Design Hints

Susan and Joe Frank capture wonderful Colonial style throughout their historic New Jersey home (see "Trading Up" on page 56 of our Home Tours 2015 issue). When a quilt was too damaged to use as bedding, they simple cut out the most intact squares, framed them, and hung them in a grid above their bed. Here's how to get a similar look:

Note: We're giving instructions for a 3-over-3 arrangement, but you can adapt these instructions for any number of frames.

1. Purchase six identical frames and picture hangers. Assemble your artwork.

2. Lay your frames out with their backs facing up on the floor, a bed or a large table, and decide how much space you want in between each frame; 2 to 3 inches is fairly standard. Measure the distance between the middle of the top center frame's hanger and the middle of the top right frame's hanger and write it down. Next, measure the distance between the middle of the top center frame's hanger and the center bottom frame's hanger and write it down.

3. Measure and mark the placement on the wall of the top center frame. Using a box beam level, measure and mark the placement of the upper left and upper right frames by measuring out from the center mark in each direction.

4. Measure and mark the hole for the bottom center frame, measuring down from the top center frame's mark. Repeat step 3 for the bottom row.

5. Hammer in picture hangers, and hang your artwork.

Photographed and styled by Franklin & Esther Schmidt. The home was originally featured in our Home Tours 2015 issue.