Finally....A Gallery

I'm sure that if you've been following my blog then you've seen me post about having a gallery wall. I have a slight obsession with them as you can see here: Hallway...well because its easy and here: Movin' on Up. Well I finally made one and not in either place I previously mentioned.

The wall beside my sink in our master bathroom always bugs me, I stare at it a good bit as I'm getting ready and it is visible from my side of the bed at night. For some reason I have a fear of blank walls but I also like art to mean something (whether its a feeling it evokes from me or is something personal). I finally just decided to suck it up and get a gallery wall going.

First I gathered some random frames from my house, my parent's house and Hobby Lobby's half-off sale. To be honest I had no idea what I was going to put in any of them just knew that I wanted to get a few different sizes and shapes up there and bought a can of Rustoleum Heirloom White spray paint. I've used this stuff previously and love it because of the coverage it gives me. Two coats and I'm done! Plus it dries really fast which means that people with short attention spans such as myself are satisfied.

If there was glass that couldn't be removed I just taped over it, btw the oval was a slight pain.

I covered the driveway with newspaper and got to spraying. Two quick coats and these babies were ready to be hung within an hour (note: this picture was after coat #1)

Next I went inside and measured my space and roughly taped it out on the floor.

I played around and got the frames arranged in a general pattern that I liked before I decided to just roll with it and start hanging them up.

Next I started from the bottom and worked my way towards the top arranging & rearranging as I went using what I had previously laid out as a guide.

Notice that its a little different and became even more different after I rummaged through my house to find pieces and artifacts to fill each frame.

Ta-Da! The end result. I'm pretty happy with it if I do say so myself. I know it could use a little finessing but for a first-timer I think I did a decent job!

Here are some individual shots of each frame in the order they were hung:

This picture is from our wedding although I wanted the main focus to be our hands so I put a soft focus filter on it and made the rest of the image around it fuzzy.

I believe these roses were worn by one of our grandparents although to be perfectly honest I have absolutely no clue. I found them in all of our wedding stuff perfectly preserved after and have saved them for the right display piece. I just added some brown kraft paper and it was good to go.

I actually made this with the premise based upon a co-workers tattoo (roman numerals of her favorite bible verse). These are the roman numerals of our wedding date with the bible verses that were read during the ceremony written out in the background.

This was actually crocheted by my great-grandmother (Gigi) and I've had it in a conspicuous spot where I can see it each day since she passed away. I love that its now framed (with the brown kraft paper again) and is still visible to me every time I pass by.

 This was another of of wedding pictures but of Tim. I wanted the focus to be on his boutonniere so I did the soft-focus effect again and got this.

My mom actually crocheted this belltower from her college campus and I found it in a drawer. I loved the colors and the stitches are super-tiny which was also impressive to me.

Ok I confess this is a random piece of artwork I found somewhere on the internet awhile ago and I plan to replace it but don't know what I will replace it with just yet.

My premise was to feature a picture of each of us separately from the wedding as well as a couple so here is my solo shot with the soft-focus on my bouquet.

No gallery wall would be complete without a shot of the pup. She is so beautiful and pensive!

Another one of my dad's old drawings, he was pretty good!

Ok granted you can't see this really but it was a beautifully addressed invitation and the first we received as a married couple. It was def a framer!

I'm not an advocate of stealing but in my younger and dumber years I did take these from a hotel I stayed in while I was in Rome. I still think they are beautiful and they always remind me of one of the best trips I've ever been on.

A Quick Fix

Finding the leash for the little pup isn't incredibly difficult but can be frustrating to dig through a pile of rags while having an anxious puppy ready to go for a walk hopping on you. We also had the need for a new storage space for her electric fence collar as previously it hung on the sink faucet (nightmares of it getting inadvertently soaked and short-circuiting danced in my head) so when I came across this handy-dandy solution for half-off at Hobby Lobby I couldn't resist.

As the title suggests this was a super quick fix and was done really easily in about 5 minutes. I had an empty space on the garage wall right as you enter/exit the house that would be a perfect fit.

I lined up the hooks where I wanted them and added in the first screw not really worrying about whether or not it was straight.

I lined up the piece so it looked straight and put in the second screw, voila! Done and another project checked off the list.

Chow Time

I've been avoiding showing off the kitchen because it always seems to be such the disaster. We had a shindig celebrating Tim's birthday/being in remission and cleaned the house to be spotless, just in time for about 30 people to come over. I think that I'll just make everything look clean and actually do the real cleaning after from now on. We had a great time and it was really amazing to be surrounded by so many of our friends that were able to make it with such short notice. After parties we both really get into straightening modes and are able to get everything nice and clean. Such was the case after Saturday although I have to admit that I hid quite a few things from the camera's view.

Anyways here is our kitchen. I replaced all of the silver knobs with these aged brass ones from Hobby Lobby. I went during a sale so they were only $2 rather than $4 which really added up with as many as we needed. I love the new look, it really did change the look of the kitchen making it look more vintage at least in my view.

I actually have quite a few knick-knacks around the kitchen but they don't ever seem to get in the way like I thought they would originally.

Both the tray and the Gurgle Pot were wedding gifts. My friend Julie asked what she should get our friend Maggie for her wedding and when I told her I thought a Gurgle Pot would be the perfect gift I never thought she'd get one for me but it was perfect, color and everything. I LOVE it.

This coffeemaker is my savior every morning when I'm stumbling out of bed. The sugar bowl was a splurge from Belk's but I love the eclectic look it gives. I also used a cookie jar from HomeGoods as our utensil jar, its the pretty blue I like so much and is just the right size all around.

The blue is carried on in the cookbooks that were given to us by a great friend as a housewarming gift. It then ties in with the yellows and naturals of the kitchen in the dishtowel from Anthropologie my sweet mother-in-law gave me at one of our wedding showers that we leave on the oven.

Lastly there is the little corner over by our bar where we store wine, our decanter, some pretty frames from Anthropologie and a vase and calla lillies from Smith and Hawken. I miss that store, Target carries the line which is awesome but I wish the store itself would come back for me. Oh well. 

I got the wall rack from Pier 1 for only $10 and its been really neat to watch the constant changing of it as we get various cards and invitations in.  I have to admit that I stole the idea from my friend Christy after she got hers to hold Christmas cards last year. It has been a great addition.

Things we have left to do here:

1. Get some barstools - We need something to allow people to hang out and chat while I'm slaving away in the kitchen, haha. Plus it would just allow for something to make that look a little more finished. The blue version would even match the dining room chairs I like so much.

2. Get drawer/cabinet/pantry organizers - I love things that are cleaned and properly organized and right now our cabinets, drawers and pantry are none of the above. I want to buy some of the pull-out racks to make everything more efficient and easier to use.

3. Get a rug? - I'm torn on this one, do I get a rug in order to protect the floors or is that going to be too much of a pain to keep clean. What do you all think?