Changing Up My Wall Art

When we moved into our house last year, I put up this gallery wall on a large blank space in the living room.



It did take alot of work and, though I have enjoyed seeing many memories up there, I haven't been sold on it.  So I took it all down.

My mom asked me in all sincerity one day if I ever chose a task based on how easy it would be.  And in all honesty I told her no.  I think this proves that theory, right?  Ha ha!

My inspiration for the redo were these two projects I found and pinned to my boards on Pinterest:

Random Thoughts of a Supermom
A Little of This, A Little of That












I liked the idea of painting "Masterpieces" on the wall and I already had eye screws and picture wire in house.  Then I went to IKEA.  And my project morphed further.  I found their version of the picture wire version that had little sliding hooks.  I opted to buy only the hooks and not the wire, then as I was looking for a cheap alternative for a towel bar for my bathroom I discovered some long bars used to hold hooks in the kitchen section for only $2.  So I ended up combining the products.  Total cost for the project was less than $10. 

When I got home I measured out the wall and screwed the bars in based on where best to display the girls' artwork and high enough to be discouraging of little fingers.  Then I found a font I liked and typed out the word "Masterpieces".  I didn't worry about the size of the word, because I knew I wanted it bigger than Word could make it anyway, so I used BlockPosters.com (the same site I used to help create my "Be Happy" artwork) to create a word image the size I needed.


I borrowed some old-fashioned carbon paper from Momma Kay and traced over the letters on the wall.

Then I handpainted it in dark gray (that I got for free from the recycling shed at my local landfill).




What do you think?  The girls have already been busy filling it up.  They love the concept and I love that the space is at once more open and more personal of who our family is.

Now for the other side of the room.
I shared in my Tips 'n Tricks post awhile back I was working on something using a collage from ideas I found on Pinterest.  The collage looked like this:


Well, it ended up like this:


I still used ideas from Pinterest and the concept of using canvases as my art platforms, but what I put on those canvases changed a bit.

I have been seeing several versions of the map-heart concept (like these) around the blogosphere.  So I made my own using places important to me:


The four places represented are Boston (where Elliott and I met and lived for awhile), the resort area where we married and honeymooned on the Big Island of Hawaii, and the areas that we have lived with our kids - Las Vegas and Utah.  One of the maps I cut out of an atlas I had, one map was a photocopy from an atlas at the library, and the other two I printed off from the internet. 

The other artwork is a photocopy of my hand over Emma's little newborn hand.  I saw the inspiration here.  I.  LOVE.  IT. 

You should have seen me trying to get this picture though, you would laugh!  I really do wish someone had taken a picture.  I took Emma to Office Depot and hauled her up on the copy machine, trying to simultaneously flatten her hand underneath mine, cover her eyes, and press the Start button on the copy machine.   But it worked!  I took it home and scanned it into the computer, turned it into a JPG and sent it off to Wal-Mart for printing.  I had a coupon for a free 16x20 poster print so that's how it became as large as it did.  I glued it onto a blank canvas and then Modge Podge'd over it.  I still am going to paint black around the edges of the canvas, so that it looks custom wrapped, but I need to pick up some black craft paint.

The last element is my beloved vintage gas station number "6", a gift from my friend Lisa.  Why that number?  Cause there are 6 of us!  I had always thought about framing it, but this frame dropped into my lap.  I was walking into church for Bible Study one day and noticed it peeking from the top of a trash can.  Upon examination I realized a picture (glass and all) had broken and someone had just chucked the whole thing in the trash.  Yep, you guessed it - I snagged that little baby right out of the trash, stashed it in the stroller and went on my way.  And it works perfectly!




I really love how it turned out, mostly because of how personal everything is to me.  Each element means something and makes me happy to think about.  What do you think?

1 comment:

Lisa @ Fern Creek Cottage said...

Wow, you have been hard at work! The hanging kids artwork area is so cool! I love the petrol number framed and the hearts and photo artwork are so unique and beautiful. It all looks so great!!