Several weeks ago I hung a gallery wall in our dining room.  I took terrible photos without a tripod (which recently broke) and then upon receiving a new tripod, intended to retake the photos, but never did.   Holidays?  Laziness?  But then I recently looked back at the original photos and thought they weren’t that bad?  So let’s just go with it.

This wall in our dining room sits opposite the heart shaped polaroid collage and contains two doors – one for the closet and one for the entrance into the kitchen.

Rather than trying to find one big piece of art to fill this space, I decided to round up a bunch of art prints, postcards, and photographs.

I think it’s pretty cute and whatever.

All of the frames are Ikea Ribba frames which come with mats, hanging hardware, and are cheap as dirt.

Here is what I put in them.

1. Photograph of my great grandmother (also known as the creepy baby) dressed as Charlie Chaplin on Halloween.
2. Fox print from Kari Herer.
3. Fancy cat drawing purchased from a little shop in the Tuscany region of Italy.
4. Original drawing of the piazza I stayed in while visiting Lucca, Italy.
5. Print from Fifi Duvie, postcard from Rar Rar Press, a self portrait polaroid emulsion lift and photos of Eleanor Rigby & Celia, photographed by me.
6. Signed photograph of Edward Scissorhands.
7. Another fancy cat drawing from Italy.  Because one cannot have too many cat arts.

Here are some of my tips for creating a casual, yet cohesive gallery wall.

Gather the following:

1. Original artwork – drawings, paintings, sketches, photography.  Think local art shows, independent shops, art festivals, Etsy, etc.
2. Sentimental stuff – old black & white photos of your grandparents, post cards, photo booth strips, your kid’s artwork.
3. Inexpensive/fun/silly/trendy stuff that you can periodically switch out when you get bored with it – album covers, band posters, printed photos, art book tear outs, leftover wallpaper, fabric scraps.
4. My photographs.  Zing!

If you plan to use several different colors of frames, you should always use more than one of each color.  For example, hanging five white frames with one gold frame will probably look like a mistake.  But if you hang several of each, the mix of colors will look intentional.  Like these guys.

Via 1, 2, 3, 4

Same goes for artwork style.  Don’t hang several pastel botanical prints with one Tupac album cover.  That would be weird.  But if you have several Tupac album covers and several pastel botanical prints, then it would be fine.  And by fine I mean still terrible.  Don’t do that.

Instead, do this.

Via 1, 2, 3, 4

If you have an eclectic mix of colors, styles, and sizes of artwork, you can easily tie them all together by using frames in a uniform color.  To save money, you can spray paint frames you already own, or hunt down cheap frames from garage sales and thrift stores and paint them all one color.

Via: 1, 2

Once you have all your artwork gathered, compose your gallery on the floor so you can easily move the frames around until you come up with the best arrangement.  Evenly distribute your colors and make sure your sizes are balanced without being too symmetrical.   Be sure to fill the space!  You probably need more pieces than you think.  Once you are happy with the composition, take a digital photo of it, so you can reference the exact composition as you transfer them to the wall.

When it comes to spacing, small pieces should be spaced 1-2 inches apart.  Larger pieces (20 by 24 and up) can afford to be a bit further apart.  Those are good general rules to follow, but as you can see below, sometimes rules are made to be broken.

Via 1, 2

To hang your artwork, your best bet is to use the Paper template method, although sometimes I just go for it and eye-ball everything.  This method makes Mike D experience O.C.D. rage, so I usually send him out of the room.

Once you have mastered those rules, feel to break them and set your inner artist free.  Because screw you, rulez!  Right?!

But no seriously.  Follow my rules.

I think that’s it for the dining room, outside of refinishing the dining table this spring/summer.  To recap, I painted, refinished an old bench, created a polaroid collage, and made some easy no-sew drapes.

Speaking of those drapes…

Not sure if you keep up with celebrity news,  but I’m famous on the twitter now.

Word has spread, and now the Kardashians keep calling me to hang, which is so sweet of them, but I’ve been so busy smoking blunts with Justin Bieber all the time.  On my way into Starbucks this morning, the paparazzi swarmed yelling “Tracey, who are you wearing?!” and “Is it true you convinced Rihanna to leave Chris Brown for good?” to which I kindly yelled back “Vintage Old Navy circa 2006! Duhzville! No photos please!”

