I can’t recall now where I came up with this idea, though it is, I must admit, somewhat elementary (HA, geddit?). But speaking for myself, I know that sometimes it’s what is blatantly obvious that eludes me most, so here’s a decorating tip in the vein of seeing the forest for the trees: use your kid’s art to decorate your home.
If you have a child under the age of ten, you’re doubtless bombarded with an endless stream of arts & crafts sent home from school or daycare, right? And if you’re anything like me, you’re probably undergoing a guilt-tinged internal struggle almost daily about these creations by your child: Which of these drawings and paintings and various crafts should I keep? And what the heck should I do with the things I do keep?
I feel your pain, fellow parent of a budding artiste. But instead of shoving them in a box or sticking them in the attic to collect dust, why not display the creations of your little Picasso (or Pollock, as the case may be), and add a bit of color and child-like whimsy to your living space in the process?
So here’s my suggestion on how to make a nifty wall display of your child’s art that will add dimension, fun, and interest to your home:
- Gather up a length of attractive ribbon (wire, rope, or twine will do in a pinch)
- Tie the ribbon to two nails set a few feet apart on the wall you’d like to use for the display (you’ll want to pull the ribbon fairly taut between the two nails, because the weight of your child’s projects will naturally pull it downward)
- Dig up some binder clips or paper clips, and use these to secure the various drawings, paintings, and art projects along the length of ribbon however you’d like (its probably best to affix the larger projects first, and then add a few smaller ones on top of those, if you have a good number of them that you’d like to display)
- Stand back and marvel at your creative decorating handiwork!
VOILA! How easy was that? Now your child has his or her very own mini art gallery in your home, and the best part is that it can be endlessly new and fresh: you can switch out artworks at any time and replace them with your kid’s newest creations as the months and years go by.
Plus kid’s art is always fun and original — and who doesn’t need a little more freshness and originality in their home?
September 25th, 2007 at 7:11 am
Great idea! here’s another one for you:
take digital pictures of all the art and store them by child on your hard drive or an external hard drive. Once you have gathered up a ton of them (spread over years, I’m not that far into mine yet becuase my children are still too little, but this is what I’m going to do) create a book with a online scrapbooking company (like shutterfly or blurb or something).
You can use the pictures you had in the gallery and save them forever (while rotating them) for your children.