Tag: interiors

New Minty Fresh Front Door Paint

Published on by Krys2 Comments

If you read my previous entry you’ll already know that I’m trying to redecorate my entire apartment in an attempt at a fresh start. I’m happy to report that it has been going pretty well so far! A little slower than I would like, but it has been fun and we’re starting to make some real progress. Right now we’re focusing on cleaning, organizing, and painting. You know, the grueling stuff. 

Even though the apartment looks like a war zone it definitely feels like a new place. It’s amazing how much of a difference new paint and reorganizing can change a space, and with everything currently out of sorts it definitely has that “just moved in” feeling.  

 This is real life, people! It always gets ugly before it gets pretty again. 

Right now I’m working on the dining room. The first thing I did was pick a new color for my front door. I have this thing for colorful front doors, but I live in an apartment building so I can’t change the way the outside of mine looks. That doesn’t mean I can’t change the way the inside does! Here’s what it looked like before:  

Cute, but I was ready for change. I painted over the coral with a fresh coat of Behr’s “chilled mint”.  

I loveeee it! I really think it brightens everything up and makes it feel more fresh and airy. We also painted over our stenciled walls with new bright white paint and sold our dining chairs and bought new ones. I’m currently on the hunt for wall decor to finish off the space but I love the way it’s coming along!

Stay tuned for more progress updates soon! 

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Home Decor: Colorful Vintage Illustration Gallery Wall // DIY Gallery Wall Tips

Published on by Krys8 Comments

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.

The LA Apartment of Melodrama blogger Krys MeloI’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.

Framed vintage illustrations for gallery wallGallery 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.

Gallery wall tip - Use paper cutouts with nailholes marked first to get the right arrangement without putting unnecessary holes in your walls

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.

Vintage Illustration Gallery Wall from Melodrama

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.

Vintage Illustration Gallery WallThe illustrations add a lot of fun color and fun vintage character into the room. I’m definitely happy with it.

Vintage Gallery Wall from Melodrama blogger LA Apartment