What Your Walls Say About You
By Christa TerryI can’t for the life of me recall where I heard it, but once upon a time someone said something to me like: You can tell where someone is on the class ladder by what’s hanging on their walls. Members of the upper classes hang art. Members of the lower classes hang family portraits.
I guess that makes my own house solidly middle class, with it’s carved wooden masks, framed portraits, art prints, paintings, and such? I have about as many masks as I do photographs of people hanging on my walls.
So I want you to tell me what you think about the above statement.

Is this more representative of an upper class or upper middle class lifestyle than, say, this:

Are paintings and sculptures the only acceptable upper class embellishments? Where do artsy photos fit in? What would you say about this:

I included the third example because it is in a way the compromise between the two, with artful photographs mixed in with portraits. Or does the rule only apply when you’re talking about photos taken at Sears or something like that? Personally, I definitely think art is important, but I don’t agree that you can pigeonhole someone just because of what’s hanging on his or her walls. That said, what *is* on your walls, and what do you think your choices say about you?
August 11th, 2010 at 10:40 am
People who make rules like that are social climbers. Genuinely upper class people, after all, often own family portraits…that were painted by famous artists.
All the art on my walls is either original or limited edition prints pulled and signed by the artists. My family portraits are photos in table-top frames.
Hang art on your wall because you can’t bear not to see it.
August 11th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
I think you can tell a lot about what a person hangs on their walls, but their social class is not what you can tell. The top picture to me screams that the wall belongs to a creative person, someone who knows what they like.
The second picture screams to me ‘no one actually lives in this house’. I’ve been to homes that look like that, and I’m afraid to sit down. Quite often, in those houses, that room is the ‘company room’, and that tells me that the person is a private person. They want to be seen as perfect, so they have a perfect room for their company. You rarely see the rest of the house.
I like the third picture, and can imagine someone living there, but I also figure they did some cleaning before they took that picture. I’d also say that that person is artistic, or had someone who is decorate their house, but only because things match so well. It does say that that person has a bit of money, but only because to match things that well takes money.
August 12th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
@Kai Jones That’s an awesome reason to hang art! My masks all have meaning to me – some were acquired by my grandparents on their travels, and some were bought by me on mine. A few were bought for me by my dad. Oh, a few came from Freecycle but, hey, I love masks! “Mask” was one of my daughter’s first words!
@Melinda Great critique! I’ll admit to wanting to achieve magazine or catalog perfection in my home, but there’s a part of me that’s happy that I never have. You’re right about feeling like you can’t touch anything in those homes – I’d much rather have people feel comfortable sitting down and putting their mug on the table when they come to visit.