Gallery Wall Goodness

Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?  Here's our formal dining room when we purchased our home just six short months ago:

 Then we painted the space, moved in our dining room table and chairs and called it progress:

About three months went by and we had eaten at our table a whopping one time.  See, we aren't exactly "formal dining room" kind of people.  We are "eat in front of the t.v. because we wouldn't want to miss out on Auction Hunters" kind of people.  So we did some changing and rearranging and had a different kind of progress.

The dining room table was moved to our eat-in-kitchen area that was previously empty, awkward, and a waste of space.

And I'm not sure you can call this "progress" exactly, but it was definitely a step in the right direction for us!

I threw together a design board (one of which I have strayed majorly  from and hope to do an updated version a.s.a.p!) and put on my creativity cap.  One peacock blue desk, chevron wall, and bamboo chair later...and we are truckin' right along.

This past weekend, I got a second (and possibly a third and fourth) wind and decided to kick it into high gear so I can actually use this space.  For the last few weeks I've been stalking TJ Maxx and Hobby Lobby for any and all large frames on clearance (didn't care about color because I knew I'd be spray painting them anyways, so I just looked for shape and condition).  I managed to score a few 8 X 10 frames for only $5 bucks each and got a few raw wood open back frames 50% off at $5 and $8 each.  Between my bargain shopping and my already plentiful stash I had stored in the closet for emergency use only, I finally had enough for my gallery wall.

Now, this isn't my first time at the rodeo (remember my wall-o-shelves and gallery wall in the living room), but it was definitely a much larger project this time around.  I started just like last time--cutting out newspaper silhouettes for wall placement help later on.

Then, I spray painted all the frames that weren't white already.  I decided to do a mixture of white and off-white because our moulding and ceiling are off-white and so were the chevron stripes.  I did this in my first gallery wall too!

Next, time to lay them out like you want them on the wall!  Since this wall was really large and I had 14 frames, I started with the five frames I wanted to highlight (and they were 5 of the biggest) and placed them in the shape of a W.  This helps spread out your large frames (so you don't end up with them all on one side and all the small frames on the other) and the different frame styles.  Notice I have a matted, open-back, oval, and a couple unmatted frames making up my W.

Then, just start filling in the holes.  A few things to remember:

1. Make sure your like-frames are spread throughout.
2. Make sure your pictures and art in the frames are spread throughout (you don't want all of your pictures on one side of the wall and all of your printables on the other)
3. If you have unique items, in this case I have an "H" and antlers on the way (not pictured), make sure those items are spread apart as well.
4. Don't spread the items/frames too far apart.  When they are too far apart from each other, the wall no longer looks like a whole...just a lot of pieces!

All of these things help weight your wall evenly while the original W shape sets the foundation.

Once you've got your tentative layout, time to place those bad boys on the wall--in newspaper form!  You will end up moving something around, so doing a nail-free run will save you lots of headache (and nail removing) in the long run.

I ended up doing a little switcharoo near the bottom and placed a white sheet of paper as a stand in for my antlers. 

Now, here she is in all of her gallery wall glory:

Even though it cuts out the top few items, this is my favorite pic since the chandy is no where in sight.  I'm saving my pennies and have my eyes on the perfect pendant!

 I may still add a few things to either side (especially since my West Elm antlers ended up sticking out more than up like in the online pics), but I'm happy for the moment and ready to move onto other things...like my DIY pinboard you can see there on the right.  I'm currently in the middle of adding the nailhead trim and hope to show my how-to next week!  Other changes to the office included repainting my previously oil rubbed bronze desk hardware to an antiqued brass.  The ORB was just too dark and the desk screamed the need for brass hardware with its mid century modern style!  Paired with the bamboo chair, it's a match made in office heaven!

Still to do:

1. Chevron Wall2. Desk

3. Gallery Wall

4. Rug (or steal the one from the living room and replace that one?)

5. New overhead light fixture (pendant)

6. Curtains-->just picked these up...gotta get a rod though!

7. DIY Inspiration Pinboard

8. Add storage (open shelves? industrial shelving unit? floating cabinets?)

9. Chair

10. Cute accessories to hold my desk goodies

I'll be linking to these lovely parties:

At the Picket Fence

The DIY Showoff

Serenity Now

The Shabby Nest

Shabby Creek Cottage

Just a Girl

Home Stories A to Z

Tatertots and Jello

Thrifty Decor Chick

The Lettered Cottage

Wall Art Goodness

If you follow me on twitter or facebook, I gave you a sneak peek at my super special secret project I've been working on.  Okay, obviously not super secret because I posted it on my social networking sites but it is definitely special!  I'm brewing up another gallery wall, this time in my office, and I've got my tips and tricks to mastering the organized chaos that is a bunch of frames slapped up in a group!  However, due to unforeseen circumstances (ahem, West Elm backorders) I'm not able to offer my secrets just yet.  But I've got something almost better.  What does every gallery wall need to be truly complete besides frames? 
...
Stuff to put in them!

