Just installed a mixed wall, with another in the works. In the one that's up, it's a mix of print, paint, photo, glass and not, but the frames are all black with a touch of gold, and the subjects and colors relate.

In the one I'm planning, there's a surprising common thread to the art that the viewer will take a moment or a minute to notice, then have a good laugh. It's a mix of many media, sculpture, styles...but everything will also be in a gold frame.

The one that's just gone up was meticulously measured and leveled, and as a result, looks very unified rather than "all over the place." Love my Black & Decker magnetic suction laser level! Had my first failure with command strips, though, and some breakage and repair -- oops! I've never had one fail before; might've been the paint, as several things fell. Good luck!

As a professional designer, I would start by looking at the composition of each piece of art and the current frame it has. Do they relate to and compliment each other? Do the colors work in harmony? They don't need to be the same but work together. Same thing with the frames. If you decide they all work together , then I would put museum glass on the pieces that have glass to get rid of the glare which will make them more compatible with oils. Art and accessorizing is probably one of the most difficult things for my clients to do on their own as you really need to have a good sense of proportion, scale and mixing of elements.

Oh, wow, I never thought about reframing. These paintings are inherited (from different people) so they're all different, from frames to colors to subject matter. I think I am going to take a pic of the wall, then pics of the paintings, and try to arrange them in Photoshop before I do any hammering of hooks. I have a feeling this might not work unless I spend on frames and I don't want to do that. Thanks for the responses so far.

Here's another excellent example of a mixed media collection of art. The repetition of black in the oil paintings, charcoal sketches, and graphic posters is what ties all the pieces together. I like your idea of arranging your pieces on Photoshop prior to hanging.

Previewing in Photoshop is a big help. I did that for my office, as it's another space where an assortment of art, shelves and items had to fit into confined wall spaces and look cohesive. If your collection doesn't have a common thread of color or framing, you can still pull it off if your spacing and overall composition is well planned and executed.

Mix, Mix, Mix......Start with the biggest three and hang in a kind of triangle and fill in...don't try too hard. Use your eye for balance, color and texture mixing....then get some more! Consignment shops have the best stuff to give it a collected look.