DIY Plate Wall

In our old apartment we has super high vaulted ceilings. I spent so much time trying to figure out how to make those walls beautiful. We had some awkward shaped walls too, the wall behind our dining room table was also the wall that was in front of the staircase leading up to our loft. It was this weird angled thing and so hard to decorate. I settled on a plate collage. It was beautiful. I loved it. It brought a ton of color and interest into the space. I hung the plates so that they sort I migrated up the angle if the wall, really embracing the weirdness.

You can kind of see the plate wall in our old place, behind my musical boys.

 When we moved into our new place in July I quickly hung the plates above our dining room table just as they had been in our old place, though not in the same pattern. And I quickly decided I didn't like it. Nope, the plates just did not have the same effect in this new apartment. At least not on that wall. I was ready to give in the towel and pack up the plates. But my wonderful hubby inadvertently gave me an idea. I think his exact words were "The wall above the stove needs... something." Brilliant Hubby!

Not working...

My original plan for the wall above our stove was to hang some floating shelves for added storage. But thanks to some creative solutions I didn't really need the extra storage. Plus I wasn't too keen to do the work of installing shelves in an apartment that we aren't planing on being in forever. Once I gave up the idea of shelves over the stove, it opened up a huge blank wall. Enter: Plates. 

Sad boring wall.

To make sure the plates formed a good pattern, before I punched any holes in the wall, I traced each plate onto craft paper, cut it out and taped the tracings onto the wall. I played around with the pattern until I got something I was happy with. Then I hung the plates exactly where the tracings were.

Do this! It makes a huge difference in the finished product and in the process.
So much less frustration and guessing.

[plates are from Target, Marshals and various thrift stores]

I love, love, LOVE the way it turned out. It adds so much color and interest in my tiny kitchen. 

What do you think of my plate wall? Do you have a wall in your home that is just screaming for something interesting? Leave a comment and let me know!

Xoxo,
Corey