Category Archives: Living Room

A Long, Long Time Ago…

This gallery wall project happened so long ago, before Noah’s birthday, I hesitated to even share it with you but then I decided why not. I mentioned back in this post that am a procrastinator and as “they” say, “The proof is in the pudding.”

Our gallery wall started coming together almost six months ago… back when I shared this picture on Instagram.

At that point in the process we were moving templates around trying to figure out how the picture frames would work best. This really is the easiest method when trying to figure out how to hang a gallery wall. It helps keep those hundreds of guessing holes at bay.

This gallery wall is a result of the map picture looking visually too small hanging above the love seat. By creating a gallery wall it helped to add visual weight to the wall and balance out the large love seat underneath. This is an easy solution to any small pictures hanging (no pun intended) around your house or large areas of wall space that need to be filled.

Gallery walls work best when there is some underlying order to it. I’m not just talking about matching picture frames or a unifying color. It helps if all the pictures work as a group. In our case we created a boundary line that all the pictures would fit within.

border

Because this project leans more towards the perfectionist side ML did most of the work. You won’t find me complaining about that. To create our boundary line he started with the largest picture surrounding the map and worked with it until the spacing looked right.

Next he formed the four corners working out from his original picture. We actually drew a light pencil line outlining our boundary on the wall. It can easily be erased once the pictures are hung.

Once, the four corners were defined the rest of the pictures were placed along the outside border.

The not so fun part… according to Michael Luke was locating the nail hole locations. To do this measure the distance both horizontally and vertically to the hole on the back of the frame. Then locate this on the wall using your boundary pencil line as your starting point.

Finally, admire the gallery wall that you just created! Ta-da!

I wish I had a more completed pictures to show you. The one above was taken right after Christmas and then we immediately rearranged the living room. Yet another thing I have procrastinated showing y’all. My goal is to get some pictures taken of the new layout and share with you where our new gallery wall will go.

For anyone that may be curious and because the picture is a little blurry I created the diagram below with corresponding numbers describing the pictures. Once we get the gallery wall relocated to its new location I promise to come back with close-ups of the pictures.

Photo Listings:

Wall Plaque “As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” – At the top left hand corner it functions as our family motto and the theme of our gallery wall. Over time I hope to add new pictures… especially once we bring our second daughter home from Peru.
One of my favorite pictures of Noah from this Summer.
I found this quote on Pinterest and then added my life verse below it. It is such a great reminder of God’s timing as we journey through this adoption process.

Source: spiritualinspiration.tumblr.com viaKrystle @ Color Transformed Family on Pinterest
The map… is a gift I gave to Michael Luke for his birthday last year and the basis for the entire wall. A heart sticker will be added showing where each of children are born! When I saw it on Etsy I knew it was the perfect gift for him… and I was right. (If you would like your own world/state map clicking the image above will take you to the seller’s Etsy shop.)
Family portrait from last Summer.
Last picture of the beach on our honeymoon.
A great image of the Alabama Theatre, a historic landmark here in town.
Portrait of us on our honeymoon in Jamaica.
A beautiful picture of Noah just two days old. I love Michael Luke’s hands cradling her head. She was so tiny!
Mom + Dad = Me Michael Luke gave me this frame after our confirmation appointment for my pregnancy.
Noah as the flower girl at my sister’s wedding.
Family picture from last fall. It’s one of my favorite ones.
Another photo from our honeymoon.
This one is supposed to be a picture of Noah and Buddy, our cat but I have had a hard time getting it printed. I think I might just have to print it myself vs. paying to have it done.I’m kind of bummed that the gallery wall isn’t visible any more. I enjoyed having so many family pictures displayed for everyone to see. Eventually, we will get around to moving it though. Besides the rearrangement of the living room furniture I promise I am not hiding any more “procrastinated” projects.Are there any projects you have been procrastinating on? Do you find yourself regularly rearranging rooms? I can’t even remember how many furniture layouts we have had for our living room!

