Gallery Wall Redo

One of my home goals this year was to redo the gallery wall in our living room.  For quite a while it looked like this....

and then I finally found lamps and it looked like this:

 I LOVE the lamps, but I didn't love that they blocked a few of the pictures.  A few weeks ago I finally took it all down and started over!  Thankfully, my sweet friend Amy was over and helped.  (If she hadn't, I'm not sure this project would have ever been completed!)

We laid all the frames out on the floor and moved them around about a bazillion times until we settled on something we liked.  And even after it got on the wall we tweaked it some more! 

Just a little tip...when you've laid all your frames on the floor and found an arrangement you like, take a picture! Nothing worse than rearranging it and realizing you liked it the other way better and then not remembering exactly how it was.  After you've arranged it several ways, you can just look through your photos to compare and pick your favorite.

And here's end result.....

 I added in quite a few more frames, and some odd pieces that are just "us", like the scrabble "I love you" that I had up for Valentine's Day, and a shadow box that I backed with linen and added my little spoon collection. (One was given to me in Switzerland and the other two are from places on our Honeymoon.)  My favorite recent addition is our scripture art canvas that we all love so much!

One change I really like is that the "Forever Faithful" picture is now right in the center.  I always want my kids to remember that picture of their mommy and daddy and that phrase "Forever Faithful."  It's so very important!!  (And Steven and I need to be reminded every day of our vows every day as well!)

I still need to change out many of the pictures because we've added Miss Lucy to our clan and the other three have grown so much!

A word about frames...all of these are from thrift stores, yard sales or bought on clearance. And I think only a few of them have NOT been spray painted!  So if you want to make a gallery wall and are searching for frames, just focus on the shape because you can always spray paint it!

Hee-hee, I love this picture!  This is actually from when Levi was a baby (I'm carrying him in the sling..you can see his arm poking out) and we crammed ourselves into the little picture booth at Chuck E. Cheese.  Fun memories!

You probably already noticed but two of the frames are empty.  Well, one has polka dot paper in it, but this one has nothing!  I'm still deciding what to put in here.  I'm thinking probably silhouettes?!  We'll see....=) 

Even if ALL your frames don't have pictures yet, I say just hang them up anyways!  I think it's easier this way because then you can choose what size to have your pictures printed for each frame. 

Definitely loving this new and improved Gallery Wall!  I'll keep you posted as I tweak it and what I decide to put in those lonely, empty frames. =D  

Do you have a gallery wall in your home?  Any tips to make the process easier?  And where is your favorite place to find frames?

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