So excited to show you where I hung them all. We are starting with the living room. The sad and lonely room I showed you last week. It is coming along great.
Here is the gallery we hung above the couch. I am trying to make this room feel calm and relaxing so I went with all black frames and black and white photos. Love!!
I started the gallery wall by laying all the pictures out on the floor in front of the couch. This way you can mess with the layout without nailing a bunch of holes in the wall.
Then I make a map of where I want all the frames. I also took a picture of the frames on the floor which is a great reference if you forget if the picture is supposed to go portrait or landscape or can't remember where it goes. I also used this chart to decide what pictures to order and then to remember where to put them once they came back from the printers. Then we hung all the frames. It's easiest to put the wall together like a puzzle. We started with the top row and then did the corners and bottom. Doing the center pictures last will give you some wiggle room to make them all look even and pretty.
A lot of picture places will let you choose custom titles for the back of your photos. So I had "LR Gallery Wall" printed on this set. This was really helpful especially since I was ordering photos for other rooms as well.
I set up three little stations in my kitchen to get the frames pretty and the pictures in them. A cleaning station with glass cleaner and paper towels. Wash the frames and glass AWAY from your pictures so you don't accidently spray your prints.
A little cutting station since some of my frames had 3x3 openings or 5x5.
Then the actual framing station where we put the frame all back together. Make sure to do this on a hard surface like your counter. Setting the frame on your couch or somewhere soft can lead to broken glass.
Since my empty frames were already hung on the wall I just started at the top and would take one down, wash the glass, put the picture in it and then put it back on the wall. On the bottom two corners of each picture I put this quake hold stuff on after making sure the picture was level. It's the coolest stuff and will help your pictures stay level and aligned when your kids slam the doors or go running thru the house shaking the walls and floors as they go (not that my darling boys ever do THAT!)
So that's how I do a gallery wall! Love how much life and warmth some family pictures can make!