So in light of my recent fame, I decided it was high time to actually join twitter and now I’m tweeting and all that junk.  Follow me!

xoxo

This is a bit of recycled content from my old blog, but I made some no-sew curtains for the dining room recently and just HAD to share the DIY again!  Because they’re so easy!

I’ve been on the hunt for new curtains since repainting the dining room.  I didn’t have a specific color or pattern in mind, but Mike D politely suggested that I look for something not girly, and when Mike D speaks, I sometimes try to listen.

I couldn’t find any curtains I loved at my usual favorites (West Elm, Ikea, Anthro) except for a few that were well over $100/panel.  Yikes!  I change curtains like I change my underwear so I can’t justify spending a couple hundy when I’ll probably want to replace them in 5 minutes.

And then this happened.   Charcoal & white ikat fabric, affordable, long enough, wide enough, approved by Emily Henderson herself.  Well, shoot.

Sold!

Now here’s a little known fact about me.  I do not sew.  Not one little tiny bit. I dabbled in sewing as a kid, but I don’t remember any of it because I have blocked out my childhood.  Just kidding, mom.

Re-learning to sew is on my bucket list, I just haven’t found the time to dedicate to it yet.  Maybe when Mike D makes enough money to allow me to be a stay-at-home fur baby mom, I can finally teach myself.  I’ve got goals, my friends.

In the meantime, don’t fret because I have… *cue the sound of angels singing*… HEM TAPE!  

I love it more than baby kittens and reeses peanut butter cups.

[No I don’t]

Now buckle up for the easiest curtain DIY ever!

Once my fabric arrived in the mail,  I gave it a good ironing and then cut two evenly sized panels (approximately 86″ long by 36″ wide) leaving an extra inch at the top and the bottom for my “hem”.

I didn’t take a picture of that part (farts!)  but instead please enjoy this ridiculous picture of my cat.

On the cut edges of each panel I created a small fold, placed my handy-dandy hem tape inside the fold, and pressed with an iron until it bonded.  Supes easy.

Once all the “hemming” was completed, I clipped on some curtain rings that I purchased from target, and I was done-zo.

I don’t remember exactly how long this took, but it was about the length of one Real Housewives of Atlanta, minus commercials, plus several pauses to run after Eleanor and collect Christmas tree ornaments from her mouth.

Is that helpful?

Speaking of RHOATL,  what is up with that new Miss USA chick (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH MISS AMERICA)?  And really, WHAT IS UP WITH HER?

But I digress.  Here are Le Fancy Drapes all hung up and dazzling.

Cost Breakdown:

• Fabric:  $49.00
• Hem Tape:  $0 (I already had some in the house, but it’s about $2 per roll and lasts forever)
• Curtain hooks:  $9.58 (Two packs of 7 clips at $4.79 each)

Total Cost:  $58.58 ($29.29per panel)!  Woot!

The dining room is coming along swimmingly.  Since painting, I have hung the heart shaped polaroid collage, painted that ugly old bench, and created some vinyl record storage.  I have a future post planned for the frame gallery that you can see in some of the pictures above, and after that I just have to refinish my grandmother’s old dining room table.  And maybe switch out the light fixture.

Maybe.

And now I shall leave you with some recent instagrams.  Cuz they purty.

1.  My signed No Doubt poster, reframed and moved to a new spot in my office/studio.
2. New throw pillow from Ikea.  $10!
3. I broke my tripod (sad face).  A stack of books & boxes works surprisingly well in a pinch.
4. I received my drawing of Eleanor Rigby from Hannah Evelyn Rowlands in the mail!
5. Christmas (Troll) Tree.
6. When I push the pouf over to the glass door, it’s Eleanor’s favorite thing ever.  FULL VIEW SQUIRREL ACTION.
7. Another gold sofa!  What! What? Whaaaaaat.
8. My first geocache thanks to my friend Jillian for letting me tag along (she’s a pro).  I must admit, it was quite fun to wander around the woods looking for something hidden, crossing my fingers that it wasn’t a serial killer waiting in the bushes.  Hooray for not getting murdered!

xoxo

Ello there.  Remember me?

I’m back!  With a new blog!  And you can leave comments again!  Yay!  So please, leave as many comments as you would like.  Really knock yourself out.  Tell me about your day if you like.

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I have SO MUCH to blog about you guys.  In the past month or two, I have decorated, DIY’d, shot Polaroids, thrown a party, gone on a couple roads trips, and attended the Renegade Indie Craft Fair.  It’s been a time.  I can’t wait to share it all.

