Frames…

Recently I’ve been helping my girlfriend change the color and overall look in her family room and living spaces.
In doing so, we realized she had over 20 different styles and colors of frames scattered throughout her small space.
Within one bookshelf there were 15 different frames and a nearby cabinet with at least 10 more that didn’t have a consistent feel or common thread.

My Brave Girlfriend’s Cabinet Shelf~

Many of the spaces were simply too small to have a collection of frames let alone frames that didn’t match.
Some of her photos were in black and white while others in color.
I don’t think she ever realized that she had acquired so many different frames.
I know I’ve been guilty of that very same thing…
It’s hard for many of us to know how to get rid of excess ‘anything‘ let alone a frame that holds a picture with a sweet memory attached. :)

Nowadays many homes have a more open floor plan where each room is visible to many parts of the house.
When this is the case I think it’s important for items such as frames that we tend to have a collection of, to be of a more consistent color or theme.
The overall achieved effect of using the same color frame is that it can make a room look more polished and pulled together.

In the end we decided her space would look best to have a variety of black frames within each room to compliment her paint color.
To keep the room from looking too busy we decided to go with black and white photos rather than the distraction that color could lend.

(source: BHG)

I had just undergone such a change in my own home when I moved away from my previous rich jewel tone color scheme with heavy black frames to a more cooler look of blues, greens and  whites with silver frames…
The silver frames lightened the overall effect in my home and I was instantly in love.
I then decided to carry the lighter tone even further by adding silver accents.
I continued this throughout my home by slowly making simple runs to inexpensive stores such as Homegoods, Target and TJMAXX.

If you stand back and look at your own bookshelves, do you find that you have a consistent collection of frames within each room or have you built up a distracting collection like that of my girlfriend??
If so, just know that you aren’t alone. :)
Changing out something as simple as a collection of picture frames can give your home a completely new feel and lease on life…  just ask my girlfriend!  ;)