Styling Miriam McWilliam Photography Martina Gemmola
Hanging art on your walls makes a home your own and provides an insight into your personal style. However, wall art doesn’t have to be all prints and canvases displayed in rectangular frames.
Mixing things up with treasured objects, collected pieces, and nature’s gifts might just create your best gallery wall yet. Find artists you love across different mediums — from ceramics to oil, watercolour on paper to sculpture — then scour galleries and secondhand stores for little keepsakes that light up your imagination.
Objects that you’re not quite sure what to do with, but are beautiful to you, can also find their home on the wall. Here are some new ways to display your favourite objects.
1. Treasured textiles
Whether it’s a sari you inherited, a quilt your grandmother made or a handmade macrame you love, textiles are a great choice for covering your walls. Vintage fabrics are a particularly good choice as they’re often too delicate to press into the service they were originally crafted to make, though be careful to keep these away from direct sunlight to prevent fading.
Choose textiles that work with your colour scheme. They can be a hugely effective way to add colour, but if they’re too thick and dark, they may make a small room appear smaller. The bonus of wall-hung textiles is their ability to reduce loud noises inside. They’re a great option for houses with wooden, tiled or hard flooring, and those with lots of children.
2. Baskets
Many baskets are made by hand, making them a work of art in themselves. They range in shape, size and colour and never fully wear out if treated well. Any signs of use only add to their tactical appeal. Hang baskets together in a group for a textural display, or present one large basket on its own to make a statement in its own right.
3. Hanging plants
Indoor plants will change your life, say many. Pot an indoor plant and pop it into a corner of your home, or adorn the walls with climbers, allowing them to creep their way up your walls. Wall-mounted pots allow you to hang your living, green ‘art’, or hang them in pots from the ceiling. These natural works of art will purify the air, please your eyes and feed your soul.
4. Ceramics
Plates, platters and little ceramic artwork, hung together in a group of similar colours and shapes, can look incredible as wall decor. Pick up vintage and antique plates in similar hues to create a whole new vibe at your place. Be sure to use a secure disc plate to hang your plates – this one from Amazon Australia would do the trick. Often, the older plates and ceramics are not food safe, so this is a lovely way to enjoy them every day.
5. Wire objects and tools
A coastal-themed decor begs for something made from wire and/or driftwood to grace your walls. These wire crab pots are arresting in their size but delicate in construction, so don’t dominate the space.
6. Floating shelves
Floating shelves can be mounted anywhere in the home to give you the freedom to change the art on display as often as you like. Use one long shelf for a sleek contemporary look, or stagger a set at different heights to arrange curated vignettes and cascade plants.
7. Objects found in nature
Mother Nature, as the original artist, provides endless elements to use as wall art. Plant material, driftwood, leaves and husks can all be fashioned into unique displays of art.
8. Practical vintage possessions
Treasured collected pieces with aged patina become even more beautiful when carefully displayed as art. Avoid crowding pieces and allow space around each space to celebrate its distinct characteristics.
9. Vintage mirrors
Mirrors are a terrific way to reflect light into a room. Grouping smaller mirrors together works like one large mirror, yet adds more interest, all while visually doubling the space in the room.
10. Postcards and paper treasures
Travel the world and collect postcards on the way, then frame them in groups or individually to create a meaningful art wall that’ll take you for a trip down memory lane. You can collect little children’s drawings, the menu from your favourite restaurant, a Polaroid photograph – the paper possibilities are endless.
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