Adding the Personal Touch Achieving a certain look can seem a rather elusive exercise when you first design a room – but knowing the impression you want to create is halfway to achieving it.  Do you want cozy, homespun clutter, with lots of knickknacks everywhere or, at the opposite end of the scale, cool minimalism, with perhaps one large, carefully selected image adorning a wall?  To create a room that you can really live with, you must choose images and objects that you love: they will endure and delight long after the latest fashion has passed. But always keep your eyes open for ideas and inspirations: look in shop windows, browse through home interest magazines and look around when visiting other people’s homes.  Develop your eye for detail so that you can attempt to recreate a particular effect at home. Displaying Pictures An unadorned wall is somehow incomplete.  Without pictures, wall-hangings, mirrors, or displays of collectables, however humble, a wall is an unused canvas.  Although embarking on its embellishment can at times seem daunting, it should be seen as a wonderful opportunity to express your taste, to experiment and to be adventurous. At all times bear in mind scale and balance.  Symmetrical arrangements are always pleasing to the eye, whether in the positioning of pictures or in the placing of furniture or houseplants, but asymmetrical displays can be made to work just as well and are often more exciting.  Be prepared to experiment, moving things around for a better balance or changing the juxtaposition of one element to another, until you are happy with the result.  If you have a number of pictures to display, they will make most impact if they are grouped together, rather than being dotted around the room. The simplest display to create is where you have a series of related images – prints, for example – all of a similar size, uniformly framed in wood or metal. Depending on the space, they can be hung in a single vertical or horizontal line (this in turn will help to make a room look longer or wider). Alternatively, they can be grouped in rows, again with a vertical or horizontal emphasis.  For example, six prints can be hung in two rows of three or in three rows of two.  Such symmetrical arrangements are also possible with disparate images and sizes: a large picture could be placed centrally, with smaller sized images flanking it on either side. Asymmetrical arrangements such as an L shape or a cross offer an interesting alternative to the symmetrical theme, and are slightly less predictable.  Arrange the images carefully to follow the axes of your chosen shape.  If you are working with a variety of sizes and shapes, you will need to think carefully about the positioning of the dominant (in other words, the largest) picture.  Although it might seem the obvious place for it, avoid positioning the largest image in the centre and then trying to fit everything else around it.  You will find the arrangement looks much more effective if the dominant picture is positioned in one corner of the display or slightly off-centre. Images of walls are not limited to drawings, print and paintings.  Also choose from posters, postcards, photographs, framed embroidery or tapestry.  A small piece of special fabric or hand-printed wallpaper also looks wonderful framed.  Silhouettes look effective in a frame too: you can always make your own ‘antique’ silhouette by copying an original from the eighteenth or nineteenth century an cutting it out of black cardboard. When it comes to displaying a picture collection of all different sizes and images, such as photographs, drawings, paintings, postcards and prints, or combining these with decorative objects such as plates or plaster reliefs, first decide on the final shape of the arrangement – for example, a triangle, rectangle or circle.  If you want to be precise – and this is recommended when making holes in your walls! – try one of two different methods to establish the layout.  One is to trace around the images on paper, then cut them out and use a removable wall adhesive to stick them to the wall.  When you have a pleasing arrangement, mark the position of each image and start hammering.  Or cut your shape out of paper, lay it on the floor, place the various images on top and start playing around with them, rather like a jigsaw puzzle, until you are satisfied. Large single pictures look best hung over the mantelpiece or over a significant piece of furniture such as a sofa or sideboard, centred within its space.  Make sure that the picture is no wider than the item it is being hung over and beware of hanging it too low over a sofa, in case people bang their heads. Styling Ideas Do not hang pictures too high or too far apart.  Try to hang them about eye level, taking into account the height from which they are usually viewed – when sitting or when standing. When arranging a grouping, aim for an overall balance of shapes: you might, for example, match a large image on one side with two smaller ones on the other side.  Try to keep the gap between the pictures roughly the same – about half the width of the smallest image being hung is about right. Picture frames come in many guises, from glass with clip-on mountings to ornate antique frames.  Keep an eye out for old framed pictures in junk shops; you can discard the image inside and use the frame for your own picture. Plain flat wooden frames can be stained or painted as a cheap and effective way to achieve a co-ordinated look for your pictures. Photographs look best in plain black or chrome frames A miscellaneous series of prints can be linked together using the same coloured mounts. Bring a disparate range of images together by using similar picture frames. On a limited budget, posters offer excellent value for money.  Mount them on stiff cardboard with spray mount, or frame them simply under glass with clip-on mountings.