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Design Ideas

Show off your family’s history with a salon wall

Your home’s not just a place where you sleep each night – it should also tell the story of who you and your family are. This is why you shouldn’t just choose any old flooring – you want something that makes a statement, like quality travertine tiles. When you buy travertine tile, you’re choosing a natural stone that can last your family for generations and become a part of your story. There are many ways to incorporate your family’s history into your home decorating scheme that  are unique and will highlight all of your personalities.

For example, the Associated Press published an article about how to create a salon wall in your home. In decorating, a salon wall refers to a shelf that’s filled with pictures or memorabilia from a family’s history. The news source explained that this type of wall has origins in 17th-century Paris, when the Royal Academy held exhibitions – also known as salons – to show off their students’ work.

Keep it balanced
The news source spoke to New York interior designer Elaine Griffin, who explained that the key to a good salon wall is to make it eclectic yet balanced. For example, have an equal amount of photos and found objects, rather than simply sticking to one or the other.

She explained that you need to plan carefully when it comes to creating a salon wall. You should place everythin you want to put on the wall on the floor to determine what looks best next to what.

The Associated Press also spoke to David Kassel, a collage artist in New York City, who creates salon walls for designers like Bunny Williams, Jamie Drake and Jeffrey Bilhuber. He said that on his own salon wall, he likes to place things like exotic turtle shells, colorful plates, ink blots and vintage medicine bottles.

“For small objects you can use shadow boxes. Sconces are a wonderful way to display bottles, vases, rocks or any three dimensional objects. You can choose from simple contemporary wall wedges or more traditional options like carved, gold-leaf sconces,” Kassel told the news source.

Make your own wall
Yahoo recommended that when you go to make your own salon wall, you should remember that there are no right or wrong choices – it’s completely up to you and your family’s tastes. The news source suggested that you mix antique artwork with modern day prints, family portraits and oil paintings as well as memorabilia of places you’ve visited. However, you should strive to be creative with what you choose to display. For example, if you visit the ocean often, you may not want to place seashells or sand on your shelf, since those are very common. Instead, consider finding some unique rocks to place on your salon wall, or an interesting photograph of the ocean that you took, and don’t be afraid of imperfections.

“Given the choice between a perfect bland photo and a flawed, energetic one, go for the lively one,” Jeff Southard, a spokesman for CollageWall.com, told the Associated Press.

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