Over-the-Bed Art for Earthquake Areas

The product for this Over-the-Bed Art for Earthquake Areas post was gifted by Parabo Press. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

If you live in California, then you know better than to ever hang anything heavy or any glass over your bed. No heavy picture frames, no frames with glass, no mirrors, no shelves, no gallery walls, no plants, no antlers, etc. This has been drilled into my head since I was a kid and experiencing the 1994 Northridge Earthquake just reinforced it. (BTW, today is the 24 year anniversary of the earthquake.) Luckily, macrame hangings and juju hats are totally on trend right now, but if you want to hang art above your bed, I’ve got a great option for you: Engineer Prints!

With a Master Bedroom, a Guest Bedroom, and two cribs in the Twins’ Nursery, that’s a LOT of blank wall space above beds! My husband and I are maximalists and we love to fill up the walls with art, but since hanging art above a bed is so risky in Los Angeles, I needed to find an alternative and these Large Scale Engineer Prints and Square Engineer Prints from Parabo Press were the perfect solution!

If you’re sold on these engineer prints, you can use the Parabo Press Coupon Code “UAOBXC” at checkout for $10 off your first order!

Years ago, I purchased a few vintage Paris postcards on eBay and scanned them as high resolution as possible. I knew I wanted to blow them up and frame them with both the front and back hanging side by side one day. But I needed something to put over the beds, so printing them side by side as one large Engineer Print worked out perfectly!

Here’s a little Before and After from my (now completely restyled) Master Bedroom:

And then in the Twins’ Nursery, I was going for a bright and colorful, California theme, so I took two of my photographs – one of Mr. Rex, the Cabazon dinosaur near Palm Springs, and one of the giant concrete donut “signs” of Kindle’s Donuts in Los Angeles – and printed them with Parabo Press as Engineer Prints. We also spraypainted Parabo’s 48″ Wood Poster Rails bright pink and bright orange to hang the prints and really make them POP on the wall! I know I’ll have to take them down for a bit when the curious toddlers start standing up in their cribs and yank at things, but until then, I get to enjoy some colorful, large scale art in the room and not just stare at a blank wall. (Update: At 17 months old, I shortened the string and hung these two up about 3 inches higher on the wall and we’re still going. Fingers crossed I get a few more months before I have to take them down.)

And what’s great is that if I ever get tired of a particular photo or print, I can always just order a new one and easily swap out the art for an inexpensive new look in the room! Color Engineer Prints start at just $25 for the first print and then $15 for a second print on the same order. If you’re ready to purchase one, use the Parabo Press Coupon Code “UAOBXC” at checkout for $10 off your first order!

I’m currently working on my Master Bedroom makeover and if you want to see more of the Twins’ Colorful Baby Nursery, you can check it out right here.

And, if you live in Earthquake Country, I have two more tips for you:

Store some easy slip-ons right under your bed so you can find them and put them on quickly and easily in case of a large earthquake and not cut your feet on any broken glass.
Keep an easily-accessible flashlight in the corner of your bedroom and on every floor of the house. When the shaking starts, things go flying and furniture comes crashing down, so keep one in a corner where it’s already on the floor and won’t go very far. We also have several of these battery operated Mr. Beams lights set up around the house in case of a power outage or earthquake or even just getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and not trip over a cat.

Do you live in Earthquake Country? What’s hanging over your bed? Let me know in a comment below.