So put on your party hats and let’s kick things off with a Polaroid Heart Collage How-To.

Inspired by this photo I found on Pinterest (and this one and this one) I decided to grab a stack of Polaroids and turn them into a heart shaped collage for our dining room.

via

It’s the cutest.

By the way, I realize you may look at this collage and think that a tutorial is not necessary and that sticking a bunch of Polaroids to the wall in the shape of a heart doesn’t exactly seem like rocket science.  You would be wrong in thinking that.   Ok, so maybe it’s not as difficult as ROCKET SCIENCE, however this project took a lot of tweaking, and a fair amount of trial and error to get it to look like a symmetrical heart and not a giant blob, so trust me on this.   Lucky for you, I’ve written a handy tutorial so you can bang this project out in no time.  It’ll be a breeze.

Supplies Needed:

• 53 Polaroids or printed photos approximately 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches.  Because I use a variety of instant film, my Polaroids were not all the exact same size but it still worked out fine.  I also used two instax minis in place of one regular sized Polaroid for an entire row.
• A roll of painters/masking tape or command poster strips
• Measuring tape
• A long ruler (optional)

Keep in mind,  you don’t have to use actual Polaroids for this.  You can print out your own digital photos at home, or use a service like Printstagram to print out  instragram photos from your phone.  Be creative with it.  Maybe pick a theme.  You could do an entire collage of just your pets.  Or kids.  They could be all travel or wedding photos.  You could use all black and white photos, or if you want one big pop of color,  run all your photos through a colored filter before printing them.  Maybe you’re a weirdo and you want to use all naked photos of yourself because you’re very happy with how you look naked.  In which case, congratulations to you.  But I’m not here to judge.

I first constructed my collage on the floor so I could easily make tweaks and perfect it before sticking everything to the wall.  You should do this too.

Start from the bottom, laying your Polaroids out on the floor, and build your rows up.

Because I love you, I created this handy little diagram to help you lay out all 53 photos.

Once you have the collage constructed on the floor, feel free to swap the Polaroids around as you see fit.  You can group colors together, or just randomly mix them up until they look good.  That’s what I did.

After you have everything set up exactly the way you want it on the floor, snap a photo of the collage with your phone or a digital camera so you can reference the pattern and exact placement as you transfer each Polaroid to the wall.  This is very important!  I probably referenced my photo 532 times.

Next, mark onto your wall where you want the bottom Polaroid of the heart to sit.  I recommend measuring the entire collage first, so you can decide exactly where to place it.  My collage turned out to be 36 inches tall by 32 inches wide.

Then, simply take the very bottom Polaroid, add tape or a command strip to the back, and stick it to the spot you just marked on your wall.  Work your way up, one by one, row by row, from the bottom.  Use a ruler (if necessary) to keep a straight line.

Now go forth, people of my blog, and create Polaroid collages on every wall of every home.

Seriously, wouldn’t this be adorable in a little girl’s room?  Or a nursery?  Or your kitchen?  Every time I walk into our dining room it makes me smile.

I heart it.

ba-dum-dum-CHING!

Remember how I recently inherited an abundance of beautiful vintage treasures from my late great uncle’s estate? That post does not contain even half of what I brought home.  I plan to write another post about the rest of the stuff because it is JUST.SO.GOOD.  I mean, I can’t even talk about it.   It’s a vintage goldmine in that house, I tell ya.

One of the items I discovered, which I briefly mentioned in my last post, was an old vinyl & wood midcentury bench, considered to be one of the best according to James from bestroutertablepicks.com.  It must have been stored in the basement of that house for at least 30 or 40 years.  The vinyl was VERY dirty, but I crossed my fingers and hoped that giving it a good scrub would do the trick.

It didn’t.

I wish I had taken a “before” photo of it’s super dirty state.   Sometimes I get so excited about starting a project, that I just cannot be bothered with taking “before” photos.  Of course, once I’m done I always wish I had.  I’m trying to be better about it.

Anyways, just picture it totally dirty and awful.

And here is what it looked like after a TON of scrubbing and the use of every cleaning product in my house.

Still pretty awful.  I mean, sure, I would sit on it now, but I don’t really want to look at it.

I did some research on how to remedy such a tragedy on a small budget, and found that many other people have used vinyl & fabric paint.

