Last December, Pete and I spent a few days in New York. We’d been before but had never explored Brooklyn, such a treasure trove of independent shops. On our travels, I spied a box of New Yorker magazine postcards and had an idea to make them into a gallery wall. How, when and where was another question.
Fast forward 6 months, still no gallery wall. This is one of the reasons (money aside) our renovation project will take forever. I am just SO slow. It’s not through lack of interest. I love tinkering away on bits and bobs and of course, nothing ever looks worse does it? Whatever we do to our home we often wonder why it took us so long.
With Pete being away recently for work, it was time to rummage through the postcards and decide which would make the gallery wall shortlist. I knew all 30 would be too many so opted for 9 of my favourites and then organised them into a grid layout. You can collate by colour or perhaps theme, whatever works best.
I decided to hang the gallery wall in our office. It’s the first DIY project we undertook, converting our littlest 4th bedroom. Back then I had no idea about styling or co-ordinating colours. Apart from a triumphant dark grey paint (in a teeny room oh yes!) that we still love, everything else is a mishmash of colour riot.
I’m slowly making my way through all the bits and bobs to give it a more cohesive approach and thought the gallery wall would be the best place to start. I picked up some £1 frames from Tiger (seriously, how good are those shops for cheap bits and bobs!). The frames are only available in black so but trusty Rustoleum white spray paint came up trumps.
To make hanging as quick and easy as possible, I used Command Strips. These along with spray paint are my new addiction. It means that I can get busy hanging without a hammer and nails. Win win! You can use a spirit level if you want but I didn’t. And what do you think of the finished result? It really brightens up this back wall and looks so much better than the two rather lonely prints there before.
Now, if only I could get on with the rest of the house…
Do you have a gallery wall? What tips do you have for perfecting it?
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This look lovely. I need to be more creative in the house. I would love to make a gallery wall with some photos of the children 🙂
Author
I’d been putting it off for so long but now I’ve done it I can’t believe it took me ages! You’ve got so many lovely images it would be easy to do X
I love the collection put together. I can see why you picked them up. I’m drawn to the postcards instead of the frames. Individual pictures making one large one. Clever. I’ll have to pop into Tiger for some frames next time I’m in town. #PoCoLo
Author
Thanks so much Cheryl, it felt like a lovely way to capture our love affair with The Big Apple X
Gallery walls look great. I only ever get around to decorating when my hubby is away. New job means he’s not away much = no decorating. But we did do some important repairs recently.
Author
I definitely struggle to get the motivation to keep going with things, glad to hear you got round to some good projects x
I love the collection, goes really well with the colour of the wall X #pocolo
Author
Thanks so much, I’m glad we painted the frames white in the end as I think the black would have been too draining X
We haven’t got a gallery wall yet but seeing yours makes me think I want one. #PoCoLo
Author
This was my first one and now I might be hooked! X
These postcards are fantastic and look so good as a gallery! Beautiful idea!
Author
Thank you lovely, it’s so simple but has really changed the look and feel! X
AH they look so good! I use command sticky hooks for my gallery wall too – so much less stressful x #HomeEtc
Author
I can’t believe it took me so long to get on board with them, they’re so easy to use! X
ooh I have never used conned strips to hand pictures what a great idea, I love the wall Lins it looks great x
Author
Thank you so much 🙂 I’d totally recommend giving them a go, a bit of a game changer for me and now he doesn’t have to get the hammer out every time I want something hanging 🙂 X
So simple but looks fab!
Author
Thank you, it’s definitely brightened up this space in the room X
It looks fab chickie!! I bought 4 little greetings cards and white frames for the boys room back in February and I STILL haven’t put them up on the wall *facepalm* I know just what you mean about being slow. I’m just the same… I have the very best intentions but things take me FOREVER!!!! #HomeEtc
Author
Ah glad I’m not alone…but I do see you painting entire rooms across a weekend which is something I could never do 😉 Xx
This looks great – love the prints and the final effect. It might be slow but it’s still gorgeous x Thanks for sharing with #PoCoLo x
Author
Thank you Steph, we get there in the end! Just wish there were more hours in the day X
Lovely gallery wall and great decorating skills. 🙂
Author
Thank you so much for your lovely comments X
We have something similar except it’s full of photos of our boys! Love the gallery wall. 🙂
Thanks for linking to #pocolo
(sorry for the epically late comment)
Author
Thank you Morgan and no need to apologise! X