Family Gallery Wall

I have put together a few gallery walls throughout our home but my latest is by far my favorite because it is my Family Gallery Wall.  We have a gallery wall of photos my husband and I have taken in our entryway.  We have a gallery of small pieces of art we have collected while traveling in our first floor bathroom.  But this wall is tucked away upstairs in the hallway between the bedrooms and is full of fun family photos and memories.  This gallery wall is just for us.

In addition to showing off my new favorite spot in our home I also wanted to use this post to show you a great secret I picked up for creating and hanging art for your very own gallery wall.  The first step is to collect your items, duh!  I have been gathering everything together for about a month.  As I found something I would just add it to the layout on the floor of my craft room.  I scavenged for unused black frames from what I already owned and framed things as I went.

In addition to the black frames I wanted to create some type of color theme so I added blue and red to the black theme.

Once I was happy with the collection (and had bought a few more frames at Michael's) I finalized the layout.  All I had to do was move things around on the floor until I was happy.

The next step and the true secret to gallery wall success I stole from John at Young House Love.  He is brilliantly detailed and although sometimes crazy he always comes up with schemes to get stuff done.  So collect some newspaper or used paper and make a paper cut-out the size of each frame.  Then you mark with an X the spot where the frame is hung.  Tape all the cut-outs onto the wall and move them around until they are just right.

  

Once everything is in place you put a nail through the X on the paper, tare off the paper and hang the pic in that spot.  No measuring, just go for it.  Seriously, it is that easy!  And as always, 15 minutes of extra prep saved me an hour of frustration later.  My old boss used to always say "pay now or pay later".  I hate it when other people are right!

So in the end I created this beautiful gallery wall for $32.  (I needed 9 more frames.  I found a 25% off coupon at http://www.michaels.com/ and all frames were on sale for 40% off so I got all my frames for 65% off!)  I love how I was able to use a usually forgotten wall and now it is in an intimate space for my personal favorite memories.

Room Layout

The first step to tackling our family room is coming up with a plan.  And my plan begins with the room layout.  There are many ways to attack room layout.  You can go the old school route with a pencil, a good eraser and graph paper.  You can up the sophistication slightly by making paper cutouts of your furniture and moving them around on the graph paper (no eraser needed).  You can recruit your studly husband and all his glorious muscles to move things around while you point and say "No, not there.  How about over there." Or you can jump into the Internet era and use my favorite tool http://www.floorplanner.com/.  And that is what I did.  

This is what our room looks like right now...

Simple, organized, BORING AND SAD!  To orient you a little bit, the kitchen is right here.  Yes, right where this text is.  The Grand Piano Room is off to the right and the left is the back of the house.  Not sure where the fireplace went, but it is between the two windows on the left.  In all it lacks in creativity and style, I will say that this setup is functional.  But I know we can do better! 

One thing I would like to do in designing the new layout is draw more attention to the fireplace.  We all know fireplaces should be the focal point of the room so that is what I need to do.  I also want to open up the flow from the kitchen.  The current placement of the couch cuts off any flow and is unwelcoming.  I also want to add more seating.  Although our couch is perfect for our family of 5 (2 adults, 1 baby & 2 dogs), it is not great for guests to all have to sit side-by-side on one couch.  It cuts off any chance of adult conversation, not that much of that really goes on here.  So...keeping all this in mind I put together this layout...

In this layout the fireplace is definitely the focal point and the flow is very open, making it possible to carry on a conversation from the kitchen to the family room.  But there is one major problem...on a daily basis this is our TV watching space.  And although any designer would cringe at the thought of the TV determining the layout of a room, lets get real, this does matter.  We will not be comfortable sitting on the couch looking over our shoulder at the TV.  It just doesn't work.  So what instead?  Well, how about this...

Pretty good, right?  I think a larger L-shaped couch will provide the seating, comfort and TV watching space we need.  It also allows people to face each other for better conversation and it still highlights the fireplace.  The chair in the corner would be a great reading spot as well as additional guest seating.

Also, notice the addition of book shelves in the right hand corner.  What I envision is beautiful custom built-in bookcases.  But in reality I am thinking of finding two stand alone bookcases and making them look built-in and custom.  (This is when I really wish I was better with power tools.)  I am also considering painting the TV wall the same grey we select for the dining room, if that ever happens.  And then integrating some type of architectural element to the remaining space on the wall.  Perhaps old window pains or empty frames or even a reclaimed support beam.  Something to bring more character and interest.

This is not a room that will be completed quickly, but thanks to FloorPlanner I feel like I have finally dug my heels in.  And just in case you are wondering FloorPlanner did not compensate me in any way for this post...but shoot they should.  I am giving them a glorious recommendation!