Walk through my gallery (wall)

So now that hubs and I have been in our house for over a year (yikes! where does the time go?!?) I thought it time to finally post some home projects. First up, the gallery wall in our office.

What really got this project in motion was a trip to the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store where I picked up a dozen random picture frames for a whopping $6.00 thanks to a 50% off sale on frames. The important thing when choosing frames at the thrift store is to look at the bones and past the dingy color or weird artwork since spray paint will get rid of all that. Sadly I was apparantly too wrapped up in the creative process to take photos of all my ugly frames!

After cleaning the frames with a Clorox wipe and using some Windex on the glass, I spray painted those puppies. When it comes to spray painting do it in a well ventilated area, use a couple coats of primer and 2-3 coats of your chosen color (I used Rustoleum in  White Satin) while keeping your hand in constant motion to avoid dripping. I also use a clear coat of poly to seal everything in.

Next up was positioning. I used a very (not) scientific method of cutting out paper to the size of the frames and taping it on the wall until I found the arrangement most balanced. I also poked a hole through the paper where the hardware was so I would know where to hammer. Before I started pounding holes in the wall I did measure the center frame to ensure it was in the center of the wall and then used a tape measure to have a 1.5 inch gap between all of the frames. But to be honest I wasn't super precise in this stage and used my favorite technique of "eyeballing it".

Once you've gotten the spacing all situated, it's time to get hammering. I used picture frame nails from The Home Depot. Since all of my frames were relatively small I went with small nails. I hammered the nails in through the holes I had made in the paper and then hung the 'ol frames up, adjusting and breaking out the level with each one.

After the hanging process I left the frames up on the wall for a good couple of weeks due to precise planning a lull in the creative process. And then I was on Pinterest one day and the creative juices got to flowing. I found all of the prints online and just printed them out on textured linen paper.

When I was choosing prints there was a lot of trial and error. I would find things I liked online but then print them out and the colors wouldn't work or it would be fuzzy or odd-sized. I did use the now defunct Picnik to make some tweaks to a few. Here's the final product.

There is some rhyme and reason to why I chose a lot of the prints. Starting from left:

           - the moon lasso picture reminds me of It's a Wonderful Life, one of my favs!

           - a former dancer, I love ballet

           - the L is our last name initial

           - a saying to live by "enjoy the little things"

           - the canvas is a DIY project gone wrong but yet working out

           - I'm all about chevron and birds and created this from two images

           - Italy is hubs' heritage and one of my dream destinations

           - who doesn't love a good ampersand

           - another saying to live by "i'm thankful for today"

           - the vintage number 18 is our wedding date

           - I've loved whales since I was a child and the watercolors are so soft

           - I'm really into buntings lately too so I made this one

              and will be adding the year of our wedding to the lower right corner;

           - lastly, I love photos and vintage things.

So that's that! And onto the next DIY project we go...