Creating an inviting display that tells your family’s story doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive!
Shop Your House
As I was designing this gallery wall, I came across a framed piece of fabric that is embroidered with the words “Love Deeply.” I loved the sentiment but wasn’t wild about the primitive-looking, red frame. I quickly painted the frame with some leftover chalk paint from another project and for little effort and no money, I was able to add a pretty (and meaningful) piece to our wall.
Add Visual Interest with a Mix of Frames and Canvas Prints
One of my go-to places for pretty frames is Kohl’s, where I can usually snag them at deep discounts. On this wall, I’ve also displayed several canvas prints of photos, some of which I ordered through The Canvas People. I am always pleased with the results when I order from them and love that I sometimes catch their canvases at 50% off. A few of the canvases featured on this wall are homemade, which is another great option if you’re watching your budget. Simply decoupage the photo of your choice to a canvas from your local craft store. Easy as that!
Get Creative to Fix the Ugly (But Necessary) Details
One of the issues I had when decorating this wall was the huge, ugly doorbell box that was placed in the most obnoxious of places. To remedy the problem, we built a simple cover using pallet wood. I white-washed the box and then used E5000 glue to adhere found hardware to the wood to create the word “Promise.” Now you’d never know the doorbell cover is there!
Enlist the Help of Your Littlest Artists
Two of my very favorite pieces on our gallery wall were created by our daughter, Ada. One is a crayon doodle she made of the two of us playing in our backyard. She drew it on plain-old notebook paper but it was so sweet, I decoupaged it to a piece of scrap wood and made room for it on the wall. The second is a piece of pallet wood that I painted white and let her paint. She added all sorts of little doodles and then I hand-painted something she says a lot, “Love will make you happy.” I love that it captures exactly who she was at age 3 and seeing her work displayed so prominently in our home has been a major source of pride for her.
Can’t Buy Me Love But You Sure Can Make It!
Two of the most stand-out pieces on our gallery wall were virtually free. Travis nailed together some pallet wood to create the two, large squares that I painted in sea glass colors. One of our favorite lines from Jack Johnson’s song “Banana Pancakes” is hand-painted in a simple font as a little dose of daily inspiration. Ada and I painted the pallet sign with the blue heart as an activity during the long, sleepy days after we first brought Eli home. Again, I used E5000 glue to adhere a key to the sign for a little extra something-something.
Do you have a gallery wall in your home? If so, what sort of things do you have displayed?
