AF Designs: July 2014

Monday, July 21, 2014

How To: Gallery Wall

Since moving into our house less than a year and a half ago there have been many projects on my to do list that have yet to get done. One of those items was to hang a gallery wall of photographs in our master bedroom, and this past weekend I finally spent the time doing so. I didn't want this to be an expensive project, so I headed to Marshall's HomeGoods, and was able to find a lot of really great frames on the cheap.

STEP 1: Buy frames in a variety of sizes, materials, and colors but make sure that they all blend together well. It's good to have two or three big frames to be able to build around. Also, don't buy too many small frames. As a point of reference, my smallest frame below (bottom left) fits a 5x7 photo, and I only used one of those. Buy more than you think you will need and take back what you don't end up using. I ended up taking back five frames.

STEP 2: Lay out the frames on the floor exactly how you want them to hang on the wall. Play around with it. I had many trial and errors before finally landing on the one below.

*Disclaimer - please excuse the poor iPhone 4 photo quality. I desperately need a new phone!

STEP 3: Use construction paper, or in my case the paper the frames were wrapped in at the store, and trace the size of each frame on the paper. Be as exact as possible. Then cut. Measure the center of the wall in which you are hanging the gallery wall as a point of reference. Start with your biggest frames first and start taping the paper to the wall.

STEP 4: Once you are satisfied and have measured where the brackets are on the back of each frame, hammer nails directly into the paper. Hang the picture to make sure its covering the paper entirely. Remover paper.

And voila! You have a fabulous photo gallery. I chose to use mainly artistic photos that were taken either on our wedding day or at our engagement session to make it more visually appealing. I also chose to print them all in black and white (with an exception of my bridal portrait) to make it more uniform. Project total cost? Less than $200. Not bad if you compare it to a 3x7 piece of art!

A note about HomeGoods: I seriously love that place! There are some awesome finds in there. A lot of junk, yes, but you can really find some good frames, lamps, decorative accessories, pillows, rugs etc. Below are a couple close up shots of some of the frames.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Give Your Bookshelves a Facelift

I recently took a designer bookshelf styling class and learned so much. I have always wanted to have beautiful bookshelves, but for some reason always felt really blah about my shelves. We have built in bookshelves in our living room, so after taking this class I was inspired to give my shelves a little facelift if you will.

I often times ooh and ahh over bookshelves like below on pinterest.

And this. It seems so simple, but it way harder than it looks.

Let me share a few key tips I learned from taking the styling class.

Use small prints and art pieces on your shelves. It helps in achieving the layered look that make shelves look so "designed". Use an easel to display them.
Look for a variety of different objects to purchase.
Double the quantity of items you think you need because bookshelves take way more items than previously thought.
Use books!! Add a variety of book heights and sizes, but be sure not to use more than three book styles (antique books, coffee table books etc.)
Look for consistency in the color of your objects. It's best to stay in the three to four color range.

Our teacher, Amitha, demonstrating a bookshelf design. So beautiful.

Now, here is my blank slate. Right after we first moved in I painted the back of the shelves in Restoration Hardware's "slate" paint. It's a really beautiful gray.