How to Make a Picture Frame Collage

I decided that the wall above the bed in the master bedroom just needed something. I had bought a few pictures, but nothing really looked 'right'. It's been about 4 years since we moved in here and I just found something worth trying. I love the look of picture frame collages, but my anal, symmetrical tendencies kept me from pulling the trigger and putting anything up on the wall. Until now.

I went to Ikea and bought 8 brushed nickel frames (4-4x6" and 4-5x7"). These sat in the office closet for a few weeks until I found the perfect things to put in them. I raided the local craft stores for interestingly patterned paper whose colors matched the ones we used in the rest of the house. Mr. B and I settled on using light blue, shades of green and some tans/browns. It was a blizzardy day outside when we did this project, which was probably best because we were forced to stick with the project and get it finished.

For this project you will need:

1. Some kind of paper (wrapping, packing, construction...)
2. Painter's tape (so it won't pull off your paint)
3. A level
4. A tape measure
5. Frames
6. Things to put in frames
7. Pencil
8. A helper (Mr. B was a great helper and you really need a second hand)
9. Something to hang the frames with (we used Hercules Hooks)
   

The first thing we did was cut out paper forms that matched the frames so we could tape them on the wall and visualize how the frames would look without putting a million holes in the wall.




We found it was easier to lay the actual frames out on the bed and then mimic the pattern with the cut out pieces of paper on the wall. We found the center of the wall over the headboard and then found the point equidistant from the ceiling to the headboard. This gave us a starting point so the frames would be centered around the same point and hopefully result in a 'symmetric' display. Once we had a good pattern we taped up the templates.

We then went through the patterned paper we had picked out and decided what colors would look best where. We actually ended up rearranging the colors once they were up on the wall. After you fill the frames, you can begin to put up the frames in place of the templates.

It took some time to get the spacing right and make the pattern look random, but still pleasing to the eye. I think the final product came out really nice! I absolutely love it and I wish we would have done it sooner. It really draws your eye up and makes the room look larger.