apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I recently hung a bunch of stuff in that style, and I really like it. I laid it out on the ground to work out how everything would look together, and carefully measured the one that ended up in the middle. The rest I just sort of did by eye.

Tip: don't try to straighten every one perfectly as you go, since putting the next one up is bound to jiggle it out of place. This really only sunk in towards the end for me, sad to say.

While I love the idea of amassing smaller items to prevent visual chaos, I find the first pic way too Domino, and dated in about 9 months...

I did this in my dining room. I made templates of the art on newspaper then taped them up to the wall. because the hangers were marked on the template, I was able to just nail through the paper and then pull it off. I'm pretty happy with the final outcome, and it was definitely easier to tweak the paper templates than it would have been to tweak the pictures. I would say leave the paper up for a day or two to get used to the way it looks- I might have moved a couple of pictures if I'd done that (but it isn't important enough for me to make more holes in the wall!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7239498@N05/484478727/in/set-72157600177966113/

Best on a wall that is otherwise a blank slate.

i think this style works best if you stick to one color palette (i.e., black & white photos and paintings with a bit of color--be it in the artwork or the framing-- red, brown, whatever; similar to the 2nd photo above) and/or complementary color palettes. i like one or two larger pieces anchoring the arrangement (not as busy that way), and i also like throwing a few unexpected things into the frame collage (like a round plate or a few tribal masks or something).

I like the clustering of the art. I also like to make my own art, but I sometimes feel that it looks childish, but maybe if i did a bunch of little paintings it would look ok.

I absolutely love frame clusters like this and think they work great for those of us who don't have (or want to commit) to larger art pieces. It fills up a whole wall with small, affordable pieces & prints.

I prefer a looser cluster (closer to the 2nd picture or even more spread out). I tend to hang the largest piece in the center and work my way out- spreading out from there.

Like Megm said, mixing in 3 dimensional objects adds visual interest really well (plates, mask, a cross, small sculptural piece, tile, etc.)

If you don't have art that works together, but like the look, try purchasing a book and cutting out pages- vintage botanical prints, pin-up girl illustrations, etc.

I have been saving pictures of walls like this for awhile. See this Flickr album for some: http://flickr.com/photos/jessicafulkerson/sets/72157603671475981/

I have found that one of the tricks to creating a cohesive grouping is to make sure each frame has at least one edge (either vertical or horizontal) aligned with one of the pieces next to it. (The picture in your post does this, for the most part.) Aside from that, you may have to make slight adjustments to this rule in order to maintain visual balance.