Gallery Gallery On My Wall...

What on Earth is that you wonder? Well...it is a stack/pile of frames I have been collecting while thrifting for some months now. It all started with a little inspiration from one of my favorite blogs, Young House Love. They created this fabulous gallery wall in one of their hallways, and I fell in love with it. I was kind of afraid at first because I am not big on cluttering up walls with things, but this was beautiful and practical. There are so many pictures and sentimental items stuffed in drawers in our house, and by gosh, I wanted to display them. I mean, why have we spent an outrageous amount of money on cruise photos that we have stuck in photo albums that no one ever looks at? Why do we hang onto sentimental items (cards, invitations, letters, etc.) that we never see? They just get stuffed in the "memory box" and stuffed away where we forget we have them. It's crazy to me, so I decided to do something about it. This gallery wall idea was just the answer.

So...I started collecting frames of every shape, size, and color from thrift stores. I ended up with 27 frames in order to cover the two walls I wanted to display items on. Yeah, that is a lot of frames, but since I shopped at thrift stores, and around our house, I only spent about $40 on all of them. FANTASTIC!!!

I just loaded them up in a box in the garage until I had enough. I didn't wait until I had collected all 27 of them to start taking them apart and creating a template for the wall. Whenever I would bring some home, I would take out the matting, glass, back, etc. and store them in a safe pile in our bonus room. I would then make a template for each frame using newspaper.

Each frame was numbered to match a template of newspaper with the same number.

Then, after I had collected all of the frames, I taped all of the templates to the walls in the entryway. This made it easy to move frames around until I liked the arrangement. Once all the templates were up and ready, I got to work with putting nails/holes in the wall. Ugh...I hate putting holes in the walls, but it was all in the name of good decorating! It was really easy to hang each frame because they didn't have to be equally spaced or in a line. I just measured to the middle of each template and then measured down from the top of the frames to figure out where each nail needed to go. Then, I nailed right into the template and pulled them off when I was finished. Believe it or not, it only took me an hour to hang all 27 frames!!! I couldn't believe it myself, easy squeezy. It took A LOT longer to spray paint all the frames...only ONE of them was white!!!

Just for the fun of it, I put the frames (unfinished) on the wall to see what it was going to look like. Oh my gosh...LURVE!!!

Now came the intimidating fun part! What was I going to put in 27 frames? Okay...25 frames (two were mirrors). Even still, the creative juices had to start flowing, and fast. I knew I wanted to display some of our cruise photos, pictures of the boys, some artwork from the boys, and some family photos, but I wanted more spunk...not just pictures. So, I went on a scavenger hunt around the house to find inspiration.

Here is what I came up with...

I found a picture we bought from a street painter on a trip to the Bahamas for our second anniversary, a wedding invitation, a gold key from church, and a postcard from our honeymoon trip stop in Cozumel. Where were all of these lovely things? You guessed it, the "memory box"!

I backed our wedding invitation with scrapbook paper and the key from church. I added the word, forgive, to the key using sticker letters. This key was given to us as a reminder that forgiveness is the key to happiness and a close walk with God. Good stuff!!!

I also made this...

and this...(our wedding date)

I took the letters we found on our second anniversary trip and created this...

I also used some bark that we found on our trip to Hunting Island. I created the "&" print on the handy dandy Hewitt Packard sitting on my desk (FREE).

I continued to scavenger and create for a good 12 hours (geez), and it ended up looking a little something like this...

I cannot possibly express how much I adore it, so I will share some more pictures so you will know how obsessed I am with it!

Looking in from the front door.

 Looking up.

From the living room.

It makes me smile every single time I walk through it. I know we will enjoy this wall for years to come. It will be ever changing so that nothing gets stuck in a box forever and never looked at  enjoyed again.

Transformation Tuesday #3

I have had the itch to put some kind of wall art in the "boys" bathroom upstairs, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. My first thought was to have the boys paint some of their own art to go in the room, but then I ran across some frames at the Goodwill for $1 and I had to make them over...NOW! It was not love at first sight I might tell you. They were sporting some Winnie the Pooh, and I am quite sure that neither Ed nor Alex would appreciate having the Pooh Bear in their bathroom. I saw potential in the frames, however.



The frames were a natural wood color, but I used Brushed Nickel by Rust Oleum to give them a more contemporary look. I also wanted the frames to match the fixtures in the bathroom...typical me!

I wanted the pictures to have greens, navy blues, and turquoise in them to match the rest of the present decor. I had never tried spray painting matting before, but I thought, "I paint everything else, what the heck!" So I tried it, and it work beautifully. I used a Walmart brand navy spray paint on the white matting. It took a few coats, but I was patient.

Now, I just had to figure out what I wanted to put inside for the art, and it came to me. I have tons of scrap booking paper (collecting dust) that needed to be used for something, so I dusted it off and used it. I totally lied to myself when I thought I had time to sit down and scrapbook..hehe. The paper is pretty in my craft closet though.


I had one piece with bath like words on it. Okay, the paper was really for swimming, but what's the difference? It's all water right? So, I took that piece and cut some of the words out. Then, I glued them to a piece of polka dot paper that matches the shower curtain. I used the rest of the "word paper" to fill up the other frame. Voila!

This was soooooo easy, and I really do like them. The best part is...I only spent $6.00 total for the frames and paint. That's where I feel the love!!!!


So sorry for the terrible pictures. I need a better camera and this bathroom needs better lighting. It is still a work in progress, so other pictures will be shared later! Stay tuned...

True Love In a Spray Can

Have I mentioned lately how much I L.O.V.E. ORB spray paint? For those of you who aren't familiar with my best friend in a can, let me introduce you to Mr. Oil Rubbed Bronze by Krylon. O.M.G I love O.R.B.!!!

I thought I would share some items I have painted with my friend. It never gets old seeing something boring, outdated, or just down right U.G.L.Y. transformed with a few little sprays of a can. It has probably gotten out of hand around my house because I love the color so much, but I'm okay with it. My Dad thinks I am inhaling too many of the fumes and it has made me CRAZY. I am always telling him, "I can paint that"! Haha...maybe there is a problem.

Here are some of the things I have painted around my house. Just to show you that the possibilities are endless. I don't have befores of everything because I painted some of them before I started this here little blog.

Hang onto your hats!

I painted a few lamps...hehe...a few.

These were lamps I bought about seven years ago, they were brushed nickel.

This one was a Goodwill find. I paid $2 for the lamp, and I found a shade at Ross for $2.99!

I got these lovelies at a yard sale for $6. They used to a nice shade of gold...not anymore.

The hardware in the guest bath and master bath. They used to be brushed nickel.

A mirror for my vanity. A find out of Dad's attic.

The picture frames on shelves going up the staircase. Some of them were already black, so I just used some ORB to add interest.

Shelves I have found at various thrift stores. Sometimes they are white, sometimes they are brown, but they ALWAYS have to be painted!

The light fixtures. You can read more about how I did that here.

Maybe I do have a spray paint problem. People do crazy things when they are in love!