6 Ways to Put Some Wonder on Your Walls
Show off wild, unusual treasures or collections with these tips from a seasoned stylist who appreciates individual personality
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Sarah Bagner loves a good story, and she thinks our walls make the perfect storytelling platform. In her new book, Wonder Walls (October 2012), the stylist, flea market fiend and author of the blog Supermarket Sarah visited the homes of artists, designers and collectors who use their walls to communicate their personal style to the world. "What caught my eye most were displays that revealed their personality, walls that helped me discover a bit more about the person," says Bagner.
Whether you're a minimalist or a hoarder-collector, there's a wall in Wonder Walls that will speak to you. See how you can show off your style by letting your walls do the talking.
Whether you're a minimalist or a hoarder-collector, there's a wall in Wonder Walls that will speak to you. See how you can show off your style by letting your walls do the talking.
Embrace your inner maximalist. A quick peek into this crafts room might scare any minimalist back into a bare-walled home. But take a closer look at button designer Hiroyo Suzuki's Tokyo home and you'll see perfect balance and order in her teeming wall display.
Suzuki let her instincts guide how she decorated her walls, yet there is a perfect form and a grid-like structure to her arrangement of containers, jars, boxes, rolls and fabric.
Tip: Zone in on the details, even when you're dealing with loads of little pieces. Suzuki's display works precisely because she considered the distance between objects and the sizes, colors and tonal qualities of her collections.
Suzuki let her instincts guide how she decorated her walls, yet there is a perfect form and a grid-like structure to her arrangement of containers, jars, boxes, rolls and fabric.
Tip: Zone in on the details, even when you're dealing with loads of little pieces. Suzuki's display works precisely because she considered the distance between objects and the sizes, colors and tonal qualities of her collections.
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Let your things do the talking. This photo shows the home of Bjorn Springfeldt, the curator of the Museum of Modern Art in Sweden. Rather than present pieces in his home as a collection, Springfeldt showcases items by playing up on the contrasts between them.
Bagner loves how Springfeldt displays Erik Dietman's work, "Pain," above the door, directing the eye to an abstract painting in the next room. You don't quite know if Springfeldt is referencing the English word "pain" or the French word for "bread."
Tip: Flip typography on its head, just as Dietman did with "Pain." The artist shaped and glazed each piece of bread instead of using metal or wood letters.
Bagner loves how Springfeldt displays Erik Dietman's work, "Pain," above the door, directing the eye to an abstract painting in the next room. You don't quite know if Springfeldt is referencing the English word "pain" or the French word for "bread."
Tip: Flip typography on its head, just as Dietman did with "Pain." The artist shaped and glazed each piece of bread instead of using metal or wood letters.
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Layer. Then layer some more. Shrubs, plants, dried leaves, prints and found objects fill Ayumi Yamamoto's studio. "Each time you look at the wall collage, something new reveals itself," says Bagner.
Tip: If you have a spiritual side, use it for inspiration. Here, dried bamboo blessed by a Shinto priest hangs from the ceiling over Yamamoto's work desk; it's layered on top of a bag displaying the image of Ebisu, God of Luck.
Tip: If you have a spiritual side, use it for inspiration. Here, dried bamboo blessed by a Shinto priest hangs from the ceiling over Yamamoto's work desk; it's layered on top of a bag displaying the image of Ebisu, God of Luck.
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| Create a scene. Why not have a sitting area by the tub? Bagner delighted in exploring shoe designer Chisa Nomura's bathroom, and in particular, a corner nook Nomura enlivened with an argyle wall, pops of red accessories and handmade pincushion throw pillows. Tip: Bagner loves how Nomura embraces the strange — something she thinks we should all learn to do. "Beauty often comes from mistakes and spontaneity. Once you get into the rhythm, you can in fact be quite structured with the higgledy-piggledyness of it all," says Bagner. |
Give old things a new life. In her own home, Bagner filled a corner with a collection of tchotchkes: Sun-Maid raisin packages, miniature beer bottles, a framed picture showing cigarette packet designs with felines from the 50s and a certificate from her father, who was an Olympic table tennis champion.
"I love mixing family photos and mementos with trinkets and found objects. It gives me great pleasure to breathe new life into old things," she says.
Tip: Use type cases to corral miniatures and smaller finds. The case backs help all the little things stand out.
"I love mixing family photos and mementos with trinkets and found objects. It gives me great pleasure to breathe new life into old things," she says.
Tip: Use type cases to corral miniatures and smaller finds. The case backs help all the little things stand out.
Show what you love. British fashion designer and cofounder of Red or Dead Wayne Hemingway and his wife, Gerardine, live in an eclectic modern house in Sussex, England. This mural showcases the Hemingways' own print, and the sectional's cushion and throws use recycled linings from clothing — all materials that have special meaning to the couple.
Tip: Play. Don't let people tell you that you can't put a lightbulb lamp on the ground, or that flipping your living space (just as the Hemingways did) so that bedrooms are downstairs and living spaces and the kitchen are upstairs, is plain crazy.
Tip: Play. Don't let people tell you that you can't put a lightbulb lamp on the ground, or that flipping your living space (just as the Hemingways did) so that bedrooms are downstairs and living spaces and the kitchen are upstairs, is plain crazy.
Displaying stuff, says Bagner, is about exploring ideas: "If you are a minimalist, then go with that. If you are a maximalist, then really embrace it. No matter what, develop a style which is you."
More:
A Gallery Wall for Every Personality
Put Your Collection on Show
More:
A Gallery Wall for Every Personality
Put Your Collection on Show
Ideabook published on Nov. 22, 2012.
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I'm neither a minimalist nor a 'maximalist', although I love having all my makeup out on the counter (I am a makeup artist, so that could explain that). That first home, Hiroyo Suzuki's Tokyo home, reminds me of my time in Japan. For all the idea of 'neat, orderly minimalism' that many have of Japanese society, I saw more organized chaos than zen minimalism.
I like piles of things when I know what is in the pile. I love colorful sweaters stacked in a bedroom during the winter months and colorful t-shirts during the summer months. In other words, I like logical 'mess'. I love the juxtaposition of "Pain" even though I would never have that in my house. It's just a bit TOO artsy for me.
And I'm quite sure that my ADD is what would make me want to embrace it but ultimately have to tear it all down! :)
So many reasons to just say "no".