The Beginnings of a Gallery Wall

Last week I mentioned I wanted to get going on a gallery wall for our family room. And shockingly enough, I actually made some progress this weekend. Here's where we last left our trusty wall (see the little cutie in the mirro playing Wii?)

When we first bought our house five years ago, this room had a beachy theme (it was all the rage at Pottery Barn at the time). There used to be a big ocean-themed print in this frame we purchased specifically for this wall. Then I stuck the other two pieces up because there were already nails there.

And there they stayed for four years.

Last year, I decided to update our master bath, so I took the builder-grade mirror (aka blah and boring) mirror off the wall and replaced it with a nicer mirror. I had the brilliant idea to take the old mirror and stick it in this frame (which used to have a matting around it). It looked great for a while, but the mirror was so heavy, it bent the matting, so I ripped it out a couple of weeks ago, hoping that see the edges of the old painting would force me to get moving on the gallery wall.

And it did.

Saturday, when Walker was pleasently playing with the neighbors, I took that awful mirror off the wall and gathered all of the prints and pictures I'd planned to use on the gallery wall together on the floor and arranged them how I wanted them to be on the wall.

Then, I nailed them up until they were in the right place. Thank goodness for nail filer and matching paint to cover the couple of mistakes I made.

You see that cool mirror? Originally, I had another picture there, but it just wasn't working for me. I hadn't yet made my weekend trip to the Habitat for Humanity Store, so I decided to do a quick walk-through and see what I could find. I was specifically looking for a mirror to break up the space and when I walked in, grabbed this lovely off the wall immediately (I've had items bought from right under me before, so I don't take chances).

I think it works perfectly. And it was only $25. 

I also picked up the framed watercolor on the bottom right at Habitat (one of these days I'm going to show you all of the fun things I've found there) and of course the pic of my and my sweetie. I picked up the flower oil painting on the far left at the flea market in Raleigh one morning and the item on the top left is an old coin I just glued onto some scrapbook paper and put in a frame I picked up at Michael's in the clearance section.

The other two items are really neat. The item in the top right corner is a picture of two people walking on a golf course, holding hands. He's holding a club too and the caption reads "One of the Hazards of Golf". My in-laws gave us this and I love it (cause Mike's a golf pro and I love him and all that stuff)...

Then, there's this really neat pic of Mike's grandfather and great uncle in an old bike and buggy shop they used to own in Durham many years ago. Below the picture is an actual bike plate that shows the name of the shop and the year. I love old stuff with meaning.

So that's the beginning of the wall. I think it needs a couple more things, but that's all I got right now, so I'll continue to keep searching for cool items. I think a trip to the flea market may be a perfect way to start our Saturday morning this weekend!