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GALLERY WALL LAYOUT: LIVING ROOM PROGRESS

January 31, 2023

4 mins read

Gallery walls are the perfect way to fill in a big, blank wall!

So the great thing about putting goals out there in the universe, is that it kind of forces you to get stuff done! Case in point, our living room makeover I talked about a few weeks back. 

So remember that big blank wall I mentioned (above our recently purchased Everett console table?) Well, I'm happy to report that not only is it not blank anymore, but it's quite possibly my new favorite wall in the house!

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I had known for awhile that I wanted a gallery wall somewhere in our home to display family pics. Over the years we've invested a good amount of money into professional photo sessions, and yet I had a bad habit of just allowing those pictures to reside on my computer. I made a goal a few months ago to try to get better at actually getting these memories up on the wall AND now I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner. 

Excuse the glares, we have a lot of windows in this room so it's pretty much impossible to photograph this wall with out them!

Gallery wall layout ideas

In my head, I didn't originally plan that this would be the room that would house that "imagined" gallery wall, but I was standing in the home decor aisle at Target one day (isn't that where all great ideas come to fruition?) when I spotted these matted brass frames. I'm not usually a brass-type of gal (as in I love it in other people's homes but never considered it in my own) but I fell hard for them and that was when it hit me that I knew what I wanted to do on this big blank wall in our living room.

Symmetrical gallery wall

The problem was the frame costs $29.99 for a 11 x 14, and although that is a price I would feel comfortable paying for one single frame, I didn't really want to drop $180-$270 for a group of 6-9 frames. I change my decor-mind too much to commit that many dollars to some wall art!🤣

Gallery wall living room

So in true Jennifer fashion, I spent weeks obsessively searching for similar frames at a lower cost and just when I was about to give up I came across these Better Homes & Garden matted gold frames.

Budget friendly gold brass matted frames

They looked exactly like my inspiration frames but were half the cost. The cherry on top is they are even larger than the Target frames (these are 14 x 18 matted to a 11 x 14, where as Target's were matted to 11 x 14), which was good because I was a little concerned the 11x14 inspo frames weren't going to be big enough. I had settled on the idea of doing a symmetrical gallery wall with 2 rows and 3 columns and with the 11 x 14 frames, I probably would of had to purchase 9 frames to really fill the wall. Is it just me or did that just seem like a lot of number talk?

These are the same frames I included in my living room inspiration collage.

(You can find all of the resources here.)

Blue living room ideas

I was a little worried that maybe they would be cheap quality, but nope that isn't the case. They have a nice weight to them and the brass between these and the Target ones are pretty much identical.

After I received the frames, I realized I had to decide between displaying black and white photos or colored inside of them. I did a poll on Instagram and the majority were in favor of black and white, but for some reason my gut told me otherwise. Between the white walls and neutral wood-tones I really felt like this side of the room needed some more color. Usually this is something that would keep me up at night for months on end. I know, pretty pathetic, right? #firstworldproblems  

Y'all know how I'm the most indecisive person EVER. Well, surprisingly, this time I made up my mind in a week! I'm so glad I went with the colored photos. I think the key is to use photos that tie into your room's colors to keep the gallery wall cohesive (and that was pretty easy for me considering I make my family wear some kind of blue or white to almost every photo shoot 🤣)

I got the photos printed through Mixbook. Hands down one of the best places for high-quality photos.

Decorating above a console table

(You can see the template technique I use here anytime I hang a gallery wall in our home. Makes life so much easier and creates less holes in the wall!)

The floral stems and wooden candlestick holders were picked up on a recent trip to Pier 1 (full list of sources below). My husband is loving that the stem arrangement covers his picture🤣

As far as the rest of the table decor, I'm still playing around with it but I know I want to include more whites and blues to break up all the gold and wood tones.

Brass gold frames

So seriously, if you're in the same boat, this is me virtually kicking you to get those family memories out of the digital world and into the real world! I promise you won't regret it. Unless, you hang a picture of your weird Uncle Albert and Albert accidentally runs over your cat at Easter. Then, perhaps, there may be some remorse, but the good news is there's about a .001% chance of this scenario happening. The other good news is you can just replace Uncle Albert's picture with a photo of your new family cat. Phew. Glad we got that resolved.

Pssst...are we hanging out yet on Instagram or Facebook?

Sources (click for retailer)

Everett Console Table

Gold Brass Matted Frames

Rug-Wharton Blue

Sky Blue Candlestick Holders (on clearance!)

Faux Eucalyptus Stem (also on clearance)

*Everything else is either a hand-me down, thrifted, or purchased years ago and no longer available.

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Transforming your home, from the inside out.

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