Today we have an awesome idea for displaying a long, narrow textile like the kind you often collect from overseas travel. Full disclosure: this wasn't my idea. It was the brilliant brainstorm of local designer Lisa J. Wood. She always has the most interesting challenges for us, and this was one of my favorites.

It started when one of her clients collected a lovely African textile made of grass. This was a surprisingly soft piece made from fine grass fibers. It's a rare and special kind of fabric that's much harder to find than mudcloth; I wish I could remember what it's called.

This is just a detail; it was actually 20 inches wide and about 12 feet long. And that was the problem: it was too long to hang on any of the walls in the home. That's where Lisa's brilliance came in... she had us hang it on the stairwell ceiling!

It would take some serious acrobatics to hang this on your own, but that's why we have an art installation services for stairwells. We're available to hang items up to 14 feet in the air. Happily this one was only eight feet up or so. Piece of cake!

The homeowner had collected several other impressive textiles, including this unusual piece of mudcloth with figurative squares:

It's hard to believe this was all done with natural dyes and processes. The colors are so bold.

The homeowner had us hang this one sideways, so the lizards were climbing up and down the walls.

He also had a very appealing collection of ceremonial masks. I'll show you these as a slideshow. I didn't get closeup of the trio of dark masks, but they were super interesting, with "moustaches" made of rope. I had the pleasure of taking an African art history class in college, and these were a wonderful reminder of it.

 Many people don't realize just how much contemporary Western art owes to the African diaspora, not to mention the masks taken directly from Africa which inspired Pablo Picasso and his contemporaries. Compare the outer figures in Les Demoiselles d'Avignon to these masks. The simplified forms and distortions were directly inspired from African carvings; although I would say that Picasso's interpretations are far less sensitive.

He was responding to the (to him) "primitive" nature of the art. But if you look carefully at African art, you begin to see that it is not so much primitive as it is stylized, with its own constraints and aesthetic traditions.

We also installed this heavy mirror which beautifully set off a Navajo jar:

Our client had picked up a lot of lovely pieces during his global travels, but I think my favorite was this flight of butterflies in the entryway:

It would lift your heart to come home to this. (Side note: a lot of modern butterfly art is collected from naturally deceased butterflies in sanctuaries, so it's not too sad to see it.)

If you have a wild idea for installing your art collection, or if you just want a hand hanging all the wonderful pieces you've collected in your travels, give us a call. We're happy to help.

Every once in awhile during our installations, we're able to help the homeowner create a particularly cool effect that stands out in my mind. One of my favorites lately was someone who called us for our heavy mirror hanging service.

We hang lots of mirrors, often big expensive ones with water-gilded frames and so on. But this effect wasn't from an expensive mirror; it's something anyone could replicate.

The homeowner had a large mirror from one of the online décor stores; I think it was Wayfair. As I mentioned, the mirror wasn't particularly expensive, but it was a very large, clear mirror about the size of a doorway. It was the superb clarity of the reflection that made this special. Most mirrors have some degree of warping, or the silvering has tarnished, or there's a bevel on the edge that announces that this is a mirror.

The unusual clarity of this piece created a kind of Alice-in-Wonderland feeling, as if there was an entire room on the other side of this frame.

(I say "Alice in Wonderland" but really, it should be "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There," shouldn't it?)

Just in case you're curious, here's what the mirror was really reflecting:

They had another rather magical piece for us to hang, as well. This was a little tile clock which one of their Iranian friends had given to them. It's surprisingly heavy for its size, and since it was so fragile (and so exquisitely beautiful) I went way overboard and used a hanger for 50-pound items.

The clock's hands had fallen off long ago, which somehow makes it more appealing.

Stopping time and entering into a mirror world - it all sounds like an enchanting way to live.

If you'd like to try the mirror effect in your home, but you don't want to try to hang a big heavy mirror all by yourself, give us a call. We even have ways of installing large artwork when you don't have a stud in the right place. Because after all, a mirror should be hung in just the right spot to reflect something beautiful.

One of the challenges of owning a nice home is that the architects usually specify at least one soaring ceiling. This has a nice effect of making a room feel spacious and open... but it also leads to big, empty, hard-to-fill walls. And those high ceilings mean that you have to get way up on a ladder to hang your art once it's delivered. If you have a big piece to install, it can be downright dangerous to do it yourself.

Fortunately we're available to assist with hanging art in challenging locations, including items that are up to 14 feet in the air. Here's an example of a recent project which entailed a bit of a climb.

One of our local Biltmore Forest customers recently built a home with a little cupola over the kitchen. It gave almost a courtyard effect to the area, but it also created two expansive white walls that were just crying out for artwork.

Fortunately he had two large pieces which he had commissioned for his previous home. The pieces were stretched on canvas, so they were relatively lightweight, but their expansive size made it unsafe to carry them up a ladder. With that in mind, we brought in our rolling scaffold, which we laid on packing blankets in order to protect the beautiful new hardwood floors.

The scaffold allowed us to carefully lift the painting up and set it on the walk-boards, then hang it on the picture hangers which we'd previously installed. We really enjoyed this picture - it brightens up the plain white walls. The homeowners had the area washed with spotlights, too, so I bet it looks great at night.

On the opposite side was a wonderful painting of the Biltmore Estate... the perfect subject for a home in Biltmore Forest. We carefully centered and leveled it so that it lined up just right with the in-wall speakers.

If you've been staring at big white walls for too long and you're ready to fill them in, give us a call. We've got the tools for the job!