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Christmas 2012: Our Mantel

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This little ~~elf~~ momma has been busy decorating the house for Christmas. Now if I could only clean up the mess I made doing it. Does anybody else run into that same problem? Sometimes, I’m like a tornado… leaving a path wherever I go!

So while the house may not be back in order yet, the mantel is decorated and spreading the Christmas cheer and warmth throughout the house. So without further ado here is a picture overload (because that’s what we really care about) of the mantel.

Like before, I mainly used what we had in our Christmas decor stockpile. I did splurge a little though by buying the beautiful poinsettia and the red ornaments on the garland. But that’s my goal… to add a little each year.

I kept with the traditional red and green for my decorations this year. Mainly because that’s what I have but I have to tell you I am really digging all this red. It is so cheerful and is really refreshing to see such bold color in our living room. Could this be a sign of things to come decor wise in our home?

This is one of my favorite pictures of Michael Luke and me. It was taken on our honeymoon and we used it as our first Christmas card together! I love how the green contrast with the red so well and love setting it out every year. Don’t we look young? Not so much now but up until we frequently got asked if we were teenagers! I’m 28 now and judging by the latest responses of the cashiers at the grocery store I might could pass as college student. Forward progress!

The red ornaments are simple inexpensive shatterproof ornaments. I bought some glass beads and hot glued them on to add a little pizzaz to them! They are so cute I might have to add more next year.

The little red flowers were only fifty cents at Jo-Ann. In the past I have used them for decoration on gifts but I thought they worked perfectly placed sparingly in the garland. The white trees I have had for a few years but originally came from Wal-Mart. Score one for EDLP (Every Day Low Prices)! The best part about them is that they are plastic so I don’t have to worry about breaking them.

I think I have used this cross for every season this year. It seems to always be appropriate and I couldn’t resist pairing it with our nativity scene.

Originally I didn’t plan for these little glass ornaments to hang over the ledge but the garland sort of fell that way I like the end result.

All our stocking are hung by the chimney with care. (For more on our stockings click here.)

And here’s little Noah displaying her awe and wonderment of our tree. Let’s just say it has been a real learning experience for her to restrain from grabbing every ornament off the tree!

I’ll be back later to share pics of our new tree (see our old one here) and our new ornament that symbolizes our anniversary from earlier this year (see all our other ornaments here).

Are you through decorating your house for Christmas? Do you leave a path wherever you have been while decorating? What are your favorite colors to decorate with for Christmas? Traditional? Blue? Pink? Silver? Gold?

See how I worked with what we had on our Spring, and Fall mantels earlier this year. Decorating for the season doesn’t have to be a huge expense… shop around the house.

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Fall Mantel 2012

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In my ~~book~~ living room Fall is officially here!

As much as I love Summer it has been a nice change to see leaves and pumpkins scattered along the mantel. I like to keep it simple in a sense. Everything you see up there I just pulled from around the house except for the pumpkins which I purchased for around five bucks. It’s fun to see how I reused a lot of the same accessories from last year’s Fall mantel but achieved a completely different look.

Fall decor doesn’t have to come from the seasonal aisle. Instead look around your house for objects that are the colors you are wanting to use. Color is so powerful and pulling together the right colors really sets the tone of what you are going for.

Our living room can be dark at times so I used white accessories and pumpkins to highlight different areas of the mantel. The gold on the mirror frame and painted canvas work well with the warm colors found in the leaves.

The mums and greenery are left over from last year when I made a monogramed letter for our front door. See it really does pay to keep your scraps!

I just pulled vases from around the house. Like the McCarty Pottery vase and glazed ceramic vase above. Both have good earthy colors that again work well with the simple leaf garland that I used as my main source of color.

The candle holder adds height and balances the vases on the other side but it also reminds me of a bare leafed tree. Although, I am not sure what it was reminding me of when I used it for our Spring mantel.

The wall plaque normally hangs in our kitchen but it sort of has a Thanksgiving feel to it so I thought it would be appropriate for the Fall. Plus, it is just such a great reminder of our commitment to God.

Here’s a few more pics because apparently I can be pretty indecisive when deciding which pictures to use.