Quite some time ago I promised to turn the camera around for you in our media room so I could show you other sides of the room! This room has been slow going! This is the room where we watch TV as a family, but it is way upstairs where hardly anyone else ever goes (unless we have a big party) so it really wasn’t the top of my priority for decorating when I had so many other projects to work on. As long as it was comfy! And with our wonderful sectional, it certainly is that.
Yet, I really wanted to start making this room more personal and bring in things that mean something to our family. Since it is a space we use so often, it made sense to give it a little more love.
In our old house we had tons of wall space for hanging family photos in big stairwells and those big rooms, so when we moved here we brought a zillion framed photos. But in this smaller house, we have limited wall space because we have less rooms and so many windows! While I love all the windows, it leaves very little room for anything else so many of our frames didn’t get hung right away.
Finally we decided the one blank wall in our media room was the perfect space for our family gallery wall. After a fresh coat of paint on the walls (polished grey by Glidden), we were ready to roll. We had been hoarding closets full of framed photos so it felt SO OVERWHELMING to pull everything out to see what we had! But it was also so fun to see all those photos again. Even though we had such a random assortment of frames, we decided to go with our eclectic side and just embrace them just as they were (no paint or doctoring up of the frames). That’s hard for me sometimes, I just want everything to be perfect and when I can’t do it perfectly, I do NOTHING! How silly is that?
While there are times when it is worth investing in new things and it can be fun to paint to update or create matching sets, I do really have a soft spot in my heart for the use-what-you-already-have projects! When everything matches, you can start to loose the cozy put together over time texture and vibe, so I love a little random quirky eclectic statement here and there. Gallery walls are the perfect place to be eclectic so it can be an ever evolving tribute to special memories gathered over time.
We picked out what we could use on the wall and created a haphazardly hung gallery of mismatched frames. Old memories, new memories. Perfectly imperfect. No rhyme or reason to our method, other than favorite memories gathered together so we can easily remember our blessings.
I love when I can simply use what I have to create a meaningful room, don’t you?
See my other gallery walls in my stairway (with tips for creating an eclectic gallery wall!), my family room, my kids’ bathroom and my son’s room!
Announcements!
1) Today is our first Home Love Stories BLOCK PARTY! The theme for the party is #AroundTheTable, so come on over to homelovestories.com to share your dining areas and see others! You can search in the top right corner “#aroundthetable” to find all of the participants!
Find more details on the block party and how to participate here!
2) My first book Love the Home You Have is still 50% off all e-book pre-orders (releases March 31st)! Woo-hoo! That’s a pretty great deal!
3) If you have a minute, would you be able to help me? Voting is still open for the BHG Blogger Awards and I would so appreciate your vote! Here’s how: Go to this page and vote through a few categories (or click skip this category) until you get to the decorating blogs, then hit select under The Inspired Room if you want to vote for me! Thank you so much! :)
We have a gallery wall in our living room. I have all black frames to keep it consistent. It looks great against my black wall. And I also have some pictures just on canvas.
Melissa, Wow that’s a lot of pictures:). I love that your gallery wall goes around the doorway and that it looks like it’s added to over time! Ours is our family room with a mix of wood and black frames. I love having a lot of pictures up on the walls it really helps to remind me of great memories and what to be thankful for!
Hi..is it possible to read this book on an Android phone?
Well, I believe so? I know you can get a Kindle app on iphones but I would guess the same is true with Android. The kindle version is 50% off right now at most retailers.
Hi Melissa, I’ve enjoyed following your blog for awhile now. Could you share your fabric choice
on your Birch Lane Settee?
Thank you
Hmm, it was the fabric it came with. It’s kind of a linen feel? If there are choices let me know but I think it was just the standard option. We LOVE it. It’s really been durable and even easy to wipe off when my pups get a muddy paw on it!
Yes there are several fabric choices. From birchlane.com I ordered six swatches and not one looked like
the Settee pictured online. To me it looks more muslin or whiter than any of my samples, that is why
I decided to ask you what color your Settee is. I’m so confused.
So much to love about this gallery wall: 1) all your favorite people are on it 2) eclectic framing 3) no specific layout…if I were doing this, I’d think about it so long, it would never get done 4) it looks great!
Thank you! This is the most freeing thing I’ve read in a long time. I have boxes of framed photos I want to hang in our house, but they don’t match at all. And I dont’ want to take the time to paint them or spend the money/time to buy new frames. So they’ve sat for over 6 years. Time to get them out and hang them up for us!
I’m SO happy it encouraged you. I know the feeling of being paralyzed waiting for the perfect situation and then felt the joy of the realization that you can in fact make something pretty and meaningful out of what you already have!!! YAY! Enjoy your photo wall.
I absolutely love it! I took our gallery wall up the staircase to the second floor and I used the frames the pictures were in. Coordinated frames are nice, but I wanted to use what I already had. Each frame was chosen for the particular picture, so I think it works!!
It sounds great to me!! Having photos out where you can see them is always a good thing, I think! :)
These are wonderful! If memory serves, isn’t a compilation of family pix called a “Rogue’s Wall”?
definitely true in our family!
I love that your gallery goes up over the door, it’s like the abundance of love and memories is forever growing and reaching…
I preordered this book thru Amazon and it is delivered tomorrow. Can’t wait! Thanks for writing it?
YAY! I hope you like it, thanks for ordering it!
The pictures look great! I love how they go over the doorway. I am also a fan of decorating with items I find around the house. Enjoy the wall. :)
Will Proverbs31 bookstore be selling your book?
Oh my! This brought back so many happy memories. I did an entrance hall from the top to the bottom with pictures from 1890’s to the recent. It was wonderful. Much better than opening up a photo album. Only one problem, or should I say 100. When we moved we must of used a gallon of nail filler. Looking back I’d do it again.
I love looking at house pictures on pinterest but I always find them unrealistic. I love to be surrounded by family photos!
I have been wanting to do this in our playroom for months now! Thank you for inspiring me to get it done, I know it will be worth it.