Picture Gallery Walls

I don't know about you but I absolutely ADORE picture gallery walls and have been forever pining for one and pinning them on Pinterest. While visually...very... appealing, there is something awfully INTIMIDATING about arranging the perfect combination of colors, styles, and pictures. You know what I mean - a well done one looks like a work of art. Case in point below.

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For months I have pondered, "Am I worthy enough and do I possess the chops to tackle such a hallowed design project?" My head spun with the multitude of options. Do I do black and white? Vintage? Contemporary? Vibrant colors? All white? Ultimately indecision prompted me to simply stall for 5 months before I finally began. Have you had that before? Plain paralysis because you are unsure how to initiate? Yep - me.

 

My inspiration was finally sparked due to procrastination. If procrastination was an art form, I would be Picasso (and yes, that is a Picasso print in the picture above. It's called "Face of Peace," and it reminds me of the serenity I found in Spain last summer on the El Camino de Santiago.) When I'm trying to not do something I should be, I suddenly find other things I "HAVE" to do. The gallery wall became that thing a few weeks ago. And despite the fact I was rather dubious that I could pull it off, luckily I was only doing a "small vertical wall." This gave me courage! If I screwed up, I only had a small space to patch and repaint. 

I started by pulling out all my currently unused frames and one vintage mirror that I found at an antique mall this past fall. Then I spent an afternoon hitting Target (Nate Berkus has a new home line there), HomeGoods (always inexpensive), and JoAnn Fabrics (40-50% sale) to purchase any and all frames, regardless of style, that piqued my interest. I lined up the frames and sat with them for a couple days. No, I didn't sit and stare at them for hours [silly]! What I mean is that I looked at them periodically, and every so often I'd play around with different layouts. I recommend this because I eventually pinpointed the ones I just had to keep and others I could do without. 

INSPIRATION

Simultaneously I have been redecorating my guest bedroom (another post for another day) and that is turning out veritably vintage. So to mix things up, I decided to stray away from 100% vintage and landed on eclectic mix - fusing contemporary, vintage, and classic - inspired by Genevieve Gorder, designer and host of "Dear Genevieve" on HGTV. (Fyi: Her show is fabulous; she brilliantly and seamlessly mixes styles, if you're into that). See picture above.

 

Of course I wanted pictures in my gallery wall, so I selected a couple wedding photos and a picture from one of my favorite places in the world: Cinque Terre, Italy. However, I wanted to vary the frame contents, just like Genevieve. So where did I go for inspiration? Pinterest strikes again! I found three DIY projects to incorporate into my wall - treasured bible verse in continuous cursive, surname initial stenciled on burlap, and Paper Source fine paper in a frame. I did all of these in a day! I suppose it helped that I already had burlap, acrylic paint and stencils in my craftwagon :) From there, it was all a cinch. And finally here is the output of all my efforts.

BEFORE (boring)

AFTER (inspired!)

Have I inspired you? I hope so. Pull out that project that has been collecting dusty cobwebs in the creative part of your brain. Stop thinking and just do it! The metamorphosis will be worth it and transformation will breathe new life into your space. Procrastination begone, let inspiration begin!