, rather than inviting gallery viewing."

"For maximum impact, I'd take everything down from all over this great big space and hang absolutely everything on the big upper staircase wall in one huge mixed grouping - from the bottom of the staircase up to the ceiling and into the loft area."

I like both of these suggestions. It's hard to know without seeing a photo of the space and how it's lit.

There is too much going on...

I think there is some overkill at the moment. Why not pick a piece or two, find a good presentation point, and rotate the art every month or so? That allows each piece to shine and be appreciated. Just because you have 200 pieces of art doesn't mean they all have to be on constant display. The reason that galleries look the way they do is that the wide expanses of white allow each piece to "breathe." Right now, you seem to treat the art as just one more decorative knick knack to fill out the white, rather than as a special, singular exclamation point for the room.

I think I confused the issue. The stairwell that I am trying to improve can be found at the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laguna172/3211034144/in/set-72157594498516025/

You'll see that it's narrow, dark, steep and the walls are bare. I am constantly rotating and adding to the larger wall that is already covered with art. I need suggestions on what do with the dark empty stairwell. All suggestions welcomed!
Thanks! Paul

To: shockthebourgeois - thanks for your comment - I appreciate your thoughts on the existing covered wall. Please take a look at the stairwell that I am trying to troubleshoot:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laguna172/3211034144/in/set-72157594498516025/

As you can see, its, narrow, steep and barren. Any suggestions? Also, do you think putting things on both walls of the stairwell would work or should I stick with only one side of the wall?

To: kimg924. Please see my comment to shockthebourgeois above. I think that will clarify my question. Any thoughts?

General comment to all: Thanks for all your input. I do agree that I have "a lot going on" but I did this on purpose. I tend to add/rotate my pieces frequently; sometimes the rearranging works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking! I like bpsf's suggestion about the woven textile hanging over the wall. I think I'm going to remove it completely.

Feel free to look at the rest of my space:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laguna172/sets/72157594498516025/

Any suggestions/criticisms are welcomed.
Thanks!
Paul

I would take the 3 similar sized peices:
1. ladies with pots on heads
2. ying yang fish
3. red earth with central tree
and hang these in a column next to the big red door.

Kill everything else.

Hang them as far to the right as possible and make sure your eye height when on the middle floor is higher than the middle of the entire 4 peice arrangement.

Hanging art on stairs is never a good idea, but if you must do it, pick a floor and hang for eye level on that floor.

Paul - perhaps you can have the "up the down staircase" photo added to the original post?

I think you should go with "less is more". The wall above the staircase (first photo) is perfect for displaying art, and you already have a lot of nice pieces there. Keeping everything as it is, I would add a few more pieces to the "empty square" at the top right of the wall. Try to make the density of pictures even on the entire wall, that makes the overall impression more uniform.

The walls of the stairwell, on the other hand, are not very well suited for display. The viewing angle is not going to be optimal even if you walk sideways up the stairs. Simply improve the lighting and leave the walls empty. Save the good stuff for where it can be properly displayed.

I like it the way it is. You DON'T need a theme or any unification... it's art that you like, that's all that matters. Each piece stands out on its own and makes you look at it, while giving the overall impression that you love every piece enough to hang it. I've seen some "design" photos on this site where the colors are the same in each hanging of "art" and I find it incredibly boring and depressing. If that's your goal, to have a clump of one or two colors in bland, expensive frames, then just paint the wall itself in those colors and do away with the "art."

As for your dark stairway, I suggest some frame-mounted lights for your pieces (in which case I'd probably stick to larger pieces to save on cost and impact). Also, I'd fill in the top of the upper staircase; looks like you have a nice big spot for some texture up there.

I would take some of your smaller monochromatic pieces (like the two black framed ones in the middle of the wall going up and the pieces you have at the very top aroun the light switch) and make an arrangement going down the stair case you are talking about, since it is narrower, you don't have as much space to step back from art in the staircase so I would keep it to small detailed artwork that is best enjoyed closer up. Leave the big colorful pieces on the stair case going up.

I like that there is no 'theme' to these paintings I think they look rather nice together, but the fact that the top edges are ALMOST aligned but not quite bugs the bejezus out of me. Hang them all level, or stagger them, more dramatically. Also, the fact that you have sort of have them hanging lined up with perfectly vertically lines really makes them look like three different groups of painting. I think if you broke up those lines it would make these groups of art work seem more cohesive.
On the dimly lit hallway I would hang fewer similar sized paintings on a smaller scale. They would probably look better staggered. (To mimic the steps on the stairs.)

First, I like the upper stairway as it is. Nice job.

Second, I have a similar treatment in my own house. In my case, we painted the stairwell orange and hung our art in two main clusters, similar in concept to your arrangements. The orange background helps.

Third, for your lower stairs, assuming you want to leave the stairwell white (and I'd think about that!) then I'd suggest using only really contrasty pieces in that space, only on one side, and NOT filling the wall space. Maybe one group at the top and one at the bottom, mainly composed of black on white drawings and calligraphic sorts of things, maybe some of the 3-d items (like your suns)... Stuff that doesn't require bright light to be read and enjoyed. If you can improve the light, that would be nice, but it depends on how often you travel the stairs and to what destinations whether that becomes worth it.

To Rolen the Great: Thanks for the no "theme" compliment. I agree, the fact that the top of the paintings are not quite aligned bugs the heck out of me too, but my ladder was a butcher block and a step stool, so my ability to reach high was limited and hazardous! Using those tools, creating vertical lines is much easier than creating horizontal lines. I intentionally wanted to achieve the effect of three different groups of paintings, so I'm glad you picked up on that. I like your suggestion on how to fill the dark lower stairwell, and others seem to agree with you as well. Thanks! Paul

To Anna Europe: Thanks for your thoughts and ideas. You're right that "the walls of the stairwell...are not very well suited for display. The viewing angle is not going to be optimal even if you walk sideways up the stairs. Simply improve the lighting and leave the walls empty. Save the good stuff for where it can be properly displayed." It's true -- the width of the stairwell is so narrow that anything larger than a frame holding a 4x6 drawing, even with good lighting, would be difficult to enjoy. I still have lots of larger stuff (24" x 36" and larger) that I'm going to rotate with stuff already hanging, but for now I think I'm going to improve the lighting in the dark stairwell and maybe some appropriate paint leaving the walls bare of art.

TO ALL WHO RESPONDED: Thanks for your ideas, comments and suggestions, I got a little bit from everyone's thoughts. I'll try and follow up in a few months with pics of some of the suggested improvements, so stay tuned! And thanks to my friend Irene L. who turned me onto Apartment Therapy!