How to Make a Gallery Wall for $0

I am a planner. Chris is more spontaneous.

He will jump, while I’m still “researching.” He likes to “knock things out” and I like to “map things out.” Opposites Attract, and that my friends are proof positive that God has a sense of humor.

 

You see this in all areas of relationships and with us, especially house projects!

 

Left solely up to me, projects would take years to begin. Left solely up to my better half, projects would remain ¾ done.  We balance each other out and such was the case at the beginning of January.

 

Winter in MI makes you do weird things. The combo of staring at your walls and watching HGTV should come with a warning label.  For it was said combo that gave Chris the idea to re-arrange our 2 offices.  

Remember my Office? I liked it. It was perfectly imperfect, but I had settled into it.  However, truth be told, I was craving a change too…but don’t tell my hubs I just admitted that 😉

 

One night around 9:30 pm I heard a commotion.  And after bolting upstairs, my eyes were met with…wait for it… every piece of office furniture we owned piled high and chillin’ in our hallway.  

 

Chris: “I pulled the trigger”

 

Me: “I can see that”

 

Chris: “What do you think? I thought we could make a change without spending any money.”

 

Me: (L-O-N-G pause so that my words caught up with my brain and I said words that would speak life instead of ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Which was my first thought )

“I think we have the potential to make it awesome and the chance to get really creative.”

 

L-O-N-G pauses for the #win.

 

We stayed up late that night re-arranging and guess what, we both…hated it! LOL BUT, we slept on it, tweaked some more and I got busy on Pinterest until we worked those rooms into submission.  And now, we’re actually pr-e-tt-y excited about both their outcomes.  I’ll do a full reveal eventually. (There are a couple painting items where I’m still tying the loose ends.)

But TODAY, I’m sharing with you the biggest change that took place and it happens to be with everyone’s favorite word, say it with me...FREE! Yay Free.

 

Blank Walls are my nemesis. But putting the Target shelves back up on the walls that had already lived there for 9 years felt like such a cop-out.

And so after Pinteresting like it was my job, (you can check out my “Office Space” board here) the gallery wall assembly had begun.

 

We really didn’t want to paint, so the Aqua color was my baseline.  I was tired of the “Choc-Aqua” that we had lived within the room previously and decided to go for a much more Glam vibe.

 

And since nothing says glam like gold?  Gold it was! Aqua walls, white furniture, and black and gold accents.  That decision..only took a few weeks 😉 and now I could springboard.

 

I grabbed this mirror ( from my previous office. (HomeGoods),(here’s a similar one)

 

Frames from this gallery wall (also from my previous office) and any accessory that wasn’t hiding and sprayed it gold with this gold spray paint.  OR left it white for a little variance.

 

I also grabbed 2 mirrors that used to live in our Master (very old from Pier One) and started arranging.

I used this technique previously shown on our (*read-ANCIENT*) “Copy Cat Pottery Barn Wall” post. Let me tell you something, it’s a lifesaver.  Never do a gallery wall without it.

 

 

It will save your walls. It will save your marriage.

 

All you need is a roll of brown paper, a pencil and painter’s tape. (I <3 Frog Tape) Full tutorial here.

 

THEN, you just start placing. It took a few tries to get it right, but that’s why you use this method.  You can arrange til your heart’s content with no heavy lifting and no damage to your walls.  

 

The last piece of the puzzle was these adorable little white wall stickers I purchased from Mallory over at Classy Clutter Designs.  Here’s a link to her Etsy shop.  Remember our Breeze Way “Hello” sticker? Yep, same people.

 

 

And do you like our new “artwork?” Guess what, Free Printables, and Scrapbook Paper used as matting.  I have a Pinterest Board Oozing with Free Printables for you to check out here.  

AND, guess what, I love you so that I made you a Free Printable!  If you’re digging the Aqua, Black and White thing, here you go: (Just Click the image below to download)

One of my favorite symbols is the Ampersand AKA the ‘and’ symbol if you’re feeling less fancy. I love the curvy lines, how it can be written with a long stroke of the pen, AND (no pun intended) that it speaks to the fact that our story, your story, is far from done. There is always an “AND…THEN” to come.

My hope today is that your awesome No Small Life will download this printable and get inspired in your space.  Your story, and your walls story for that matter, is far from complete. Let a little printable jump start your creativity and your confidence today.

 

Until next time,

Meg

UPDATE: To see our full office reveal CLICK HERE

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