Industrializing My Condo

For those of you who don't know (which is basically none of you since I only have five followers and you've all been here), I have a wall of mirrors in my living room.  It's a rather well-done wall and doesn't make the house seem like it's a 70's porn set at all.  I actually have grown to love and appreciate the mirrors.

When I had a dog for three days (which is a whole other story), the only time she was ever calm was when she saw herself in the mirror.  She became very confused and growled at herself.  It was minutes of amusement.

I also had a boyfriend who I would catch checking himself out in the mirror often when we were watching TV.  It was a clear sign of things to come...

Regardless, the mirror is a much loved part of my home, but it also takes up a whole wall, which cuts down on the amount of art I can put up.  I have a very eclectic collection of art.  There are some movie posters.  One for Fitzwilly, a fun 60's holiday movie that furthers my awkward crush on Dick Van Dyke, and one for a muppet movie that doesn't yet exist, but will be awesome someday.  There is some Red Sox-related art- Norman Rockwell's The Rookie and a shot of a rainbow over Fenway, which is now everywhere, including on the inside of an umbrella my mother bought me last year.

I have some colorful creations I've made, some framed stamp sets of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn,  framed postcards of the original covers of the Anne of Green Gables series.  I also have an original painting of what I think is a social commentary in the form of a library that was done by a local artist and given to me as a gift from my parents when I got my library degree.  It's an eclectic mix, but it's all up there.

All except for two framed prints that I have loved since I was in high school.  Both have my favorite shades of blue and have been wasted hiding under a sofa until I could figure out where to put them.

After much conversation and contemplation, I figured it out.  I decided to make my mirror into an industrial-style art gallery.

First I bought a wire hanging system from Ikea that would have been lovely for hanging curtains, but failed miserably for hanging anything else from.  Then my father and I did some heavy-duty thinking.  And we finally came up with an old standby: pipe.

So, while most people spend their time trying to figure out how to cover up pipes hanging from the ceiling, I spent a few evenings and afternoons trying to figure out how to install 10 feet of 1/2" galvanized steel pipe into my ceiling, hopefully hitting a study or two on the way.

It took my father (who comes with a wide selection of tools, ladders and random pieces of particle board), my rambunctious brother and a bunch of hours, but we did it. 

Here's what it too:
A stud-finder.  And luckily, a sense of adventure, since the stud-finder seemed to want to find studs in no practical sense with no rhyme or reason involved.
A drill (which will soon be followed by a container of putty).
Four pipe mounting brackets
Four 3/8X2 1/2" eye bolts
Two pieces of 60" galvanized steel pipe with threaded ends.
Two end caps
One coupler

A lot of 30lb framers wire
Various tools
and a good sense of humor

ceiling brackets up













more ceiling brackets












installing the eye bolts












Pipe threaded through the eye bolts



Pipe up

First picture hanging

I took the frame apart to move the hanging brackets out and moved them to the top of the frame to string the framing wire from so the picture would hang flat.

Framing wire doubled around the pipe at the top.

Second picture up and hanging

 Final product