Brightening my dining room

Question

I need some suggestions to brighten a corner of my dinning room wall. I love these metal wall plaques from Wayfair,  but they seem to make the corners of my dinning room look dark. The walls are a little darker than the look in the pictures. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Julie Austin Leavitt · Answer

What if.....you took some blue painters tape.  Measure off approx. 6' around the plaques.  Make sure it's nice and square/even.  Take the plaques down. Then get one of those small sample jars of paint, and paint inside the painters tape.  Get a soft, light neutral color.  Then remove the tape and when the paint is dry, rehang the plaques in their new backdrop.  ???

Ntexas99 · Answer

My thought would be to embellish the existing metal plaques.  It's a little hard to tell from the photo if plaques are three-dimensional, or flat on the front.  If possible, I would try adding small circular mirrors to the center point on each of the flowers.  This will allow them to bounce and collect the light, adding a small bit of shine in that corner.  You can find circular mirrors in any craft store (Hobby Lobby, etc) and use Gorilla glue (or any clear permanent glue) to affix the mirrored circles to the center of the flowers.

To add even more sparkle, I would then use Gorilla glue (the clear version, not the one that dries white!) to highlight all the outward strokes on the petals, and then sprinkle iridescent glitter on the glue.

To do this, quickest way would be to remove plaques from the wall and lay them on a flat surface.  Using a cheapo small paintbrush, swish clear glue to more or less trace the outward swirls on each petal of the flower.  Then sprinkle iridescent glitter on the glue and leave it flat to dry.  Work one flower at a time, to make sure glue doesn't dry before adding glitter.

Note:  When I'm adding glitter to something, I always 'over-pour' the glitter, adding more than necessary, and then gently press down (using a baggie over my finger to keeps natural skin oils from mixing with the glitter and glue).  Then leave everything flat for several hours (24 hrs to be extra cautious) to allow glue and glitter to dry.  Afterwards, stand plaque up over a  cookie sheet.  Tap lightly on all sides of the plaque to allow any excess glitter to collect on cookie sheet.  (you can then collect excess glitter and use it again for another project!).

Also, one final note.  If desired, you can then spray the glittered surface of the plaque with clear acrylic to 'fix' the glitter and keep it from shedding off the surface of the plaque, but if you decide to do this step, either add painter's tape to the surface of mirrored discs first to avoid spraying the clear acrylic paint on the mirrors.  Or you can do the glitter glue process first, then after everything is dry, spray clear acrylic on top, and THEN add the mirrored discs.

Sorry the comment is so long, but my solution would be adding mirrored discs to the center of the flowers, (because mirrors always exaggerate and collect light in any dark corner), and then, because I love sparkle, I would definitely add glitter swirls (and you can be haphazard about it, just following the already-existing lines in the pattern of the flowers).  You can choose maybe only three of four lines of glitter on each plaque, or you can choose to use it liberally, depending on your own preference.

You can find circular mirrors, iridescent glitter (or any color of glitter you choose), clear permanent glue, and clear acrylic spray all at the craft store.  The whole project, including clear acrylic spray, would likely cost about $10-$15 total, if that much.  And I think it would add some light and sparkle to that corner of the dining room.

One final note:  if you already have silver or gold (or some other color) of accents in this room, then you can always match the color of the glitter to your accents, which not only helps tie it all together, but gives an extra bit of sparkle power to the room.  I usually go with clear iridescent glitter, since it has even more reflective power, over and above colored glitter.  Also, I tend to lean in the direction of 'very fine - almost powdery - glitter', as opposed to large flake glitter, as it tends to add more of a subtle touch, and looks more expensive.  You'd be surprised how many different ways you can add the smallest swipe of clear iridescent glitter to various spots in your home.  Good luck with your project, and I hope you'll post 'After' photos after you choose how you add some light to that corner of the dining room!

