Weekend Progress
March 3rd, 2008
We accomplished a number of little things this weekend. Little things, big impact. For one, we finally hung a few pieces of art from the picture rail.
For our larger pieces, I bought picture hooks and hanging cord from Rejuvenation.
Okay, this one doesn’t look quite as good on our “distressed” bedroom walls, but it’s better than nothing!
For smaller pieces we’ll use fishing wire. 
Overall I think it looks very elegant with the hanging cord. The one thing that bugs me is that the artwork bows out a little at the top, depending on where your eye hooks are at the back of the piece. We minimized this for the most part by tacking down the cord at the upper corners of the back of the frame.
I’m pretty amazed at the lack of wall space we have in this house, mainly because of the number of windows in here, but also because of the Big Honkin’ Fireplace and our wall of bookcases. I’m having a hard time finding a spot for some of our pieces and may just have to get rid of some.
I also painted the foyer and the attic stairway wall, which is visible from the dining room. Both of these spaces are painted in my favorite neutral: Shenandoah Taupe, AC-36, Benjamin Moore. I used this color in the master bedroom of the old house—I loved it then and I still love it now. I’ll use this color in our hallway as well. I think using a nice neutral color in these spaces makes a good transition as you pass from one room to another.
Pete finished cleaning up the brass light fixture from the foyer using TSP substitute and reinstalled it with a globe lightbulb. It’s really nothing fancy, but I don’t know if I want to buy something else. I like that it’s original, and it looks like new!
Unfortunately we’ll have to patch the ceiling surrounding it. I was hoping it would be covered by the fixture, but no such luck.
4 Responses to “Weekend Progress”
Cheryl March 3rd, 2008 at 6:22 pm #
Most of the pieces I’ve had custom framed had little clear bumpers on the bottom corners – they keep the bottom from resting on the wall so the top doesn’t pull away from the wall so much. They are maybe 1/2″ in diameter & 1/8″ thick. Try the frame department of a craft store.
Love what you are doing with the house – looks great!
Cheryl
Jenni March 3rd, 2008 at 7:48 pm #
I was going to say you can buy those little clear stick on “bumpers”. Cheryl beat me to it. I hang a lot of art with work and you can even double up on the “bumpers” if you need to. They work wonders. You can find them with the hooks and such at the big box stores.
Derek March 3rd, 2008 at 7:59 pm #
The picture rail looks great. We have one in our dining room, it’s so close to the ceiling, we thought it was crown that wasn’t applied properly. We haven’t hung anything from it yet, we still have to strip all the paint off of it.
denise March 4th, 2008 at 11:51 am #
I thought they already had those bumpers on them, but turns out they didn’t, so I’m sure that will help. Thanks for the suggestion!
Derek—in our other rooms the picture rail is really close to the ceiling like yours and I’m sure a lot of people mistakenly think it’s crown molding. Good luck stripping it—it’ll be worth all the hard work!