Congratulations are in order: our bedroom is now the official home of the eight billionth gallery wall in the universe.
But even if this is the eight billionth one in existence, none of the previous seven billion look exactly like mine, making each and every gallery wall unique in its non-uniqueness.
For instance, nobody else has our Sign and Sail cruise cards in a frame.
Nobody has the framed lyrics to the song that Rick wrote for me years ago, and nobody has framed copies of our baby pictures. Except our parents. If you have our baby pictures in a frame on your wall and you did not spawn one of us, there’s a 99% chance that you may need to seek psychiatric help.
The Corinthians print next to Rick’s baby picture is from the Etsy shop Printable Scripture, which I got via winnings from Katie and Jen. (Thanks, ladies!)
The red flower, the dragonfly, the vintage fan, and the heart anatomy are all from the Graphics Fairy. If you’ve never used that site, you’re missing out. Why? Because it’s FREE STUFF.
The Enchanted reference was practically a requirement for our bedroom, since Rick is my Prince Edward and all, minus the tights and endearing self-absorption.
I also made the “depths of my heart” print that quotes Laura Story’s “Indescribable.” (You can download it here in 6 different colors!)
Something in my projects always comes from a trash pile, and this one is no different: I found the wooden shape of New York State in a science teacher’s reject pile at the end of last school year. It used to be a plaque and announced the victories of some science club in the 80s. That was the first time I’ve ever garbage picked in my place of employment. It was slightly nerve-wracking. I have a certain reputation to uphold, after all.
This next piece of “art” is from an old Norman Rockwell address book. In the interest of not projecting my husband to be a selfish jerk (he’s not really like Prince Edward, after all), I should make clear that this is only on our wall because A) it fits with the color scheme, B) it was of a couple, C) I heart Norman Rockwell paintings, D) it fits with the color scheme, and E) it fits with the color scheme. Rick and I make it a point to eat dinner together and reading materials, electronics, cats, etc. are off-limits.
Finally, in the event that you haven’t seen this trick elsewhere in blogland, I’ll share with you that I followed several other peoples’ good advice and hung newspaper cut to the size of the frames before we started shoving nails in the wall.
I also spent many minutes arranging and rearranging the frames on the floor before I found a layout that looked right.
Are you in Club Gallery? Are there any decorating trends that you wouldn’t mind having the eight billionth of? What are some unique things you’ve framed in the name of decor? I want to know for when I hang the ten billionth gallery wall elsewhere in our house. ;)
P.S. We’re back in business: our boiler is behaving once again. Yay hot water!
***Linking this up to Tater Tots & Jello!***
I love a good gallery wall! Even the 80 billionth! I like all your personal touches. Here's the one I made a few years back http://annabelvita.com/2012/02/22/my-first-ever-gallery-wall/ - it's all higgledy piggledy but I love it.
ReplyDeletelooks awesome! i love the colors!
ReplyDeleteI love it! And I'm a fan of gallery walls, but by the time I get around to making one, I'll probably be the nine billionth one :)
ReplyDeleteCaught the Enchanted reference right away. ;) Too cute. I'm slightly intrigued or repulsed by the heart, though. Not sure which one yet. Hmmm...care to explain that one? ;) And stealing, I mean, retrieving, the NY plaque was completely necessary. 1) It would have been out of character NOT to and 2) it makes for a great story, particularly for the blog. Isn't THAT what's most important here? (Heh-heh. Snicher-snicker.)
ReplyDeletehaha the heart...well, it intrigued me, too, and sorta went with the love/bedroom theme. And it isn't gooey or gushing or anything, which would have made me vomit. I can handle drawings of exposed hearts as opposed to actual exposed hearts.
DeleteAnd I'd be lying if I didn't also say that I chose it because it went with the color scheme and nice FREE images containing both red and blue are hard to come by. :P
As someone who also has a gallery wall, I would like to say that I am in no way biased when I tell you I love what you've done to your bedroom wall. I'm going to go check out that graphics fairy asap because that sounds awesome!
ReplyDeletePS - Yay for a working boiler!
I love it. Gallery walls are fantastic and will continue to be through 200 million I think. I love that each one is different. I really love the vintage fan in the round frame. For some reason that really stands out as awesome to me!! I'm definitely going to have to check out Graphics Fairy- this is news to me but sounds like a great idea!! Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteI don't care how many gallery walls there are in the world - yours is fabulous!
ReplyDeleteLove it! (I totally have that Graphics Fairy heart on my wall, too!) I love all the different things you got in there. And that New York cut out is awesome!