So here's a little roundup of inspiration so your gallery wall doesn't look like a framed wedding collage, or shrine to your kids, or a bunch of party pics from the old college days!


VIA


VIA


VIA


VIA


VIA


VIA


VIA

Which ones are you adding to your wish list?  Oh, all of them?  Me too!
Here's to a weekend of family, football, and a DIY project or two!  See you Monday!


P.S. This is a special shoutout to the Mr.--Happy Opening Weekend of Bow Hunting Season!  Get us a big one :)

P.P.S. All of these sources can be found on my Pinterest board here.

Wall-o-Shelves and Gallery Wall. Check.

The project started just three short months ago with this living room inspiration board that I dreamed up.  Then, I showed you my gallery wall inspirations along with some wall-o-shelves inspiration!  After an hour afternoon trip to IKEA, some bargain shopping at garage sales, and a handful of coupons at Gordman's and Hobby Lobby, we went from this:

BEFORE

To this:

AFTER

I apparently got a little camera happy trying to get every possible angle for the after shots.  So there are A. Lot. of pictures.  Enjoy!

Here's some of our stuff:

I'm in lurve with these linen boxes and magazine holders from IKEA!  They were a splurge since I had intended to go with the supa-cheap cardboard option before I saw these bad boys.  It was yet another way to add texture, forever storage (because we will be keeping these puppies for foreva!), and kept in theme with my mix and match of stark white with cream!

And now for some closeups of our gallery wall.  I showed you the process of putting this bad boy together here and here!  And don't forget my easy-peasy frame filling DIY projects (like my "pick your battles" poster and chair silhouette)!

And some more of our stuff:

Miss B wanted to get in on the action.  What a great little helper!

 

Okay, she's actually staring intently at a toy she just placed in my lap.  Anywho, there she is.  My l-oong project that was well worth the time, money, and I would say patience but the Mr. would beg to differ.  I'm still on the hunt for the perfect chair and end table for the corner to the right of the shelves.  One thing at a time.  In any case, the project is checked off of my mile long "to do" list and I couldn't be more excited!  Still a couple of tweaks to finish up (painting the rhino and dark chess pieces white) but no project is ever really finished anyways.  Right?

One, two, three...Draw!

Nope, not your guns.  Get out your pencil, paper, and a Pink Pearl.  You remember those, right?

So I've been working on my gallery wall and filling up my frames!  I showed you a couple of quick and easy projects here and I have one more before the big Gallery Wall reveal!  I've been crushing over silhouette art but not really wanting to pay someone to basically print me a picture.  So I figured I could just draw my own!  Here are a couple up for grabs on Etsy:

I looked at tons of art and found my inspiration piece on Shutterstock:

Drawing is simple.  Break your paper up into sections so you will be consistent in your scale.  Then, draw!

 When I started the project, I had a framed pencil drawing in mind since I didn't have colored pencils at home.  After I got it up on the wall, it ended up not looking quite right.  It looked a little more arts and crafts and a little less frameable.  On to plan B:  cardstock silhouette.

 I traced my finished chair and cut it out of some off-white cardstock I had on-hand.  I used my tried and true adhesive (Mod Podge) and glued my silhouette cutout to a piece of charcoal grey cardstock.

 I cut the cardstock to the size of the frame and ta-dah!  FREE art!  I love that pricetag!

Oh em gee, get excited!  I'll have a completed bookshelf and gallery wall on Monday!  I better get to work!  Have a great weekend y'all!

Words of Wisdom

Woot woot!  We made it to Friday and I've been one busy gal--trying my darnedest to fill up my gallery wall frames!

See all of those empty frames?  Yep, three months later it looks the same.  Until now.  Of course I will be filling a few with some pictures of me and the mister, like these:

But I have big plans for the other frames.  First, I checked out some stuff I had stashed away as inspiration (made much easier now, thanks to Pinterest).  This was one of my favorite Etsy prints and great words to live by:

I thought, I could make that!  So I did.  I found the clip art for free through Google (check it out here), picked my font, clicked "print" on some cardstock I had on-hand, and Voila!!

 

 Total cost of this supa-fast and easy project: $0!  One frame down, about eight to go! 

So, I never told anyone but I have a serious crush on the font we used on our wedding invitations.  It's called "Wendy Medium" and I use it just about everywhere I can.  Now, what to write?  I have a bracelet that you will catch me wearing nearly every day.  It's classic with a simple message that I love:

A few added colors to coordinate with the room and I had this beauty up on the wall:

 

 

Again, another project fo' free!  That's my kind of budget!