I’m always changing things up in this small, little apartment of mine. I was craving a little more color on my living room walls, so I planned on ditching the large abstract canvas and doing a gallery wall instead.
I’d been thinking about doing a gallery wall for awhile but art, even prints in the quantity I needed, were turning out to be too expensive for my project’s budget. I’m a big fan of vintage illustrations like the kind you’d find in The Saturday Evening Post, so when I came across a bunch from the 1950s, I ran to get frames immediately. Ok, more like power walked.
Gallery walls can be scary! Whether you’re doing a random pattern or lining them up strategically, putting that first hole in the wall is scary business when you’re not sure if you’re going to like how it’s all laid out once it’s up there. I hate patching nail holes more than anything, and I don’t even know where the touchup paint is, so I had to get this right the first time.
One of my favorite tips for creating gallery walls is to cut pieces of paper to the size and shape of your wall decor. Mark where all of the nails should go, and tape the paper pieces up on the wall to get a better idea of where everything will go. I rearranged my pieces at least 4 times until I got a spacing I was happy with. Measuring is fine, but I like to actually see everything up on the wall before I start making holes. Once I was happy with it, all I needed to do was hammer the nails into the pre-marked paper.
I hung every picture up and used a level to make sure they were all straight and in line, because when one is out of place everything looks wacky. That’s something I’ll probably have to go back and do every once in awhile but it’s SO WORTH IT. If you have a problem with your pictures staying straight, try using a little piece of gum tack on the back corners of the frame.
The illustrations add a lot of fun color and fun vintage character into the room. I’m definitely happy with it.
Melodrama 