Travel Gallery Wall

A couple weeks ago I showed you all my new console table and I mentioned that I was inspired to start working on the living room again. I decided to start with the wall behind my new console table. I love the DIYabstract art that I painted, but it’s just not large enough for the space…especially with the new, longer table.

So I decided to build a large gallery wall to showcase all of my travel photos. Unlike my previous gallery wall, I decided to buy new, matching frames for this project. I liked the idea of using a few different colors/styles, but wanted them to look a little more cohesive. I also wanted to use larger frames this time because smaller frames can look too cluttered. Anyway, as you know, frames are expensive and I didn’t want to drop hundreds of dollars on this project. Well, I lucked out and I ended up finding almost all of these frames on clearance at Michael’s!

I wasn’t a fan of the bronze and gold colors, but the small frames were only $6 and the larger frames were only $8. So, I decided to buy them and just spray paint them. The bluish-gray frames were a combination of clearance and sales. I ended up paying $12 for the largest frame and $10 for the others. I also had to buy mats for 4 of the bluish-gray frames, but the rest of them came with mats.

Now that I had the frames, I had to decide how I wanted to arrange them. I used painter’s tape to mark off how large I wanted the gallery wall to be. It’s a great way to visualize what’ll work on the wall without actually hammering any nails.

After I decided on the size, I pulled the tape off and laid it on the floor. It took up almost the entire office floor space. I used that area to arrange the frames into a layout that I liked. It took FOR-EV-ER plus a few trips back to Michael’s to buy more frames before it was full/completely arranged. As you'll see later, I ended up making a couple more changes once I started hanging the frames.

I started picking photos for the frames while they were still laid out on the floor, but I kept changing my mind, so I figured I might as well get them hung and worry about it then. Plus I wanted my office back. I could hardly walk in there! So I hung two of the pieces of tape back on the wall and used that corner to hang my first frame.

From there I just hung the frames going up and over until all of the frames were hung. After that I started picking pictures for the frames and spray painting the bronze and gold frames. I decided to paint the bronze frames black and the gold frames white. I love how they turned out and I love how the three colors look together. They tie the main colors of the room together.

I think picking pictures for the frames was the hardest part of this project.  A majority of them are from our trip to England and Paris last year, but I also included pictures from Alaska, New Orleans, Hawaii, Japan, Maine, Colorado, Catalina Island and my most recent trip to England.

I love how it turned out and I love being able to see pictures from our vacations every day.

 

Anyway, I ended up spending about $150 on the frames and mats, which isn’t chump change, but is a killer dealer compared to how much I would have spent on 18 regular price or even 40%-off sale frames. I had all of the pictures printed at Wal-Mart for about $45. Plus the cost of spray paint, this project ended up costing about $200. Not my cheapest project, but I love how it turned out and I’m so happy to have that large wall finally filled. Now I just need to decorate the console table and I’ll finally be done with that wall!

  

Everett Foyer Table

Just a few short weeks ago I showed you the end table that I painted to match my navy console table. And now I’m showing you my new console table…yeah, I know… 

I really liked the navy console table, but it was a little too small for that large wall. I’d planned on flanking it with a couple tall plants, but Ringo vetoed that idea by destroying the fiddle leaf fig that I bought for that spot. Yep, it survived almost a month without even a hint of being touched by doggie lips. Then one day I came home from work and found whole thing completely destroyed (luckily he didn’t get sick). So, the large plant idea was out.  

I’ve been casually searching for a longer console table, but nothing in my price range really caught my eye. Until I spotted this picture on Pinterest last week (from Honey We’re Home):  

I instantly loved it and wanted it. As you can see, it’s from World Market (Everett Foyer Table) so it only took a quick search to find the table. And it was even on sale!

So the following day I took a trip to World Market to check out the table in person. I loved it and there was one in stock, so I bought it. My boyfriend wasn’t home at the time and I was too impatient to wait, so I ended up dragging the box inside and putting the table together all by myself. 

As you can see, it’s about two feet longer and an inch or so taller than the navy table. It fits the space SO much better. I love it!  

Because the table is bigger, I probably need to get a bigger lamp (maybe 2) and some different decorations. I also want to replace my abstract art with a gallery wall of our travel pictures. I’d also like to add a white bench near the front door. 

As for the navy end table, for now I’ll probably paint it white to go with the rest of my furniture. Yeah, it’s a bummer that I wasted time and money on a piece just to replace its mate a few weeks later, but oh well. I’ve been stuck on the direction of this room for awhile now (I didn’t love where it was heading), but now I’m motivated again and have a plan! Expect to see more living room projects soon!

Navy End Table

As promised, I’m sharing a living room project today! Yep, I finally replaced my random IKEA end table with an end table painted to match my console table!

