While the Mud Dried...

This weekend was all about mending fences cracks in our fireplace wall.  Unfortunately, it was an-ever-so-slow process {the joint compound I used said to wait 24 hours between coats...bleh}, so I was forced to take on another project to occupy my time.

Lucky for me, when I was cleaning out our 2^nd guest bedroom...aka the place where I store all my craft/project crap...I created two big piles of frames.  What the heck could a blogger do with a superfluous amount of frames?!?!  Create the very first gallery wall, EVER, in Internet history!!! ;)

For those of you who are over gallery walls...my apologies.  Please just avert your eyes, and wait for my next post about crack{s}.

I previously hung a mini-me gallery wall in our dining room, but I quickly swapped that out for some DIY picture ledges.  Since I didn’t want another cluster of frames in our very open living/dining room, I figured our hallway would be a great place to experiment, a la YHL.

We already have a few frames up in there.  They helped to fill the blank wall space, and they also sorta-kinda-maybe helped to camouflage our ugly thermostat.  I liked the look, but it didn’t knock my socks off.  I’ll be the first to admit...rarely do I get things “right” on the first try, if ever.  And even if I happen to nail it, I’m usually switching things up down the road.  It’s just how I am.  I like to tweak and make things fresh.  {Although I know a few of you are rolling your eyes, thinking...ummmm, gallery walls aren’t “fresh”.  I know, I know...but they are for my little hallway, so just pretend that this is a wonderful, albeit, not-brand-new idea.}

Technically, I have four walls to fill in our hallway.  {The spaces are broken up by alcoves to linen closets, a bathroom and a bedroom.}  I wanted to begin with the wall we’d see the most...the one visible from the kitchen.

I started by removing the two frames that were previously up, and I had all the other frames/things to hang in piles around me.  I just put things together like a puzzle until I liked what I saw.  Helpful tip {for me at least}: take a  picture of everthing once you settle on a layout.  It will help greatly when you are standing there wondering if you had that frame horizontally or vertically, etc. You'll be suprised at how quickly you forget...or maybe that's just me.

Then I took out some left over rosin paper from when we covered up our newly re-finished hardwoods.  I took each frame from the group, traced it and cut it out so I had a paper representation of it.

Once all the pieces were cut out, I taped them up on my wall.  I wanted to get the height, spacing and layout on the actual wall itself without any commitment.

I called the hubby over to see if he approved {because you know I wouldn’t have gone a step further if he didn’t like it ;) hehe}, and I got a big thumbs up.

That’s when I busted out my trusty 3M picture hanging strips and got down to business.  These things are amazingggg.  They are literally holding up everything in our house that they can.  Depending on the size and weight of your frame, you just stick the size and number of strips you need on the back of your frame...then when you are ready to hang them, peel the other side off...stick to the wall.  Press for 30 seconds, and voila!  You have a picture hung without any holes in the wall.

Of course, after you stick the frame to the wall for 30 seconds, you should remove the picture frame for 1 hour...and then put it back.  I may {or may not} have followed that rule, but they do tell you to do it that way in the instructions. ;)

One by one, I removed one “paper” frame and replaced it with a real one.  I used my level app on my iPhone to make sure things were pretty level, but I also used my stencil on the wall to see if things appeared straight.  {Old houses never have level walls.  I’d rather the frames seem level with my stencil pattern and wall, than level with...well, the Earth.}

Here's an picture from my last hanging experience to demonstrate my leveling abilities.

In no time, I went from this...

...to this!

That leaves me with three more walls to go.  Oh, and I also need to put some actual pictures, fabric, quotes, pretty paper, etc. in the frames.  Who wants to bet that I’ll be done with this project before the fall?!?!

PS-This post was not sponsored by 3M...I just religiously use their products to hang anything in my house that I can.  I've had nothing but success with them, so I wanted to pass along the tip to my awesome readers!