Frames First, Art Second

Most of the time you have artwork that you love and you have it framed. But sometimes it can work the other way around-- it's the frames that come first, and the art is secondary.

That's what happened in our den.

This wall serves as our mudroom. It leads into the garage so we drop shoes and bags on the Ikea Molger bench I picked up a few months ago.

The walls are dark--they're painted Benjamin Moore's Chelsea Gray and the wall above the bench seemed to be crying out for art. (That yellow door will be painted black this summer.)

I love frames hung in a grid and I knew this was a perfect spot for that kind of look. I bought six frames before I even knew what the artwork was going to be.

When the frames form a grid and they almost became the art themselves. I ended up choosing handmade marbled paper in colors I already had going on in the den...teals and gray tones.

The frames are 12 x 12 and the mat opening is only 5 x 5 so only a small section of these papers were used.

The white mats pop against the dark gray walls and show off the color and pattern--which adds the perfect amount of interest.