Gallery Wall

1. It's not easy being 39 weeks, 3 days pregnant - each day I wake up and think - "This could be the day!" But, so far, not yet. "Waiting, sweetheart. Just waiting."

2. Some of the best advice given to me was "Do not sit around and just wait". Ha! So I try to stay busy with whatever I can.

3. I like being productive, or knowing that I've done at least one productive thing all day - from laundry, to cleaning, to nursery decorating, to whatever! Not working this summer has been great, but I do miss the productivity of a school day.

4. A project that I have been putting off since we bought the house has been creating a gallery wall. I was too scared intimidated to do it.

5. I decided to tackle to the gallery wall this wall.

I had the wall picked when we were looking at the house. It's in the living room, across from the fire place, big, open, and we can't put any furniture on it because that would block the path and flow of the room. So I knew I wanted to use it for a gallery wall. But here comes the indecisive part of me -

1. Frames - should they all match, but vary in size to accommodate pictures, or should they all be different and eclectic 
2. Placement - clean lines and all the pictures fit into an invisible box or should they be placed randomly
3. Pictures - all photos or some other artwork mixed in; plus only new photos or some older ones thrown in too
4. Nailing the wall - enough said! I get scared and nervous every time I put a nail in the wall - my record is probably for every correctly placed nail, there's at least 1, sometimes 2, hidden holes that were not correct

However, I finally decided this needed to get this done before the baby came because once he's here, I figured I really wouldn't have the time to do it. After searching the internet and Pinterest for ideas, I finally bought some frames a couple of weeks ago, but each week I continued to put off actually getting them on the wall. Well, the nursery is done, so there goes that excuse; I've read two books and needed a break, so that excuse was gone too. Time to just do it. 

*Disclaimer - I read a few blogs about hanging gallery walls and the methods behind hanging multiple pictures. After considering my options, I decided to go with my own method. Probably not the best idea - but lesson learned. 

On to the wall!! 

Here's the wall - another great blank canvas.

I put the frames on the floor, playing with various arrangements, and finally decided on this one. As you can see, the frames are all different shapes and sizes, mostly black, but two have gold and black. And I used the Bible verse and an R along with the frames.

Next, I sat down, and very meticulously calculated out, based on the wall length and the proper height for hanging pictures, where each picture needed to be hung. I diagramed the wall with the pictures, put the size of the frames in each corresponding box, then above it put the length over (from the edge of the wall), and up (from the floor) that each frame would be hung. Plus, the measurements that would separate the frames. Having taught Pre-K and K for the past 3 years, my math skills were seriously tested - I failed at the decimal to fraction conversions part of it. Thank goodness for calculators.

 My cheat sheet of conversions. Sorry Aunt Amy, I never was good at math. 

However - of course - once I start actually putting the frames up, my calculations are off, and I can't seem to get the pictures to line up how they are supposed to. Imagine that.
Gratefully, Mr. Reid and Paul offered to help. Calculations thrown aside and experience stepping in, they were able to hang all of the frames working off of the previous one just hung. No calculators. No writing equations. Just using their noggins, rulers, and a pencil. My mind just does not work that way. But now that I've seen it done, and helped them work through some of it, I think I could do a better job of it next time - if/when there is a next time.

The finished result. 

 I am really pleased with how it turned out. I think it adds a lot of character to the wall and the room.

The only thing missing are the actual pictures for the frames. I'm thinking I'll find one of the Reid family, one of the Manning family, a couple of just me and Paul, and then rest can be saved for Baby Boy photos. 

All in all - it was an interesting experience. I learned a lot about my self, hanging pictures, and how to over come when the perfect plan just falls through. 

God Bless