Monday, February 7, 2011

Photo Cluster

Well, if any of you reading this remember from my very first few posts, I mentioned that almost all of my pictures would be close-ups because I hadn't hung any pictures yet. We moved into our home September of 2010, and for months I was hesitant to start hammering holes into OUR walls, damaging OUR drywall. Yes, it's a lot different when you're renting... hanging pictures is something you do the first week. But we weren't renting anymore. This was OUR home. We wouldn't be patching the holes in a year. I wanted to be absolutely sure on where I wanted my frames to go.

Fast forward five months and I have finally hung some photos on our wall!

I often see clusters of frames in Better Homes and Garden and really wanted to recreate that in my own home. In our living room/dining room combo, we have a small space of a wall between the backyard doors and a huge section of windows. I didn't take a "before" pic, but the space is relatively small. It was the perfect spot to test out a cluster of photos.

First, I cut out the sizes of my frames on paper and taped them to the wall. I found a lettered wall art ($5) at Hobby Lobby for 50% off and wanted to have that in my cluster as well. Once I had all the papers taped up, I was able to move them around (about 6, or 10, times) until I felt they "looked right."


Doing this step first was a HUGE help, especially since I wanted the frames to look like I randomly placed them up there. I didn't want uniform lines (BIG step for me, being "Miss OCD" and all). ;)

Next, I directly hammered my nail into the paper to ensure I was getting the right alignment. How very random of me... NOT!


White paper on white wall doesn't show up well, but I promise the paper is there.

 Finished wall:


AH! Too cute! For the record, I am NOT a big fan of gold. Something about the color makes me want to gag. I don't care for gold jewelry, gold frames, gold teeth (haha), gold ANYTHING. So, when I got the "R" at Hobby Lobby, I was convinced I was going to spray paint it all black, along with the gold (gag) frames.

However, looking at my wall now, I love the way the colors look. They all "belong" together.

Shout out to SKJ Photography for capturing my family so beautifully!

Linking this to:
Thrifty Decor Chick
House of Hepworths

6 comments:

Amanda Lee said...

Your wall grouping is darling -- and so smart of you to lay it out with paper first!
~Amanda

Comeca Jones said...

Positively perfect!

Paige @ Little Nostalgia said...

This looks adorable!

I set up art like this, too. It's so much easier!

designer1971 said...

Great Job! I have lived in our home 3 years and keep dragging my feet on hanging pictures. I painted all my frames black 5 years ago and now regret it. I love the mixture of black and gold and would also mix in silver. The eclectic look to me is the most interesting. Good for you!!

Dearest Home said...

Great job!!! I just posted about a gallery wall, too! :) I laid mine out on the floor first. Have a great week!

Brittany
www.dearesthome.blogspot.com

Amanda @ Mamaslittleladybugs.blogspot.com said...

Thank you all for your kind words. I always look forward to reading your comments.

Brittany, I wanted to lay mine on the floor as well, but the last time I did that my toddler stepped on (and broke) the glass. Thankfully her socks protected her, but that was the last time I could do that. :(