OPAM: may ’08 (photo wall in living room) AFTER

Posted byTara 244 Comments on OPAM: may ’08 (photo wall in living room) AFTER

Update : 06.02.13

The last photo taken of our photo wall before a pipe burst in our kitchen and everything came down. When it gets hung up again, the photos will be different and it will be in another room entirely. Thanks for five years of internet love!

-Tara

 

This was such a good experience for me. because while i did put my project off to the last minute (figuring out what prints i wanted and ordering them last week) (and putting the prints in the frames this weekend),

AT LEAST I FINISHED SOMETHING I STARTED!

and that my friends, is KEY for me. i am the queen of good intentions. starting something in my house…and then getting sidetracked and starting something else in my house….until there are five or six unfinished projects going on, and im sitting around feeling overwhelmed and crappy.

but this OPAM thing is keeping me accountable. so thank you blogland!

for those of you following along, today is the day to post your after picture on your blog and link here in comments. i also think it would be cool for you to post your before picture along with your after picture, or at least link to the post with the before pictures, like i just did. its also the day to choose your june OPAM, and post the before pictures for that. i am going to do that in a separate post, so each month is easily found when searched for.

so-i hemmed and hawed over how to choose photos. initially i thought i wanted all black and white. until a friend begged me to mix in some tara color, and make it more eclectic, because really, isnt that what is more my style? and i totally agreed with her. also-i was having a really hard time finding photos i wanted to turn black and white to use for this. so i easily gave in and decided to mix it up.

i was also so so so so so in love with the TTV effect that jefra created for my photos, that i decided i wanted all of my frames to be filled with that effect. but i didnt have any photos actually taken in that way except for jefras. so i googled “ttv frame download” and found several sites that offered free downloads. i grabbed a couple that i thought would work. this is a great group on flickr too. also, here is a tutorial for doing it yourself. of course, adding the frame in PS is not as fun as doing it the real way, but i didnt have time on my side, so i cheated.

then came the undertaking of deciding what photos to choose! i knew what i wanted to “say” with this project. its the first thing people will see when they come into my house. so i wanted a BAM kind of statement and a happy portrayal of our life. and i knew i wanted one of each kid, one of jeff and i, and then some fun, funky shots to really make it interesting.

i created a folder on my desktop and copied any photo that i deemed a “maybe” into it. then in photoshop, i created a huge blank canvas, resized and cropped all of those “maybe” images and started dragging and moving them around until i found the perfect arrangement. i added the TTV borders to the nine shots i was using, fiddling with the effect and color until they were what i wanted…and ta da! my photo wall is complete, and completely AWESOME if i may say so myself.

opam0508v2.jpg

opam0508v1.jpg

now, even jeff is gung ho to complete our front room. we have been waiting to do it because we have had to focus our funds on other more important things. we have a list of big ticket “to buy” items and this room was just not at the top of the list. but now that this wall makes such a statement, its a shame to have the rest of the room flop.

see? productivity spreads like a weed!

**

Supplies and other info:

Frames: the frames used here were 20×20 glass clip frames, purchased from IKEA. However they are no longer available. IKEA does have other 20×20 frames.
An online source for glass clip frames is here.

TTV tutorial: This was an effect added digitally. Tutorial found here.

TTV border: I found mine here.

 

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244 Comments

  1. That looks so cool. I tried something like that and have not completed it yet. I have nine 4×6 frames on the wall and two pictures in the frames. Now I want bigger frames! You did a great job, love it!

  2. this is as absolutely awesome as i knew it was going to be.
    i have been so excited to see this…waiting for it.
    i am inspired to go start my OPAM. i just need to do it!!
    now i can’t wait to see what next month’s will be.

    this is so great tara.
    SO GREAT!

