Gallery Wall Finished

So I was having a hard time choosing pieces for the gallery wall. Mostly I was trying to figure out what sizes to print of each picture so that I could hang it in the corresponding frame on the wall. Whoever said to hang the frames first...

But hanging the frames first was the best idea for me. Now I just had to decide where to to put everything. And as much as I wanted to go 'fancy free' and not plan, I couldn't. So I turned to my trusty friends Microsoft Word and Paint (remember I don't have any fancy Photoshop or anything...). I added a few "rectangles" and appropriately colored each rectangle. I made thick rectangles for the matted photos to make them look all 'matted.' When I formatted the rectangles I adjusted the size to the measurement of the frame: for a 4x6 frame the size in Word was 0.4in x 0.6in. I did everything in Word really, and then just clicked "Print Screen" and copied to Paint to capture the image.

I added the football tickets in a frame by using appropriately colored boxes. It wasn't perfect, but it works right.

Then the best part is adding the pictures. Simply 'copy' a file of a picture and 'paste' it into Word. Make it the small size to fit the 'frame' and you can get an idea of what it will look like on the wall.

See how that works? Because it's in Word, you can drag around the pictures and re-size them and mix them around in the frames. Then once the final selection is made, just order the prints in the correct size for the corresponding frame.

I didn't want the entire gallery wall to be photos, but I wanted a few prints and maybe a watercolor or two. So I opened up Word again and made a little K&B sign for Kyle and Brittany. I then realized that we have the same initials as the Louisiana-based drug store that used to be right down the street from my house when I was little... got to be on the lookout for their signs... But anyways, I took my print and I'll just send it to the photo center to get printed along with the photos. I could send it to Kinko's or something, but we don't have one of those in this small town and I'm already ordering pictures. But I popped it into the diagram to check the colors.

You may notice that a few of the frames are still empty. The two frames with the darker gray fill will remain empty so there they are the same color as the 'wall.' The four frames with the lighter gray fill are actually still waiting to be filled. They will be the art that's to come. I can live with four empty frames for now...

So I popped the frame diagram into a picture of the current wall.

And actually realized (just now!) that I didn't have to make this fancy diagram at all. But I could have started with a photo of the empty frames and just added the 'art' and 'pictures' in over that in Word... oops.

I ordered my prints and I got to work making all this virtual planning a reality. All the pictures were put into the frames. And we're all done... at least for now...

Poster print? Check. Sideways picture on the bottom right? Check...

This one's my favorite. It's that note Kyle wrote me on the back of a receipt and I used a colorful page from a West Elm catalog. I think that's a page with rugs on it... Don't you love it?? And it was free.

A few pics and one of my homemade art prints. It printed a little darker than I had imagined, but I like it.

 And the final (for now) setup.... it's okay to ooo and ahh...

(Yes, the lighting's not perfect... but I was trying hard to avoid glare on the the frames...)

And like I mentioned before it'll be a work in progress. I haven't gotten the football tickets in the frame yet, or figured out how to hang the numbers I picked up at the thrift shop, and I'm still working on the large picture of me and Kyle... hard to order a 12x14 poster print of yourself... right? 

But I want to also make some art, as I find neat things I'll switch things out and maybe add more frames. And I look forward to that, evolving with us.  Like in 15 years when we have 2.5 kids it'd just be silly for us to not put them on the wall (their pictures at least), and just have pictures of our young selves, right?

Fully finished or now, I love the wall. Love it! Especially since it's the only thing hanging on the walls in my entire house right now. And the rocking chair... hasn't moved yet. I really like having a chair there. But don't worry "new old chair" has officially been added to my garage sale hunting list...

Happy Friday! It's the weekend! That means there are garage sales as soon as tomorrow! and I get to sleep in :)