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