How to hang a Gallery Wall...

...but not really because I used this technique and then as I was hanging changed the entire thing because I didn't measure and in my head I had more wall space than I really did...welcome to my tutorial.

Josh had THE NERVE to intrude during my design process and say, 'That doesn't look like it will fit, did you measure?'

DID I MEASURE?! I AM A DESIGNER WITH AN ART DEGREE AND I FEEL LIKE IT WILL WORK SO IT WILL BECAUSE I HAVE FEELINGS!

It didn't.

But my wall still turned out fabulously and I'm really happy with it.

Here area couple before pictures of how the hallway wall looked. It started with the Uppercase Living stickers and a few family wedding pictures. Overtime it morphed into this and I wasn't in love with how I kept tacking new family pictures up as I rearranged the rest of the house and had 'extra's' here and there. This wall had potential but I basically just ignored it for four years. NO MORE!

I decided I couldn't stand this wall 24 hours ago. Not sure why it didn't bother me last Wednesday, but yesterday it did.

By far the worst part of the process. Filling nail holes and touching up paint is the bane of my existence. Just ask Jamie and Josh who wondered for approx. four months when I was going to touch up the spots in our living room...

This is usually how I start planning a new Gallery Wall. It's all eye-balling (shocker). I spent a while arranging and re-arranging and realized I might as well get started because I could spend the whole day re-arranging. I wanted to evenly spread out the black, white, and wood frames as well as evenly disperse the 'texture' pieces. I like things to feel balanced without actually having to use patience to measure and make everything perfectly even. It's a lot less stressful for everyone involved (I'm looking at you, mom and dad).

In true 'Mollie-Fashion,' one project turned into six. I'm not real sentimental about 'stuff' but there are certain things around our house that I love because they're cute but also because of where/who they came from. I searched the house high and low for those lonely sentimental pieces and decided to throw them all on this wall.

After using hot glue, super glue, a little bit of tape, some twine, and completely changing my original layout, HERE is the finished product!

Twine was required to hang the two frames that didn't have picture-hanging holes on the back. I use tape or Command Strips to keep naughty frames from hanging crooked. See those two pictures hung at a blatant diagonal? They were being extra naughty, so I decided to stop fighting them and just embrace it.

Turns out this wall is in DESPERATE need of a fresh sister picture, as well as a new Mollie-Josh-Jamie picture. All those blank frames are ready and waiting for new KeilFamPics, which are being taken with Libby Asay on September 14th! YEYEYEYEE!

(Shameless plug: If you need engagement, wedding, couple, senior, best friend, family, or extended family pictures taken...CALL HER! She's photographing like a crazy woman to raise money to adopt a precious babe...do you need a better excuse to update those crusty, dusty outdated family pics?!)

Josh came in and said that he didn't know what to think because, 'it's not your usual work.' He claims it's because there are so many blank frames...

I realize to some people this wall might look cluttery but I seriously love everything about it. This wall represents more than just immediate family...the wooden FAMILY frame came from my Great G'ma Lottie's house and it still has her writing on the back. The white tulip picture was from Deb Lundt, a lady from my home church who did the flowers for our wedding. Two years later she died in a car accident because of a drunk driver. The crocheted 'Boersma' was a personalized gift from dear home-church friends, Paul and Jenny Abens. The framed picture of the London skyline was a gift from my best friend Steph after her semester abroad. They're hard to see, but there are two smaller pieces...one that says 'God bless this house,' and one that says, 'Faith: The substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.' When I look at these, I remember that we got one from Donna Pearson and one from Janice Martin at the bridal shower my home church threw for us. It seems silly, but I'm pretty good at remembering this kind of stuff, and those are all the people I think of when I look at this wall!

Since I've worked super hard to de-clutter and simplify the rest of our house, having one, special, jam-packed, gallery wall is allowed okay?!

MmB