Decor Woe: Working Around a Massive TV

When you move in with your significant other, you have to be prepared for the fact that they do not come alone. They come with their stuff. Stuff that will be jammed in the closet, right next to the dress you've tried so hard not to wrinkle. Stuff that clashes so terribly with your own stuff that you find yourself weeping for the way things used to be, when you had full reign over every inanimate object living right beside you.

Two years ago, my boyfriend moved an utterly massive flat screen television into my cubicle-like living room, and I felt like Frasier Crane the first time he laid eyes on his father's ratty barcalounger. 

He and a friend lugged it in, and it sat heavy and squat on the media cabinet, dwarfing every picture frame and knick-knack in its midst. Then my boyfriend pulled out a foot-long metal elbow and told me he planned to use it to hang this huge technicolor eyesore on the wall. I was at a loss. I had lived here for 2 years myself already, and had grown rather attached to the way my moderately sized television, bookshelves and pictures frames had played together. I wasn't convinced that his TV and my stuff could live happily together. But then he hung it up. 

It wasn't that bad. I actually kinda liked it. Maybe a little too much, as the head-shaped dent on my couch can attest. But there still remained the question of what I could hang on the wall beside the TV to create the illusion that we both weren't obsessed with TV. Cause when you have a tiny wall and a massive television, that's what people will automatically think. My solution was a gallery wall of variously sized frames to counterbalance the large size of the television.

To fill the space, I bought some IKEA frames in various sizes. I ended up framing wrapping paper in two of them to bide my time until I found something I liked better. 

{BEFORE}

Yes, they are slightly crooked. Thank you for noticing.

A couple weeks ago, I decided to do-away with the old and refresh the art a bit. I arranged the pattern on the floor before committing to spaces on the wall. 

Not exactly worthy of a spread in House Beautiful, but I think it looks playful, cute and well-balanced.

{AFTER}

Clockwise from left: 

abstract canvas: painted myself

motorcycle print: clip-art, free

zebra print: clip-art, free

b & w tree: drawn by family member

plant with wooden frame: $5, garage sale

purple and gold flowers: $6, wrapping paper, Pearl River Mart (NYC)

bobbleheads print: clip-art, free

cherry blossom tree: personal photo