DIY Gallery Wall

I just love family photos, but somehow I can never seem to find places to put them in my decor.  So, I decided to do a gallery wall going up our stairs.  Before, it was just wasted space.  I always felt like it "needed" something and this did the trick.  I started with several frames collected over time from Goodwill and other thrift stores.  I don't think I paid more than $2 for any of them.  I spraypainted them a combination of blacks and golds to give them a more cohesive look.  I did some in a flat finish, some in gloss and some in satin so it would look more collected and less "done."   

I started out by laying all my frames on the floor and playing around with different arrangements to see which one I liked best.  This is what I came up with.  I didn't take a picture of this step but I covered the whole thing with wax paper (because you can see through it) and then marked exactly where the nail holes needed to go.  Then, I hung the sheet of wax paper on the wall and put my nails and picture hangers in place.  Then, I just ripped the paper down and had everything right where it needed to be.  This is the first time I've done this and it worked great!

now, all up on the wall!

I wanted to mix it up a bit and not have just pictures on the wall.  So I threw in this framed candle holder with some nice black candles to spice it up a bit.

I love how I can see it in the reflection of my $6.99 mirror from Goodwill when I come down the stairs! 

(here is is before)

and after with a fresh coat of Oil Rubbed Bronze spraypaint

a shadow box with a "D" from Hobby Lobby

I added a few shadowboxes to the mix because I like the dimension that they add.  Also, like I mentioned before I wanted to be able to add things that were meaningful to us and shadow boxes allow me to do that.  I started with this one for $3 from Goodwill.

and here is the crazy part, I found this butterfly while running one day.  I carried the whole way I ran until I got home.  It made it safely home, but when I tried to put it in the shadow box, this is what happened.  I figured I would just find something else to go in there, little did I know I would find two more over the next few days!!

I was more careful with those, making sure they didn't get their wings chopped off, and a put them safely into the shadow box.  I covered the back of the shadow box with a little material from Hobby Lobby to cover up where the apples had been.  I also like having a little bit of pattern on that wall.

Next step, putting pictures in them.  I don't know why it always takes me so long to do this.  I'll be sure to share when that step gets completed.  I'm hoping this gallery wall continues to grow and expand until it takes over that whole wall!  I also have one more DIY project from this wall to share soon!