Inspiration: Wide, light blue matts from Better Homes and Gardens
Inspiration: Wide pink matts from Better Homes and Gardens
And here is how I interpreted this in my own home.
Add a pop of color in your matts
dark and bright matts
I'd had this bright turquoise matt board for a long time (I just bought it because I loved the color) and so I decided to punch up this display with a little color. I still need to find just the right piece or pieces of art to hang above the bookcase. It is a very large and high wall so I feel like I need something quite substantial here.
Vestibule at the bottom of the stairs (I need to find the right piece to go under this picture)
We've had this print for a long time. I think the darker matt really pulls the eye into the print. Like most of the house, this area is another work in progress. I have been looking for a sideboard type piece to fit under the picture. It needs to be deep enough to store all the myriad games we have. I can't wait to find the right piece so that I can refinish it to be just what I want, but that's a different post.
In the dining room I matted cooking photos in different tones of green.
Using two wide matts (at least 1" reveals)
I got the idea to do two wider matts from this inspiration photo from Better Homes and Gardens. I loved the two toned wide blue matts. (OK, I also love the floor to ceiling bookcases. I want to do this in my office/study someday soon) I interpreted this with an off white outer and light green inner matt. Eventually I might change out the outer matt for another shade of green.
Inspiration: wide two tone double blue matts from Better Homes and Gardens
In the guest room, I added some color in the bright yellow matts around photos of the kids with their grandparents. Someday I'll post about how I try to make our guest room inviting and comfortable for guests. The impressionist style painting was done for me as a Christmas gift from one of my uncles. The colors were perfect for this room.
Using a bright yellow matt to highlight a photo
I am blessed with a very artistic family and like to include their artwork in my home. I have a watercolor done by my mom hanging in the hallway right when you come into the house from the garage. SInce the garage is our main family entrance, I thought this would be the perfect place to hang this inspiring scene from the Napa Valley.
Upstairs, in the master suite I painted and hung an oversized painting of a flower. I painted this on a thin piece of plywood (I got this idea from David Bromstad of Color Splash). You don't have to go out and spend a lot of money on canvas to make fun art for your house. I think the plywood cost me about $5 at Home Depot (and I only used half the sheet). I also painted a scene on the back of it, so if we get tired of the flower we can just turn it around.
Upstairs, in my boys rooms, I covered matts with scraps of fabric I had lying around the house that coordinate with their room colors. Some ribbon adds a little interest to these matts.
Anyway, I guess the whole point of this post is that artwork and photos really add life to a home, and the way you matt these pieces can really make them stand out. A simple matt can take a stock poster or print from ho-hum to special and fantastic. And it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. You can make a matt out of a piece of colored cardboard, or cover a corregated cardboard matt with fabric scraps (or just leave it and use the corregated texture). Craft paint can make a white matt into any color you want. Just have fun and make your house beautiful.
p.s. Here's another inspiration photo of mine from Family Circle magazine. I love the bright, skinny frames. I haven't done this yet, but I am looking for a place in my home where something like this would work.
Inspiration: Colored frames with white matts from Family Circle
