our gallery wall

November 11, 2010

Here is our {petite} gallery wall in our rental home. First I must tell you that I don’t own a whole lot of art, but hope to add more pieces through the years. So this is definitely a beginner’s wall!

The pieces I do own are near and dear to my heart, such as the watercolor of the chapel where Peter and I were married. And the peaceful blue seascape painted by local artist and friend, Steve Wagner. I would love more of his work!! The framed letter P is by another favorite artist, Jessica Hische, and is the first initial of my husband and youngest son. The keybox holds our spare keys and is from Target. I LOVE it. Butterfly plate by John Derian.

For this whole wall, I had a “work with what you have” attitude. I raided our Georgia home for some art and blended it with existing pieces. Basically I had a few framed pieces, some chairs in kelly green striped fabric and a console. Oh and a tight budget, ha haaa.

How this came together:

The lamps [from Target!] I adore and were my source of inspiration for this whole grouping. The stripe felt very Kate Spade to me and tied in my desire to work with black. I tried and tried to find these lamps for you online, but no luck.
To spare the walls in our rental, I just used the lines on the horizontal boarding as a place to hang small nails. It was like this amazing grid system, so I didn’t have to measure. I’m a slacker when it comes to measuring so this was a perfect fit!
The empty frames you see hanging used to hold small oil paintings with scenes that blended more with the style of our other home, so I removed the paintings and just kept the empty frames. I hung them as an experiment and liked them! This is a great way to utilize your wall space without spending much.
The formerly kelly green striped chairs I covered with these premade Ballard parsons chair slipcovers. They were on clearance at the Ballard outlet for $7.50 each. Yes SEVEN dollars. Crazy!!! Cheapest slipcovers in all the land. They don’t fit perfectly, but I kind of like that.
For some texture and sass, I pulled some old but classic 12″ Caroline Cole pillows out of storage and popped them on the cream chairs. I love leopard.

If you peek into our entry past this gallery wall, you’ll see two other pictures above an antique table. That table belonged to Peter before we married. Is that a pair of fancy new riding boots resting out under our table? Why, yes! I’ve been giving them plenty of use on horseback…more on that later.

Another sentimental piece is the abstract sun painting hanging beneath the empty frame. It’s a small piece of art that my friend Erin brought us from Italy. She’s an Atlanta native but has the joy of living in Italy. She actually gave me a whole series, but I’ve only framed one piece so far. Every time I see this picture I smile.

. . . . .

I have to mention this container holding the hydrangeas. It has been through thick and thin with me in all of our moves and transitions. I love love love it and will never forget the day I bought it: I was nine months pregnant with my first baby and in SERIOUS nesting mode. It was on a special shelf as a “cash only” purchase from a store in the Atlanta Mart. It’s heavy. And kind of awkward to carry when your stomach is bigger than a Thanksgiving turkey. I dragged that sucker what felt like miles down 12 flights of escalators and five more blocks away to a dirty parking garage downtown. Eleven years later I still love it.

The beautiful bird sitting atop the books is right here from Tracery and it makes me happy. Can you believe it’s only $10?

So there’s a partial life story/gallery wall explanation for you. I’m pleased with the way it turned out and look forward to little by little adding to our collection…that’s the fun part of design. Yes, pics of other parts of the family room coming soon!

our gallery wall

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