Week 9a: Hallway Photo Gallery

I wanted to finish hanging things in the hallway since the hallway looked a little bare with just the mirror and frames hung by the doorway (detailed in Week 8 post).  One of my maids of honor got Jake and I this nice frame that spells out our last name for a wedding gift, and since I'd yet to find a good place for it in our new house I knew I wanted to hang it in the downstairs hallway.

Here's a picture of the frame:

I was at Home Goods a few weeks ago and saw a black 7 piece picture frame set for $30 that I almost bought, but thought I'd wait to buy anything until I decided what frame layout I wanted to put up.  Then the other day I was at Dollar Tree, yes I said Dollar Tree, as I love buying greeting cards and holiday decor there since everything is $1.  They had a wide assortment of black picture frames so I thought I would buy some to use in the hallway.

I decided on two 5x7's, two 4x6's, and 2 double 4x6 frames:

I already had an 8x10 black frame sitting in a box downstairs, so I decided to make that frame the center and build out from there. I laid out the frames on the table, but it is usually easier for me to visualize things on the walls, so I cut out paper in the shape of each frame and taped to the wall to see how I wanted the gallery arranged:

Next I started going through pictures.  I was initially going to do photos of both Jake and my families, but I decided I wanted to hang some pictures here of just Jake, me, and our dog Harley, in addition to some scenic pictures I'd taken.

When I went to pick up my pictures at Walgreens, ink was splattered on some of the photos so I had to wait while they reprinted them.  Side note: one thing I've learned from getting pictures printed from anywhere is to look at the pictures while there and always count the number I wanted printed to make sure they a) print the right number and b) don't chop off people's heads or c) get ink splattered on them.  I've learned by bad past experiences!  So in my down time I wandered around the store and came across this little frames on clearance for $2.50:

I thought these little guys would be a good addition to my gallery!  All I'd have to do is apply a little acrylic paint to make them match the hall decor.  First I laid all the frames out on my countertop along with the pictures to see what order looked good.  Then I hung all the frames on the wall using my guides (I did add some templates for the little frames).  I used the 3M photo hanging strips to hang the frames and ended up with this:

I didn't want all pictures the bright and normal print so I faded the color using iPhoto for all of the pictures I printed.  I decided on pictures of Jake and I from some vacations, and 4x6 scenic pictures taken in Kansas City and Minneapolis since those are the two cities we've lived in since we've been together.   The smaller photos were flowers from our house in Minneapolis and some flowers I snapped during our vacation in NYC at Central Park.  Of course I had to print a couple of Jake and Harley cuddled up since he (and I) love the little mutt so much :)

After liking the layout of the pictures, I needed to paint the small frames the same color.  At first I was thinking black, but then I decided white might look like a nice contrast (and required me to paint fewer frames), so I started painting the two that were black and red using white acrylic paint:

I was quite pleased with the final look!

Next, all I need is to hang up my coat rack and the front hall will be complete!

Rachel