House Project: Gallery Wall

So, remember back when I mentioned I wanted to do a gallery wall in our formal living/dining room?  I had decided that this front are you see here was just missing something, and it bugged me!

 There are so many windows in our house (which we LOVE!), but the front rooms just puzzled me until I realized what I was missing...a focal point.  There isn't a fireplace in the front living room (there is one the family room), and there wasn't even room for a faux fireplace...and there isn't even room for a piano, which bums me out a bunch (another story for another time!).

 So I decided that the perfect idea was for a gallery wall on this tall, long wall that both rooms shared.  Something to tie the rooms together, draw your eye to the nice tall ceiling, and create some texture, and most importantly, a focal point.

 So this winter, I've been collecting frames from DI, for super cheap.  Seriously, they have great frames for next to nothing.  And as a side note, we ditched that bright blue carpet a few months ago and installed some *gorgeous* laminate flooring, looks fab.

Here at the beginning.  I traced the frames onto some brown paper (just bought a roll at Home Depot for like, five bucks), and numbered the frames and the corresponding template.  Then I started with the big pieces.  I had three larger pieces that I needed to anchor the rest of the smaller pieces:  the large horizontal rectangle on the left, the clock shape in the middle, and the "L" om the right.  Then I started to fill in the spaces with my larger frames and medium frames, then the smaller ones.  I liked to make sure I didn't have a long row of just big frames, so I broke them up with a grouping of smaller frames.  This took the longest, just to get it all right, and some parts fell together really nicely, other sections I had to get down from the ladder and see what I didn't like.  My hubby actually helped quite a bit with this part....although he claims he doesn't know 2 cents about decorating, he actually did help.

 After fine tuning and adjusting the templates for the last time, I went ahead and hammered a nail right through the template to be sure the frame went exactly where I wanted it. 

 I didn't even have to finish hanging all the frames to be in love with it.  I was *smitten* after the 4th frame.

 I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out.  It is exactly what this room needed, focus, texture, warmth, it brought it all!

Sorry, lighting at night is not flattering at all.  There are just a few frames I plan to paint and re-hang, then I'll fill most of the frames with new prints, but for the most part, it's pretty much done!  And again, pardon the lighting.

 There are a few pieces that I did purchase new:  This big "L", the teal bird, and the clock (in this picture), and I purchased one medium and two small frames as well...all from Hobby Lobby.  The other 18 or so frames are from DI.

 The two stacked fancy frames are from Hobby Lobby.

 LOVE that we also have a clock in the front room.

 Marin absolutely loved the wall, her favorite part is the teal bird.  Love my cutie girl.

So there you have it!  So happy to be pretty much mostly done with this project, and happy to have it turn out the way I was hoping.  Hopefully I'll have another little project to be sharing with you soon: a little bathroom wall makeover with storage.