Over the last few months I got that all too familiar itch that really, seriously needed to be scratched. You know how things have a way of snowballing? How something so simple turns into this HUUUGE to-do? That’s what this gallery wall was to me.

Don’t get me wrong. The gallery wall was easy peasy. It was just that my idea was to do a gallery wall and only that, I SWEAR. It’s just that….why put a brand new gallery wall on old walls that haven’t been painted in 4 years? I mean, I was planning on painting them within the year but I didn’t want to have to put all those holes in the wall and hang everything up only to take everything down in a few months to paint and then rehang everything back up. I don’t have time for that.

So gallery wall = painting entire entry way/living room/dining room/kitchen. Oh the joys of living in an open concept house.

But then, of course, I’m not going to repaint everything and not do that pallet fireplace wall I have been dreaming about for 2 years. Because that is just silly. I’m only going to live in a mess once- so we are doing it all at once. Then, of course, if I’m doing the fireplace, it’s time to finally get those tv cords behind the fireplace wall. Which then, of course, lead to us doing a cutout on the side of the wall for the electronics (Cable box, Apple TV, Blu-ray player) and then I had Pete switch out the TV wall mount for a more low profile one….

See what I mean? SNOWBALL.

So back to this gallery wall. I’m just going to give you a few pointers on how to make this as easy as possible.

1. Make a list. This is probably the most important in my opinion. Depending on what you want your gallery wall to be about, a list helps to keep you on track. Make a list of the things you want on there, make special notes to the things you have already and the things you need to locate and buy. My gallery wall was simply about all of us who live here at 214 (our house)
2. Start gathering your items into one location in your home. I didn’t rush this process, it took me a good two weeks to gather everything on my list. (wait- is that rushing? It certainly felt like ages until I was ready!)
3. Find an open area on your floor and start playing around with the arrangement and see what you like best. I know there is something about making sure it’s “balanced” but I don’t know the exact formula for that- just do what looks best for you. There might be some items where you know exactly where you want it, so just move everything else around and see what you like. I took pictures of this process for this post, but I actually think it’s very helpful to do that anyway. This way you can compare. 
4. This is probably the 2nd most important tip I can give you. Trace every single thing you are putting on your wall on paper and cut it out. Yes, it’s time consuming to do so, but it’s going to save you HOURS in the long run. (I always have a giant roll of contractors brown paper on hand for tons of things- this was one of those times where it came in handy big time because you can line everything up and trace away.) 
5. Once everything is cut, put the paper to the back of your item and press on where the hanger is and then with a sharpie, mark exactly where you will be putting the nail. Like so: 
6. With painters tape, start taping them to your wall and hammering in your nails. (I did this before I convinced Pete it would be a great idea to repaint everything. This is when the snowball began.)

So after this is when I painted the walls…which means I just painted over the nails and it was fine. I would just suggest painting BEFORE this step, it would just save a bit more time…and you would feel a bit less crazy…

Also- in my haste to hurry up and get all of my items on the wall, I broke my PRIZED FIND. I was so upset. I found an awesome moose head at Home Goods for $19. It sat around for 3 days before  it broke. I blame the dog. 

When I priced what a new one would cost in the size I had, it was $70+. Nope. So I glued it back together. I did a fantastic job, too- I was only missing one tiny piece and you can’t even tell. I was thinking of painting it anyways so after that happened it was a sure thing that it needed to be painted. That was the only flub on this project. And again, I blame the dog.

So here is the finished wall! (with the dog.) You might notice there are two new items on the wall. I just felt like the wall was still missing something and luckily Michaels and Hobby Lobby saved the day.

And here is the wall with the project I’ll talk about next time, the pallet wall!