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There’s a killer gallery wall about to happen here.

May 23, 2011

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We have a long-standing relationship with DIY, and love rolling our sleeves up and making it happen. 

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It’s no contest, a paint job did wonders for the staircase.  It was surrounded by white, green AND yellow and that doesn’t even include the carpet color and railing (which are both on the list to change eventually). 

After we painted,  our eyes could finally focus on what we actually wanted to do with the space.  Staircases are prime locations for gallery walls, so it is no surprise that that’s what we decided on. Lots of different frames and art all fitting together.

I started by laying things out on the ground and then I even traced it all on butcher paper (like I did here).  But once Chris got home and Greta went to bed and we started hanging things–the arrangement wasn’t working 100%. So we changed it.

 Our goal was for our art to follow the natural angle of the stairs, turns out my floor mock up–didn’t.  So, we improvised and decided to wing it, or position-art-as-we-go.  We started with the birds I painted a few months back right in the center and hung that and then branched out from there.  For each piece one of us would stand back and put on our bossy hat on and tell the other to, “move left”, “right”, “up”, “down”, “a smidge down” until it looked just right.  As you can see from the picture below, there were a few changes in arrangement and which frames were included once we got things on the wall and that’s what we expected with our fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants approach.  The good news is, we got it to work–and we love it.

Before you get all flustered over how bad that looks, try to over-look a few things like frame color and what’s in the frames and on the canvases.  Let me help you, all the ones with the Xs are changing.:
Yes, the deer are changing.  I painted those for Greta’s first nursery and they were cute and they were great for the time, but we have moved on and I have no problem painting right over them.  In fact, I have already started.  Are you surprised that the dog is staying??  So was Chris.  We are not dog people, or pet people, really–meaning we don’t own one, not that we don’t love a dog.  
The dog is a vintage paint-by-number I found at a thrift store for $1.50.  The frame color was gross and the glass was fil-thy!  But once I cleaned it up and sprayed the frame with a glossy black, the old art can be appreciated a lot more.  And that’s what this wall is about–bringing different kinds of art together in a group.

Speaking of art appreciation, on the other side of the birds is a duo of frames that are both dear to me.  On the left is a caricature that my good friend, Lance Fry painted of me as a gift back in college.  He is an awesome artist and all-around great guy.  I can’t say enough good things about Lance.  On the right is the back of our wedding announcement.  My PapPap is an expert at his art: framing.  He presented this to Chris and I for our wedding.  He matted and framed our announcement so you could see both sides (so cool!).  So, we can always flip over the frame and check out the front of our announcement if we wanted to.

 And sprayed in a glossy black, it fits right in. 

As for all of the other changes, they are already in full force.  The next time you see this gallery wall, it will be killer!  Stay tuned, friends. 

See how it all turned out here

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What do you think?

  1. DoublClik says:

    Ahahha ditto Patty! I cringed! I should have trusted you better Jules, shame on me

  2. Emily says:

    I love it! Way too awesome.
    x

  3. Lauren says:

    I think it looks lovely!

    I wish I got to paint the walls at my apartment.

    love it.

  4. vicks27 says:

    I love this. Jenn and I did a gallery wall in January, and we’re completely obsessed with it. It’s the perfect culmination of both of our personalities and tastes and histories. We add to it every few weeks. The most recent addition is a small painting that we bought while on vacation in Asheville.

  5. DoublClik says:

    Ahahha ditto Patty! I cringed! I should have trusted you better Jules, shame on me

  6. I was a little concerned when I saw the Adversity Mormonad. I thought “What? Is she going for more focused bird theme? Starting with the birth? Weird?”
    Loving it.

  7. Julia says:

    Meagan,

    Perhaps it is Chris’s wolf shirt that drew me to the dog painting to begin with. Haha. All joking aside, art is definitely subjective. I loved it from the second I landed my eyes one it. Paint by numbers is something you don’t see very often, so in our gallery of art displayed–it’s definitely a piece that I want to keep around–lots of people won’t like it, and that’s okay. I am 100% sure we can still be friends.

    -Jules

  8. I like what you have!! Its fun to place pictures together and make really eye pleasing displays

  9. Meagan says:

    I must say, before I got to the part with the picture and X’s….I was a BIT stressed. I knew you weren’t keeping the deer and some of the other ones, but for some reason I was like, Do I know Julia as well as I think I DO??? lol

    ummm you need to work on winning me over with the dog painting….it reminds me of Chris’ wolf shirt….

    I can’t wait to see the final product!!! :-)

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