How to do a gallery wall {front room progress}

I didn't realize how many projects develop over just switching two rooms. I thought that the furniture in one would fit perfectly in the other and vice versa. I also, for some dumb reason, thought the decor would be perfect also. I thought it would be a simple change. But nope. Which I don't mind at all :) Gives me more stuff to do!...fun stuff to do...I have plenty of non-fun stuff to do already ;)

I have this problem you see. A problem of taking too many pictures. I don't want to be one of those people who take all the pictures just to live on their sd card or computer. Which has happened already. So, I went through and printed all the pictures. Gigs and gigs worth. And now I need a place to put some of them. So I guess, really, instead of having them live on my computer, they will now live in a shoebox. Oh well lol. Well...some of them will live on my walls. That brings me to my next project, a simple gallery wall.

I had a nice blank wall that made itself very apparent when I moved my sectional from the front room. I played around with mirrors and another large picture, but finally decided on doing a gallery wall. A simple way to use up more pictures, right?

before

This is the simplest gallery wall ever. I didn't know how high I wanted it or how wide, or even if the height I did want would make the bottom row too low. So, of course, I decided to 'visualize' it first.

First, I took some paper, measured to the size of the frame, folded the top quarter in half just a little bit, enough to make a 'middle' mark or line. I made 12 of these since I had 12 frames.

Next, I measured the wall and divided it in half, since I knew I wanted 3 pictures on each row, the middle picture would be in the exact center.

Next, I just picked a random height that I thought looked good. I marked the middle picture of the top row. I then measured 12 inches from the mark on both sides, made sure it was level and marked the wall. This gave me the points for the rest of the row. To get an idea of the height, I taped some paper up on the marks. The middle line of the paper matching up with the mark on the wall.

Next, I measured down 12 inches from the first mark, then 12 inches again, and again until I had 4 rows.

I did this the same on the two sides. I made sure they were level going across...

...and up and down.

Sometimes you make a wrong mark, and this just double checks things :)

I finished taping all the paper onto the wall at each mark.

This gave me the perfect visualization of the gallery wall without having to make any holes in the wall :)

And somehow, it looked beautiful and it only took one try! Woohoo!

Now, I laid out my photos on the floor to get the 'right' look. The lighter images were in the middle row, and the more colorful on the outside rows. Usually I go for all sepia toned images or all black and white, but I think with the frames being all uniformed, it brought the collection together perfectly :)

 I then hammered a nail into each mark on the wall, and hung the pictures. Of course, the pictures sat about an inch higher than what the paper showed, because the hanger is about an inch below the top of the frame.

I got these picture frames from Ikea for about $3. They use to be $2, so I'm kind of bugged about that. AND!! they stopped selling their drapes any longer than 98". What is with that? That was my go to place for inexpensive long curtains, and now...well....I don't know. I guess luckily I haven't had to buy any curtains recently.

So, the cost of this wall was sadly $36. A little more than I would like to think about :) But I really like how it turned out! Probably could have done this a lot cheaper if I just didn't like these frames so darn much :) Worth the investment to get the frames you want if you ask me!...plus I didn't have to waste time spray painting anything lol.

You can see in this photo the height I decided on. Perfect enough that I can add a row below or above...or both...if I ever wanted too :)

I also love the contrast of the white on the tan walls and how it pulls in the white from the planked wall.

Now to see if I can finish this room up once and for all (I say that very sarcastically because we all know that is never going to happen lol)