ReplyDeleteI knew I'd seen that heart somewhere!! Come to think of it, you might be the one who clued me in to the magical GF in the first place...
DeleteWeeeee I loved the carnival Valor!! What a great idea! My mom punched holes in ours and hung them on the christmas tree lol
ReplyDeleteCutting the newspaper is probably the best way to get the right layout. Great job!
There may be eight billion gallery walls but I still love them all the same - and I love yours as well!! They never get old. I need to get my rear in gear and get mine together...
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I SERIOUSLY, SERIOUSLY love it!!!!!! I think I could live in your house. So you thought it was worth it to go the newspaper route? Interesting....hmmmm
ReplyDeleteThanks Katie! You can visit anytime. ;)
DeleteAnd I really didn't WANT to cut out all of that newspaper, but figured it would let me see the whole thing laid out on the wall versus just the floor, especially where on the wall it should be located so it didn't accidentally end up too far to the right, left, top, whatever. I'm also not great with a hammer and ended up with unnecessary holes even without having to move stuff around because it didn't look right. :P Cutting the templates really took maybe 15 minutes total--it was no big deal.
Well done, Erin. I love the newspaper idea - makes placing the pictures so much easier. I usually just got at it with hammer in hand. And my galleries never look as cohesive as yours with all the matching frames. Love the Norman Rockwell. Are you sure it goes with the colour scheme? :-)
ReplyDeleteI didn't look at the other 7,999,999 gallery walls because I was waiting for the 8,000,000 one :)
ReplyDeleteAnd it is perfect!
Have a wonderful Memorial Day!
blessings,
karianne
PS I love the NY State!
This is adorable; all the items are so special! Now I need to make the 8,000,000,001st one. Thanks for the inspiration, and have a lovely holiday weekend!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, there are so many things that I love here. I love gallery walls - yours is awesome!
ReplyDeleteThe NY thing came from the TRASH?! That's the first thing that caught my eye. I love how you arranged it, because about half of the 8 billion gallery walls I've seen spread the frames too far apart and it makes my eye twitch. I love all your verse printables!
ReplyDeleteHey Erin M..... it may be because I know what the rest of your last name is but I can totaly read Rick's last name on the close up of your cruise cards. Just thought I would let you know :-)
ReplyDeleteOne more comment... I don't have baby pictures of you on my wall but does smallish child photos of you at age 8 or so count as creepy? :-p I had a friend ask me who it was and the following conversation occured
ReplyDelete"Oh...that is Erin."
"Who is Erin...your little cousin?"
"No...my best friend growing up."
".........ummm...."
"That is me next to her you nitwit...we were eight."
"That is NOT you."
I look the same since I was like.....five. I smacked him in the back of the head and stood next to the picture and he goes, "Ohhhhh...yeah I guess that is you."
Men are dumb sometimes....
Yeah, definitely can read it lol
Deletehahaha I thought to myself as I was posting it, "Can you read Rick's last name?" and I thought perhaps...but then was too lazy to fix it. Apparently my quest to remain quasi-anonymous is only quasi-important to me. :P
DeleteThat said, I think I'll fix it now.
Your gallery wall is beautiful! I love the colors that you used and the cleaned polished look of it all. Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI love it! You have so many fun pictures, it's fabulous. I love your blog!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on being number 8 billion! ;-) Really, it is wonderfully creative and unique to you. Some really great choices you've put in.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is that I LOVE IT! So unique and just overall awesome.
ReplyDeleteAnd free graphics?! I know what I'm spending my afternoon doing...
Love the newspaper idea..so smart!
LOVE THIS! I'm not in the gallery club, but would like to be. I have plans to join but probably not for a while.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your color scheme. It all goes together so well. and it looks so good! I think my favorite piece is the the NY state piece. I'm a sucker for state outlines. I also want to make a gallery wall! Someday. Maybe mine will be the 9th billionth. Or 10th.
ReplyDeleteLove, love, LOVE your gallery wall! I had one in my previous home, but we just moved and I haven't had time to put it back up again.
ReplyDeleteI can see why you HAD to have the NY state plaque - I would have grabbed it, too (although I live in TX, which would have been weird...).
Perhaps the most unusual thing I've saved, framed and used in my gallery wall is pics from old calendars. I saved a very large old calendar from Japan that has the most beautiful Japanese paintings depicted for each month. I have cut these pics down to fit into different frames over the years and used them in various rooms depending on my color scheme or decor theme.