My Own Gallery Wall

Final Gallery Wall Image

I moved into a new apartment a few weeks ago and desperately needed something to hang over the couch in my living room. I was on a budget so naturally, decided to head to Ikea... I found a great picture that would look awesome in my home but quickly learned that it would not fit in my small Honda. Irritated and pictureless I drove home. I began brainstorming and remembered that I had been wanting to try a gallery wall for years. This was my time.

At a garage sale that weekend I kept my eyes open for picture frames and found a dusty stack right away. The guy was so desperate to get rid of them he gave them to me for FREE! That is my kind of deal.

Now that I had my frames I needed help picturing what this could look like over my couch. I began laying out different designs on the floor next to my couch. By doing this I was able to identify what colors I needed to paint each frame. I also realized that I needed to throw in a few accent pieces which I found in my apartment. Helpful tip: Remember to take a photo of your design so you can replicate it again when you are ready to hang!

Set-Up before painting

Next step was straight to the hardware store to pick out some spray paint, I ended up with white and marigold to match my living room colors. Make sure you get spray paint that can be used on wood. Both cans were $5 a piece and I will be able to use them both for many more projects. You will also need a plastic tarp to spray paint on and some sandpaper if you want to distress any pieces when you are finished.

After 3 coats of paint and time to dry I decided to distress one of the frames and keep the others as is. Now all I had to do was refer to my photo that I took previously to get the spacing and set-up that I had originally decided on.

Last step was to hang them up! What I love most about this project is that I can continue to add pieces when I find them but in the meantime I finally have something hanging over my couch.