  6. It is perfection. oh wait….it is perfectly imperfect! :)

    I love how patient you are. You have a vision and then you wait until you know you are going to nail it. And man, oh man…..no regrets with this project, Miss Whitney. It’s just so YOU and so YOUR family. Love it so much. That pic of you and Jeff is just dreamy. How could you guys ever be anything but happy with each other with that 20×20 photo staring you in the faces, huh???? Every couple needs one of those front and center as a reminder of how great commitment is.

    ahhhhhhhhhh….it’s just so great!

    Margie Pargie

  9. Love love LOVE how this project turned out!!! Such beauty and unique qualities to it!
    This OPAM thing has me soooo inspired, I think I will join in this month!

    –would you care to share the link to the free TTV download that you found to work for you? would love to try this out!

    Thanks for the inspiration, can’t wait to see next months project!

  11. oooh, i LOVE LOVE LOVE that ttv effect! i’m off to check out your link now! these look FABULOUS, tara, really. i have to tell you how much i adore the ferris wheel shot too, right smack in the middle. how clever! your life sounds like a sweet, wonderful, crazy-fun carnival ride to me already. :)

  15. Wow! That looks totally awesome Tara! How did you mount and hang these…doesn’t look like they are framed…though I guess they must be from the reflections I can see in some of the photos. Still, doesn’t look like a standard frame, would be very curious (though I’m sure whatever cool product it is isn’t available here in Canada…the cool things rarely are!)

  17. OMG! That is so gorgeous! I LOVE how it turned out! The pictures are fantastic and I love the look of the borders. How did you do that? The combo of color and B&W is fantastic. Love it!

  21. Love it! So glad to have been there to see it come together. I see you changed your mind about the center ferris wheel image ;-) Love it! Had fun with those Flickr TTV frames that I found. I’m sure I’ll be making use of them in the future. I forgot to take a peek at your real one… maybe next time. Anyway… here’s my completed project. http://katrinaelizabeth.typepad.com/katrina_elizabeth_photogr/2008/05/may-opam-is-done.html Love the deadline of having a month to complete a project! Let’s keep it going for a while.

  29. This wall freakin’ rocks!!! It’s punchy, emotive, and yes, eclectic, which I love. There’s a lot of movement in the images which is nice to see in a static environment. It works perfectly with your white walls and subtle colour furniture. Thanks for the TTV link effect. I’m going to get on that myself. Are these clip frames? Where did you get that great size?
    This is very inspirational! Thank you.

  35. i love what you have in the room so far! the chair and stuff around it are awesome!
    that wall is SUPER WOW!!!! are the frames from IKEA?
    LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it miss tara whitney~! you have motivated me to start decorating my house…….except i have every single room to decorate so it may take years to have the money to do it. i am starting with the girls rooms. then on to the guest room. after that i will tackle the family room, kitchen, dining room and living room…….BUT it’s going to be a LONG TIME>
    i need to figure out some paint colors. any ideas? all the rooms kind of are open to other rooms so it all needs to tie in.
    want to come help me decorate?!
    tara

  37. oh my HECK tara!!! if you wall magically disappears in the middle of the night, it is because i sent the tooth fairy to steal it for me. even though i have no idea where you life in Cali. and even though there are rumors milling about that the tooth fairy isn’t true. regardless, it might be gone. and you can blame me.

    so FREAKING awesome!
    i want one!

  42. Oh I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE that!! Thank you for sharing the after- inspiring. I’ve been debating and debating and debating about what pictures to put on my wall. Seeing how awesome yours looks I’m thinking I should just freaking PRINT some and get them up there already. It totally changes the feeling of that room.

  43. these are awesome Tara, i was curious where you got the frames and what size they are? I have TTV’s i have shot through my old Duaflex and would love to frame them in my living room in a similar fashion. Any info you would be willing to share would be greatly appreciated!

  44. Part of me hates you, but that part is the small, green, SUPER jealous part. The other part of me loves you like crazy and is planning to copy EVERYTHING you do.

    Then there is still ANOTHER part of me that yearns to be rich, thin and have a puppy.

  47. I love that display!!! I think that just about sums it up. Really, though, I love the colors, the size, the boldness of the display. Excellent job.

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