Heide · Answer

I don't know the size of your 3 plaques, but you could buy a large picture frame and put it around all 3, or buy 3 frames, one for each.  Hobby Lobby or thrift shops sell these.  Perhaps paint the area on the wall within the frame using  a bright color like white, to lighten the space.  Be sure to use painters tape to mark off the space first.

Janet Pizaro · Answer

To be honest I think it is the position of the pictures compared to the size of the wall.Maybe re-arrange them length wise and see if you like it better.

Patricia fehr · Answer

I got some really great creative suggestions. Thanks

Saskie · Answer

They also need to be hung lower.

Tris Smith · Answer

What about a floor lamp in the corner?

MaryJane · Answer

I would either on a tall 2 ft. x 8 ft. plywood board or cardboard or just on your wall . Wallpaper a raised pattern paintable wallpaper or a simple pattern wallpaper. Paint the paintable one if that's what you are going to use a nice bright color and than put your framed or over sized frames  with the metal art on your wall. Length wise. You can buy stripable easy to remove wallpapers. Paintable and printed. Set a basket of sheet music in the corner. I think that was a piano near it or just branches in a vase.

MaryJane · Answer

My mistake not a piano and I see a chair back.  Ok, your chair,add a cool table runner draped over the back of it. Again sorta bright.
Ps for the board you could also use gift wrapping paper stapled tightly. I also would put wood trim 8 ft. tall, ribbon or some kind of clean edge over the raw sides of the board. You could also just paint the edge a different color to finish it off.

Lreg · Answer

I would use an uplight.

Leisa Yeager · Answer

The scale is not good why not hang vertically in a diamond pattern, putting the green in the middle to balance the gold ones out..buy an up light for the corner

IFortuna · Answer

The artwork is too small for the space. I would get some large brightly painted canvases. They are cheap these days and can add a lot to a room. A large area rug with multi colors would add a lot of character and then you can get ideas from the colors in the rug for pillows, artwork and such. When you are tired of the colors, pick some others from the colors in the area rug and start over. Pillow covers are easy to make. If you don't want to spend the money for art work, just get a big wrapped canvas and paint various colors on it in a random pattern. Get ideas from other pieces of art on the net. It will be fun and you will have your own artwork on the wall. Here are some complimentary color combos: Purples ( various & lavender) and yellows -- Blues and yellows or oranges (corals, peach, etc)-- Reds (maroon, magenta) and greens-- Citrus colors (green, orange, yellow)-- All greens go together-- Blues -- Use reds (maroons, magentas, etc.) sparingly.-- Check out or buy a color wheel to help you choose. Here is a good one: https://www.amazon.com/Interior-Color-Wheel-H... Hope this helps. : )

Ginger · Answer

1. I would hang the two pictures in the left under the one on the right.
2. I would put a tree in the corner with an up light under it. They make very realistic looking fake trees, if you don't want a real one.

MARY KAY POUSA · Answer

1st the art work is out of wack...the mention of an artificial tree..put some tiny white on it...look at Thrift shops for a tree...if you decide you want one...do you have the same amount of space on the other side of the hutch...the wall is too much for the space to hang these...you could change the layout and add to the wall items that would go with whats already there...when you hang things do a layout on the floor first...you can play with the display until youget what you think is right or what you like...try putting them on an angle or vertical or two together vertical and the third one to one side and center it where the center line of the two are..this is hard to take an idea from one brain to another brain..wish I could be there to help..I am the type that visits and by the time I leave I have rearranged most of the house...and to my surprise I have never had anyone change it back...or anyone to say no...you could go to some furniture stores on the pretense of buying and get some feedback form the people that work there...they are pretty smart with stuff like this...if it's too dark and you go for a tree in the corner get an up light behind the tree...hope this helps...

Bec4750872 · Answer

I would frame them !  Painting  inexpensive frames that go with your color scheme,  and using a bright white around each of your pictures would brighten up your walls, plus really make your tin prints pop !  It's cheap enough to paint around them to create an illusion of an expensive frame.  You can always repaint over with existing paint color if you move them etc...

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