Gallery Wall...Completed!

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I showed you STEP ONE of our Gallery Wall.

Where does the time go?

Having a baby who is learning to move and groove probably didn't help...

Unfortunately, I can't blame her this time.

It was all me and my indecisiveness!

I was so concerned that I wouldn't get the layout right.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Here are a few of the layouts I played around with.

I am only showing you 3 even though there were about 50!

At first I really wanted the "H" to be near the center....

...then I was trying to figure out if I could make a nice rectangular shape...

obviously not.

Finally after tweaking and adjusting I settled on this layout.
I thought this layout did a good job of balancing the sides equally not only with size, but with color vs black and white pictures.

I know, I know, I've heard many tutorials that say you should do all color or all black and white, but I couldn't do that.

I love both styles and I knew there had to be a good way to mix them!

Once I had the lay out it was time for hanging.

Remember we are military and we are renting and we will probably be renting or living in government housing for quite sometime over the next 20 years.

That being said if you paint or put holes in the wall you have to repaint and fill holes when you leave.

The house needs to look like it did when you moved in.

That being said, we decided that it would be wise to use these Command Strips (No I'm not being paid for bragging about them, but if they wanted to send me a check or free products...they can feel free to hit the contact me button *wink*wink*).

The great thing about the strips is that they will stay with our pictures when we move and all we have to replace is the easy release strip that attaches to the wall.

Only one of our pictures (The TX one) was unable to use this type of strip, and that was my fault for choosing that frame...oops...I guess one nail hole will be a lot easier to fill than 18!

If you haven't used these strips yet...you should!  

Are you afraid they won't hold?

Don't be...there is a handy guide that tells you how many to use based on the size of your picture.

Most of our smaller frames were only 1, the middle sized ones 2 and the large ones 3-4.

Once all the strips were attached Bud & I got to work.

Measuring, with very advanced mathmatical equations!

 (i.e. 3 fingers spaces between most picture frames and eye-balling the rest)

We had a few pictures we were waiting for the prints to arrive...but I teased the almost finished product on instragram earlier this week.

Drumroll please

HERE IT IS!

What do you think?

Does it look even enough?

I was going to put 'est 2004' under our family photo with black vinyl, but I learned that the vinyl I have is STRONG and it likes to take the paint off with it...so I nixed that idea.

I think I might get Bud to cut me a piece of wood to fit that spot and then I'll paint it white and add the 'est 2004' and hang it.

Let me just say that when I come out of our bedroom the door to the great room (where these wall is featured) is open and this is the first thing I see each morning.

It makes me smile.

Those bottom 4 shelves...yeah I know they look empty.

I have 2 of these that I'm trying to paint black to blend in better.

Depending on how that goes I may teach you about painting baskets.

If it fails those baskets will get put in a closet to help organize something OR covered in fabric.

I am considering make 4 fabric boxes in varying black and white patterned fabric to go in those spots.

This is after all my crafting area of the house...so it might be a good spot to hide some fabric...

Or just a good spot to hide away Bitsy's toys.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed seeing my completed gallery wall.

I hope you feel inspired to create your own.

They are a great way to showcase a large number of photos and remind you of all the people, places, etc in your life!

(I'm linked up here today!)

I hope you have a Blessed Thursday!