Hold Up!

Paint on VINYL?!  I know, it sounds cucko for crazyballz but there were some good results on the googler.  I swear.  Case in point.

I found three potential paint options online.  This guy and this guy both looked pretty professional and of high quality, but they were only available online, and I was chomping at the bit to get started on this project, so I went with option number three – Rustoleum Vinyl & Fabric Paint, available at AutoZone.  Made for fabric & vinyl surfaces and won’t rub off, crack or peel.  Only $7.  Sold!  I picked up a can on my way home from work last Friday and immediately got started.

Here is the fascinating story of how it all went down.

First – I taped up the legs to protect them from over-spray.  If you are trying a similar project yourself,  make sure to give the vinyl a thorough cleaning for good paint adhesion as well.

Next – I started spraying.  When spray painting, always keep the can moving, about 8-10 inches from the surface, and make sure to shake the can frequently.  Several light and thin coats are always better than just a couple of thick coats.  After this lesson, you will have absolutely no excuse for improperly spray painting because I also covered it here and here.

Ok?  Ok.

Here’s what ye ol’ bench looked like after the first coat.

Not bad, not bad.

Two more thin coats later, BOOM.  Game Changer.

I mean, whoa, right?

Let’s look at the before again.

Now let me just disclose, in all honesty here, I’m not thrilled with the texture.  It looks good, but it feels kinda rough (like sandpaper) and… well… painted.  I was hoping the texture of the paint would mimic the smooth texture of vinyl.  It doesn’t.  But I will say this.  After sitting on it, and applying a fair amount of pressure to the seat, it does not appear that this paint is going to crack or peel.  It has quite a bit of flex in it, which is good.  Plus it looks pretty dang awesome, even up close.  I plan to use this bench for purely decorative purposes and maybe, once in a while, to plop down on to tie my shoes.  This bench won’t be getting much use, so I’m fine with it’s less than desirable texture.

So, my advice is this.  If you get your hands on a free or inexpensive piece of vinyl furniture, and it’s not exceptionally precious, unique or sentimental (therefore not worthy of spending the money to reupholster),  and you don’t plan to spend a lot of time lounging on it, then try painting it.  This particular bench fit that bill.  Plus, the beauty of paint is that you can always redo it.  Maybe down the line I’ll decide to order one of the more expensive vinyl paint options and put a coat or two on top of the existing paint.  We shall see.  For now, I’m content.

Except for one more tweak.  A baby tweak.

I’ve been romancing the idea of dip dye-ing some furniture after seeing these chairs.

                                                                     via

                                                                      via

Also, I want everything that girl is wearing.

I already had a test pot of a light robin’s egg blue sitting around, which I used on this little bird thingamajig, and thought it would be the perfect color for some dip-dye action.

I applied painter’s tape just above where I wanted the paint to begin and then used a little sponge applicator to apply the paint.  Here’s how it looked after the first coat.

Those bastards took 4 (thin) coats.

And… tada!

Cute as a button.  A benchamin button.

Hey, sometimes I make terrible puns, ok?

Anywho, here is Mr. Benchamin Franklin in my dining room, after I plopped an old suitcase, some books, a big frame, and an ampersand on top.

See this fancypants photograph – it’s of me & Mr. Mike D shortly after we were engaged.   We used that photo as the cover for our wedding invitations.  True story.

I plan to paint that ampersand as I am strongly opposed to it’s faux gold finish.  I may use the same robin’s egg blue as the bench legs, or maybe a coral, dark bronze, or hot pink.  Help me decide!

And now for a strange fact about me.  When I am in the comfort of my own home, I am constantly, uncontrollably, singing awful made up songs to everyone and everything.  ALL THE TIME.  Mainly the dog and the cat, but also to inanimate objects like spatulas and coffee cups.  It drives everyone crazy, including me.  I can’t help it.  For example, I tried very hard just the other day to silently fill Eleanor’s kong (you know that little red rubbery thing you stuff with treats).  I pursed my lips and bit my tongue, yet somehow I became distracted and before I could stop myself I began belting out “Let… me …see… that… kong.  That kong kong kong kong kong” to the tune of this.

It’s terrible!  This particular outburst immediately led to a full on google self diagnosis and it has been found, by power of the googler, that I have tourettes.