I had originally planned to order the table from Wayfair(where I bought the console table), but I ended up finding the exact same table at Target online for $30 less! It definitely pays to do a quick Google search before buying this type of furniture online.

The table arrived a week later and required some assembly. I really only had to add the bottom shelf and legs, so it was a quick project. Of course I still had to paint the table to match my console table…

Luckily I still had paint (Deep Royal by Behr) leftover from my console project, so I just used a small foam roller and brush to apply. It only took two coats of paint plus one coat of wipe-on poly to the top. I also replaced the knob with a matching one from Hobby Lobby.

I love how it turned out! I think adding another piece of navy furniture makes it look more intentional than just having one random navy table mixed in with all the other white and black pieces. Although the picture below makes the blue tables look a lot brighter than they actually are. They are definitely navy, not bright blue.

Now I just need to finish the rest of my to-do list!

Find sectional
Buy rug
DIY abstract art
Re-paint console table
Paint China Hutch
Sew curtains
Apothecary cabinet
Find coffee table
Buy garden stool/end table

Sew throw pillows
Style entertainment center shelves/top
Replace missing baseboard
Replace arm chair
Buy large plant/pot
Decorate fireplace mantle
Accessories

New Coffee Table

I FINALLY BOUGHT A NEW COFFEE TABLE!
 
Um yeah, I’m a little excited over here…sorry about the yelling.
 
Anyway, I’ve been working on my living room for the past year, which means I’ve been looking for a coffee table for the past year. Yeah, I’m picky. The criteria for my perfect table is as follows: white, no bottom shelf (so more of my pretty rug would be visible), large (about the same size as our current table), and reasonably priced. That’s not asking much, is it? Apparently so...

I’ve debated every option from sawing the bottom shelf off our current table and painting it white to building a new table from scratch to refinishing a table from Goodwill/Craigslist, but I’ve just never found the perfect solution.
 
As soon as I saw this Standard Furniture Cambria Coffee Table from Wayfair, I knew it was the one. The measurements were perfect, the price was right ($205) and I’ve had good luck in the past with Wayfair (I ordered my console table from them), so I ordered it right then. 

It arrived less than a week later and I couldn’t wait to put it together. As you can see, Ringo was obsessed with the box and kept dropping his ball in it. 

Everything was already assembled, so I just had to screw the legs on and add the piece of glass. It was so quick and easy…unlike some IKEA furniture.  

I love it! Although I wish it wasn’t so bright white…it’s way whiter than our entertainment center…maybe I just need to get used to it.
 
I will admit that I’m a little worried about the glass top and Ringo. He’s a walking tornado, but our glass end table has survived the past couple of years, so I’m hopeful the glass coffee table top will as well. We’ll see...

And with that, I can cross another item off my to-do list. It’s been awhile since I’ve reviewed my to-do list, so let’s see where I’m at now:
 
Find sectional
Buy rug
DIY abstract art
Re-paint console table
Paint China Hutch
Sew curtains
Apothecary cabinet
Find coffee table
Sew throw pillows
Buy garden stool/end table
Style entertainment center shelves
Replace missing baseboard
Replace arm chair
Buy large plant/pot
Decorate fireplace mantle
Accessories

White China Hutch

After two and a half years of procrastinating, the china hutch is finally painted! Yayayayayayayay!

As a reminder, this is what it used to look like:

It was my grandma’s and it came to live with me after my grandpa remarried. At first I was hesitant to paint over such a nice piece, but I know that my grandma would prefer I paint it and enjoy it rather than give it away because it didn’t fit my style or begrudgingly keep it out of obligation. I knew that painting this piece was going to be huge effort and time consuming so I’ve been putting it off for years. Finally over Christmas break I decided to start painting.
 
Luckily it’s made up of two separate pieces so it’s easier to move and work on. I started with the bottom half – sanding, priming, and painting. I used Dove White by Valspar and I’m really happy with the color. It’s not stark white, but nice and creamy without any blue/green/purple/yellow tint. I used Rustoleum Paint + Primer in Oil-Rubbed Bronze to paint over all of the hardware.

Once the bottom was completely finished I started on the top half. This piece was a lot easier than the bottom, but that center piece of glass isn’t removable, so I had to work around that. I didn’t feel like taking the time to tape off the glass, so I just painted over it and used a razor blade to scrape off the paint. 

I left the inside wood because my ironstone and china are mainly white. I thought the wood would be a nice contrast against the white. I’m not sure if I’m completely sold on the look. I might end up painting the inside a nice light blue color like this. After how long it took to paint the rest of the hutch, painting the inside will be a breeze! 

