Little Bits of Home

Adventures in DIY

Hallway Gallery Wall

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Well, friends, the hallway gallery wall is finished! I’m so excited to share it with you!

I’m going to go ahead and apologize for the quality of these pictures. The hallway has no windows, so it’s very tricky to photograph!

The upstairs hallway has had bare walls ever since we moved into this house three years ago. Whomp, whomp. I just couldn’t decide what I wanted to put up! After some inspiration and lots of thought, I finally decided a gallery would be the best fit and would provide a space to display family photos.

I used painters tape to roughly figure out my layout and how many of which size frames I’d need. It also let me “live with” the gallery for a while before committing to put this many nail holes in my wall. 😉 This picture was before I painted the walls. You can see my tutorial for how I painted the stairwell and hallway here.

We’ve accumulated a few extra picture frames over the years, so I shopped our house for any frames that would work for the gallery. Eleven of the fifteen frames on the wall were frames that we already owned. That saved us a bunch of money! I spray painted several of them and added mats to others to create a cohesive look.

I like white and lots of symmetry, so going dark and random with the frames was a bit of a stretch for me. I live dangerously, I know. Ha! I really like the way the black frames with white mats mirror the stair banister and railing colors! And, I must say, hanging frames randomly is much easier to hang than trying to do a grid or row like I usually do! 😉

I ordered the large paper mache letter from Joann’s for only $5 and spray painted it black. I love the font style!

As I’ve mentioned previously, my grandma is a painter. She did this painting for Jeremy and I’s wedding and Grandpa had it framed for us. I love it! It’s so special! I did all the photos in black and white so that the painting would really pop and be the star of the show.

I’ve been crushing on curvy frames for a few years now and recently found some at Michael’s for super cheap in the unfinished wood aisle. I paid less than $5 for the big one and only $1 for the small one. Crazy, right?! I gave them both a coat of spray paint and attached a picture hanger to the back. Easy peasy!

I love this picture of my grandpa and I from when I was a baby! His smile melts my heart!

I found this cute little patterned frame at Michael’s. They had an entire shelf of adorable, patterned frames!

I put frames around the light switch and the thermostat to help them blend into the gallery. Worked like a charm! The frame around the thermostat is simply hung by Command Strips*.

It’s so fun to come up the stairs and be greeted with this now!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Linking up to Southern Savvy Style and other awesome bloggers!

Comments

  2. This looks beautiful. Love the pop of pink with the painting. I'm a big fan of the black frames. We used these with with backgrounds for our stairway family portraits. My husband didn't use painter's tape, he just measured each one. It also came out very nice. Stopping by from Motivational Monday.

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  7. That's a *genius* idea! I've seen the wrapping/shipping paper idea all over the place, but it rolls up while I'm trying to cut it (so frustrating!), so I tried the painters tape instead. I wish I would have thought of contact paper! So much better. Next time! 🙂 Thanks!

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  15. I love how this turned out!! And so smart to hide the light switch and thermostat with frames, I totally didn't even notice until you mentioned that! I love all the person touches with the sweet pictures. 🙂 Thanks for sharing it with us at Motivational Monday! Hope to see you again on Sunday! 🙂

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  16. This is one gorgeous gallery wall !
    I love the black and white them and the monogram – just perfect !
    ( and framing the thermostat is just genius )
    Thanks for sharing!

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  27. So excited to find this! It clicked for me! The tape is a brilliant idea to make sure it all fits and will look good. Can't wait to pull the frames together and try it.

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  34. Thanks!! The smaller frames are 4×6, 5×7, or an irregular size like the square one around the lightswitch or the circle one. The larger frames are 8×10's and the biggest frame is an 11×14. The painting frame and the letter are about 24" tall. Here's a link to the exact letter I bought. I spray painted mine, but you could modge podge a patterned paper on it, too, for a fun effect. Bonus points, if you use a 40% off coupon, it's only $6! Good luck with your wall, I know it will be gorgeous!

    http://www.joann.com/235in-paper-mache-letter-/xprd78856.html

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  37. Love this setup. Whwre did you find the pink picture of the irises? I would love to
    Add this to my collage. Thank you.

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    • Thanks so much!The pink irises are actually an oil painting that my Grandma did. Check Etsy, though, there’s always tons of beautiful art there that would look great in your collage! 🙂

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  38. I love your wall! If I used the letter J would i need to fill in the empty space between the 11×14 painting and the letter? The letter J doesn’t fill in as nice as the M does. 🙂

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    • Thank you! You could! Maybe a vertical row of small frames? Or just shift everything in a bit to fill in the space? That’s the beauty of gallery walls, they are super flexible. You can’t go wrong! Good luck! 🙂

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      • Hello! I am wondering…did you paint or stain your banisters? i love the look of the dark banister and we have a similar set up in our house (upstairs hall). ours are outdated oak and i am deciding whether to strip and re-stain dark (UGH) or simply paint 🙂 Your DIY blog is great thank you!

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        • Thanks!! We lucked out and the previous owner had already updated the rails before we moved in. They are painted a satin black, not stained. The paint has help up incredibly well! I wish I knew what products they used! I bet there is some sort of clear polyurethane type top coat on it because it hasn’t chipped a bit. Good luck with your banister!

          Reply

  41. I have no family pictures hanging in my small house. I think sometimes it just looks too cluttered. However I loved what you did on your wall. I feel inspired but my hallway (I think) is too narrow. I have a wall on both sides where your’s is open on one side. What a love idea.

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  42. Your wall is my favorite yet!! And I’ve looked at a lot. Ive had a bare hall wall 😏 for almost three years. I know I want to put family pictures and I have a special plaque I want to use. Your wall inspires me to get started.

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    • Aw, thanks so much!! I’m sure your wall will be beautiful! I love having all the family pictures up!

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      • Where did you get the round black and white photo frame? I have been trying for a few weeks to replicate your wall because I love it so much but can’t find one like it. What size photo fits in it? Thanks!!

        Reply

        • I think it was from TJ Maxx. I got it years ago. It was originally green and white and I painted it to match the hallway. Sorry, I know that’s not super helpful! 🙁

          Reply

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