Decorating with Collage

We've used collage quite a bit in our house to add color and pattern. The bathroom below was a dark and windowless room which we completely transformed using collage and vibrant paint color choices.


The ceiling is a deep purple-blue, the walls are raw pumpkin and roasted pumpkin, and the floor is orange-red. The collage on the walls was a collaborative project. My mother, who did several collaged bathrooms when I was a girl, did a large wall. My daughter did a good sized section, and several of my friends did sections of it, too. I also asked friends who lived faraway to send me a picture to include in the collage so that they could be part of the project. I collaged the rest of the space and smoothed some of the transitions between the different collage-artists' work.

Several people contributed piles of wonderful, colorful magazines. I still have a huge storage box full of great collage material. Thick, good quality magazine paper is best, of course.

It was fun to see the different artists' collage styles.

This is one of my favorite sections below. As a portrait artist, I love faces of course. I also love these figures all ready for swimming.

This picture shows the juxtaposition of three of the paint colors.

This mail carrier was a fun project to do. I find collage a wonderful way to feed the image bank when I am feeling low on ideas. Even looking through the box full of collage materials is inspiring to me.

I like to use patches of color and pattern in an abstract way.

I also love pictures of food.

I picked up this umbrella stand below at a discount store. I painted the interior and edges black, and concentrated on harvest colors for the exterior.



I used this little house-shaped box to work out color ideas for our new home before we moved into it. Unfortunately, I had a problem with glare when I took pictures of it.


Chances are, there is something you could collage in your house. If not an object, an entire room. Use Mod-Podge and a brush for glueing, and smooth the collage pieces out with a brayer. Later, cover the collage with more Mod-Podge to protect it. I would also keep your collage out of direct light, which might fade the colors.