Is the height of your walls giving you some design problems? Those with standard room heights are often envious of high walls as having high walls should, in theory, give you a huge blank canvas to decorate ‘til your heart’s content.
Rarely is that the case though. What you quickly find is to hang art on tall walls, anything beyond a couple of rows, or with unrelated images, gives an awkward vibe.
If you look at any interior design magazine, or even the photos designers and home and living websites share across social media, you will notice a theme emerging when high walls are being used to feature art and other design elements. The common theme is that not everything is art. They are displayed in a way that gives the illusion of being art.
Walls, including gallery walls, can be an assortment of arts, crafts, ornaments, and even signs. For a functional design, you could also get away with installing a small shelving cupboard among framed art and shelving installations.
With a combination of design features, subtly complemented by art, you can find amazing ways that are inexpensive to decorate huge walls with all types of wall displays.
3 Ideas to Decorate Tall Walls Inexpensively
- Put in Storage Space
Storage space does not need to be enclosed storage. Open shelving will do the trick as it is just what you need to split a blank canvas into sections. The shelving can be used to store books openly, place ornaments along, perhaps some paperweights and add some colour with a few house plants.
For smaller rooms that have high ceilings, cupboards on the wall could be useful for storing items you don’t want cluttering up your room. An inexpensive wall cabinet, such as a wooden bathroom cabinet could do the trick. And, if you do not like the wood finish, you can always cover the door of it with photos, or even textiles.
Before you install anything, plan your installations as other wall art will be surrounding them. Similar to a gallery wall installation, use brown paper and masking tape to plan your layout before you get to the DIY part.
- Decide on the Art You Will Frame and Where You Will Hang Them
The ideal height for hanging art is at eye-level, and that’s roughly 60-inches from the floor so how high your wall is, does not really matter. It just means the height above the 60” mark is likely to be the trickiest to design.
The most prominent wall art you want on display with easy viewing usually looks best hung at eye level. Above that is where you could be benefiting from additional wall storage space, or if you have a collection of items such as a camera collection, or a collection of ornaments or even decorative plates on stands, those could be placed on shelves at a higher level.
- Leave the Bottom of the Wall Blank for Furniture
The entire wall does not need to be decorated in wall art. That would get expensive. The most affordable way to make use of your entire wall is to have some freestanding furniture along the bottom. This could be your sofa, a freestanding side table, or slim and wide bookcases.
By using tables and side units at the lower level of tall walls with storage systems and shelving on the upper levels, the core part that’s at eye-level is going to be primed for displaying your wall art in the most prominent way without it being overshadowed by unrelated art hung randomly across the entire wall.