I love how it turned out, but I’m glad I waited until I had a break from work to start on this project. It took for-ev-er and would have been completely overwhelming to work on over a weekend. If any of you have a painted a china hutch, you know what I mean. If you did it over a weekend, you are my hero! 
 

Gallery Wall Update

Today I’m sharing another project that I finished over Christmas break (you can see my to-do list here and check out my first finished project here).
 
As you can see from the title, I finally updated my living room gallery wall! It’d been TWO YEARS since I last changed the frames and pictures, so this update was WAY over due. Well, I did replace the bottom left Ringo picture with a picture of Abby, but besides that, the wall looked exactly the same as when I last posted about it. 

I love my gallery wall, but I always thought it looked a little busy with so many small frames. I definitely needed to replace a few of the smaller frames with a couple large ones. I bought two larger (10”x13”) frames while thrifting months ago, but never hung them. I don’t have a good reason why…let’s just say I’m lazy. So my goal over Christmas break was to paint the frames to match, print new pictures, and update the damn wall!
 
I started by painting the new frames with the same Krylon Dual Paint + Primer Black in Satin that I used on the rest of the wall. While the paint was drying I picked out pictures for my new frames. I decided to print a picture of my mom and me from our trip to France and this free printable (in blue…although I couldn’t figure out how to separate the file, so I had to print all four of them): 

 

(source)

Once the paint dried and no longer smelled like spray paint, I added the pictures and hung them on the wall. I ended up removing eight of the smaller frames/letters to hang the two larger frames.
 

(I swear the frames are all straight IRL...)

I also replaced one of the 5x7 frames with an 8x10 frame. In that frame I added this print I bought home from London. It’s a sketch of the Prime Ministers front door and it’s actually a greeting card, but it was a perfect fit! 

I also replaced some of the older pictures with newer ones and added one of the prints that I bought in Paris (bottom middle frame).

I love that it looks a lot less cluttered than before. I still want to add back a few of the pictures I took down plus add more, so you’ll probably see a gallery wall expansion post sometime soon (and by soon I  mean two years from now). 

DIY Abstract Art

Have you ever seen an abstract painting and thought “They want how much for that?!?! I could totally paint that myself”? I have too…which led to this DIY abstract art project. 

I’m not a huge art buff, but I do like Michelle Armas’ abstract paintings.

 

(source)

But y’all know I’m cheap, so there’s no way I was going to pay $300-$400 for a piece of art. I knew I wouldn’t be able to paint exactly like her (plus I don’t want to completely rip-off her work), but I figured I could paint something inspired by her use of color and ideas.

(source)

I bought this canvas at a yard sale a couple years ago for around $10-$15. I liked the picture and 
it was a great price for a canvas that size (it’s originally from IKEA). BUT, I never loved the picture – the colors are too muted against the navy table and the picture blends into the wall color too much. I’d always planned to paint over the picture, but could never work up the courage to actually do it. I have no artistic ability whatsoever, so I was worried my painting would look horrible.

Finally last weekend I got a wild hair up my ass and decided I didn’t care if I ruined the daisy picture. I was sick of seeing it and ready to try something new. I took the picture off the wall and covered it with two coats of primer before I could change my mind.  

No turning back now! At this point I was unsure where to start, so I used Kimberly from Swoon Worthy’s short brushstroke method and just started painting. My original plan was to start at the bottom with the darkest color and work my way up to the lightest color. For the paint, I just used some craft acrylic paint that I already had on hand (navy, robin’s egg blue, tropical orange, and yellow) and sample pots of Valspar Pale Jade and Behr White Truffle.

I knew lots of layers would look the best, so I just started painting, waiting for the paint to dry a bit, and then added another layer. I worked up to about four layers before I decided I didn’t like how light the top was turning out. I tried to add some random navy, but I hated it, so I primed over that corner and decided to start over. 

I let everything dry over night and then started on my blank corner the next morning. I decided to change my plan and decided to go from dark to light to dark, so I started with the navy paint. 

Multiple layers later, I was done! 

I don’t think I’ll quit my day job and become a professional painter, but I actually really like how it turned out.

I think it looks so much better with the navy coffee table and light wall color. I’m debating adding another section of navy on the middle right because it seems kinda blah right there, but I think I’ll live with it a bit before I decide.  

If you decide to try this yourself, my advice would be to just go for it! Pick the colors you want to use and start painting! Yes, it’s actually harder than it looks, but it was actually kind of fun and now I have a custom piece of art that didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. Actually, I already had everything on hand, so this update was free! Even if you count the price that I originally paid for the canvas and paint, it still was only about a $20 project. Can’t beat that!

Have you tried your hand at abstract art? If you have, send me a link. I’d love to see!