The Great Gallery Wall Dilemma

Our living room has had so many rounds of furniture rearrangement and redecorating, I think it’s going to have a nervous breakdown soon. I must have changed the rearrangement more than 5 times since we moved in 1.5 years ago. And I’m still not totally satisfied!

While I have decided to make do with our current sofa (instead of replacing it with a white one that I absolutely love), I do think the layout can still be improved.  The one feature that really bothers me right now is the wall behind the sofa.  There are three acrylic paintings there, all unframed, gallery style.  To the right of the paintings are 4 frames (2 prints and 2 watercolor paintings).

You can see why the layout bothers me? This is what happens when you don’t make a proper plan. I finished those paintings at different times and just hung them on the wall.  The huge peony painting is one of my favourites, but I think it clashes with everything else because the red background is so strong. I just don’t know where I should move it.

(On a separate note: notice how the bookshelf is now lying down on its side? Yep, I do crazy things like that all the time.)

 

The corner is our reading nook. I placed the frames there because those are also the first thing you see when you enter our door. I think it looks welcoming. But I’m not sure if the layout looks good when viewed all together.

To complicate things further, there is another painting that sits on the 2nd side table. I didn’t hang this on the wall because I thought it made the space look more dynamic and relaxed. errr. More like unfinished and unbalanced.

 

Should I do 2 separate groupings? Or one big group? Should I hang all the paintings together? Or mix the frames? I have about 3 smaller framed watercolors that I haven’t gotten around to hanging yet. My biggest fear is making the wall look too busy.  The one thing going for all these is that they do have a unifying theme – they’re all feminine and have some pink in them.  The frames and sizes may differ, but at least they all look like they belong together.

What I need to achieve here is visual balance.  It doesn’t mean that there should be an even number of pieces. You can actually create balance by placing the biggest piece on one side, and everything else surrounding it.  I’m still deciding if I should use a grid so that some of the edges are aligned, or if I should do a more random arrangement. That way I can add smaller-sized pieces too. Or I could probably hang the smaller pieces somewhere else. hahaha. I did tell you it was a dilemma, right?

What do you suggest? Please help! Yes, I’m willing to take down all the art and repaint the wall if need be so I can start all over again. Suggestions? Ideas?