Creating a Gallery Wall

One of my 2015 resolutions was to get more creative (you can see my other resolutions on Pinterest!). Armed with gift cards to Hobby Lobby and a color scheme in mind, I set off on a journey to create a gallery wall in my living room while finally incorporating gold into my house.

I know Hobby Lobby doesn’t have the best rep when it comes to the media, but I absolutely love it. I can wander around the store for hours imagining just where that large mirror would fit in my bedroom or how I could turn those stunning lilies into a centerpiece for my kitchen table. It’s addicting.

As mentioned above, I had a color scheme of black and gold in mind, so I went off to search. The first thing I picked up was the black baroque 11×14 frame – I had my eye on it for months, and I still needed to put up a few wedding pictures in the house. After that, I found the large “LOVE” canvas. Here’s a hint, bargain hunters – Hobby Lobby has two sections of home decor. The middle section of the store, holding everything from canvas prints, decorative items, frames and mirrors and the “always clearance” area, usually in place of Christmas decor the other six months of the year. (“SIX MONTHS?” You say? Yes, six months. I worked in a craft store in high school, and set up began in June, followed by take down in January. Craft stores capitalized on the holidays long before Macy’s started playing Christmas music on November 1.) Anyway – I picked up the “LOVE” sign in this “always clearance” section. The chevron print came next, with the ampersand and 5×5 black and gold frame following. The finishing touch was my beloved arrow – something I’ve seen on nearly every Pinterest gallery wall in existence.

Once home with my goodies (costing less than $100, I might add), I got to work laying them out on my floor. Honestly, I probably moved them six times before landing on what ended up on my wall, followed by another four moves once on the wall. It’s a hard process.

After I had them lined up how I wanted, I flipped them all over and measured both the wall space and the decor to make sure everything was in line. I marked off the frames with masking tape to assure I knew where the nails needed to be, and then measured before taping to my wall and hammering in the picture hanger. Apparently this isn’t the standard way of hanging photos according to my mother, but it’s always worked for me!

Once I had everything from Hobby Lobby hung, I knew there was something missing. The next day, I took my weekly trip to Target and found these amazing Sea Urchins for just $19.99. As the day went on, I decided to create the two-part dachshund silhouette (printed in 4×6 form at Walgreens) and paint two 4×6 frames gold to tie in a bit more of the shine.

Overall, I adore how it turned out! It was a quick weekend project that anyone can do by themselves, and it livens up the space so much.

Are you getting creative in 2015? Share your DIY with me – I’d love to feature some guest posts!