Q: We were cleaning out my late great-aunt's house and found stacks of framed photos of European scenes. She was a good amateur photographer and avid traveler.
I'd like to honor her work but am overwhelmed at the thought of finding enough space to hang all her photos ... there may be 25 or more. Is there a smart way to show them off a few at a time?
A: Yes. But don't even think of reaching for a hammer and nails. Instead, think about a gallery of rotating photos.
Choose a long wall space, say, just above a chair rail in the dining room, and install a narrow shelf, wall-to-wall. It should have a lip at the front edge so you can prop up a selection of photos, a half dozen at a time. No nails necessary. You then rotate the collection when you're ready for a change of scenery.
That said, I also applaud the solution French designer Jacques Garcia devised for the sleek sitting room we show here, designed to show off his latest furniture collection for Baker Furniture. Yes, his wall of art does involve a hammer and nails — also, a measuring tape, and the patience to hang all those pictures just so.
It is the precision of the display that makes it so visually interesting. How, you may ask, can this be done? First, by measuring the wall space involved, marking it out on the floor below, then arranging the framed artwork to suit your eye. Now transfer your arrangement, piece by piece, to the wall itself, carefully maintaining the correct spacing.
Collectors, note: To achieve this architectural effect, all frames and picture mats should match. Not to the art, of course. There, as the French would say, Vive la difference!
Q: Had it up to here with winter?
A: Think spring flowers, the kind we all dream of on these shut-in days of howling winds and swirling snows.
Inspired paper artist Livia Cetti shows and tells how to make your own paper posies in her remarkable new "Exquisite Book of Paper Flowers."
Her faux posies — everything from roses and peonies, to tiger lilies, sweet peas, and poppies — are as realistic as they are witty. And not only do these paper bouquets cost next to nothing — brides really love their bottom line — they last practically forever. We're told that even the White House once decorated with garlands of paper hibiscus for a South Korean state dinner.
Cetti's new take on flower power comes out in April. Can you hold on till then?
Meanwhile, curl up with the intimate "Taliesin Diary," written by New Yorker newlywed Priscilla J. Henken, who with her husband David spent nearly a year with Frank Lloyd Wright at his studio in rural Wisconsin during the early 1940s.
They'd been drawn there more by Wright's ideas on urban planning than his architecture, and it's intriguing to see behind the scenes, day to day, as his apprentices
worked, ate with and aided the grumpy-but-great architect.
"Taliesin Diary" is a project of the National Building Museum in Washington.
Rose Bennett Gilbert is the author of "Manhattan Style" and six other books on interior design. To find out more about Rose Bennett Gilbert and read features by Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.CREATORS.com.
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