Why do I tell you this?  Well first, I want your pity.  Second, I find it necessary for you to know, that while performing this bench makeover, I sang this song THE.ENTIRE.TIME. (replace the word “Ben” with “Bench” for the full effect). But it’s not my fault.  Because I have an incurable disease.

And, OMG! Do you guys remember that horrible movie Ben? With the rats? Creepsville.

Oh, and chairs!

I got some.  Just like the ones I wanted. Aren’t they fetching?  Excuse me while I go make out with them.

This room is coming along, eh?

More to come!

xoxo

Friends! A miracle has occurred.

The dining room has been painted! Due to some time off work, and a little thing called Doggy Day Care, I got ‘er done.

Don’t look at that floor. It’s dirty. But oh man, I’m so glad that turquoise is gone. Remember?

The new color is Distant Gray by Benjamin Moore, color matched to Valspar’s zero VOC paint. I love it. So here’s the thing. I don’t really like bold color on walls. It took me a while to figure this out, but it’s true. Light neutral walls are my jam. I prefer to bring in pops of color with pillows, rugs, curtains, and accessories. Those things are so much easier to change up when you’re in the mood for a new look too.

Now this is where I break your heart.

I don’t really have anything else to show you regarding the dining room makeover. My grandma’s table still needs to be sanded & re-stained, I need to make a trip to Ikea to buy frames for art, I need to hang the art, I need to figure out a mirror situation, blah blah blah.  I have been playing around with curtain options and furniture placement though, so here’s a sneak peak.

I can’t guarantee any of it is staying, but it’s fun to play around.  That mid century bench looks decent in this picture, but it is gross in person. It was covered in a layer of dirt when I unearthed it from my uncle’s basement, only about half of which I was able to scrub out. I’m investigating professional vinyl/leather paint. Have any of you used it? I’ve seen some pretty good results through the googler but I’ve also seen some instances of the paint cracking. Dilemmas!

So there you go, the very anticlimactic update on my dining room. Wah wah wah…

But wait!

Here’s something you should know about me and the Mike D. Sometimes, instead of eating in the dining room like civilized folks, we like to eat pizza while sitting on the sofa, in our pajamas, watching Dexter. Sometimes it’s burritos. Sometimes it’s tacos. But mainly it’s pizza.

Exposed!

But come on man, who doesn’t? I mean, we can’t always be expected to like sit on CHAIRS and eat off of PLATES at actual TABLES and shit.  I mean, what are we? ROYALS?

But as you may know, a puppy lives here now and she is balls out crazy. We tried to make sofa dining work with her, we wanted it so, but it was a disaster. There was jumping, and licking, and messes. I strongly disliked the messes. So what is one to do?

Enter… The dining nook! Located in the south wing of our home. Or as Mike D likes to call it “the other side of the living room”.

Oh pizza in front of the TV!  How I’ve missed you!

Do you know how hard it is to find an indoor bistro table that is not ugly, nor a million dollars? NO YOU DO NOT.

It is hard. #Whitepeopleproblems.

Thank god for West Elm. I mean, THANK GOD.

Check out my new hanging globe fixture. Also from West Elm. It’s perfect for a tiny little nook.

That old timey incandescent light bulb is from Anthropologie. We have it on a dimmer. Romance!

I took this as an opportunity to change up the art on the wall, and decided this was the perfect spot for my great great grandparents’ wedding photo and the creepy baby photo of my nana.

Oh, and speaking of that creepy baby photo, see how the gold frame is missing the ornate thingumbobs at the top and side?

Bummer, right? Well guess what, yo? My mom found the missing pieces in the old cedar chest where this photo was kept!

A few dabs of crazy glue later …

BOOM. Fancypants.

I decided to put the bar cart in the new nook, as opposed to the dining room (which was where I originally intended to put it), because I needed a tiny piece of furniture for this space and the bar cart totally fit the bill. I have other furniture planned for the dining room anyway, so this actually worked out swimmingly.

I found these adorable 60’s tumblers & shot glasses at the antique mall recently.

These particular views are pleasing.

There you have it. A casual dining nook made for slovenly pleasures.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated on my progress with the real dining room. You know, the one where we eat the fancy shit, like chinese takeout.

And Ikea! This weekend! But then again Ikea on weekends is nutzo. So no. Yes. No.

I’m undecided.

Otherwise, I’m very pleased with Eleanor Rigby and her badass mohawk.
Xoxo.