My New Dining Room Wall!

This is the before picture of our dining rom wall.  New paint job, but I couldn't figure out what to do with the wall.  

I wanted these... imagine how elegant they would've looked.  The off-white to match the bottom of the walls.  The brown metal to match the wall color.   Decorative, but not overdone.  {{sigh}}

However, at $458 plus exhorbitant shipping costs, I wasn't about to do this.  It killed me.  

I was so set on these, that I just waited... waited for the perfect sale.  But even on sale, after shipping, the price was just too much to justify... especially when you consider that this wall faces another wall with a big mirror, too.

Then, I started seeing gallery walls, empty-frame walls, walls of plates, collage walls, etc.  

So, after a few weeks of gathering mismatched, yet interesting frames from yard sales, and after spray-painting them all in Heirloom White, here's what we ended up with.

The chalkboard is just a regular frame.  I removed the glass, painted it with chalkboard paint and then put it back in with the cardboard backing after the frame was painted Heirloom white. 

The most expensive item in the grouping was the long mirror... I bought two of those on sale at Joann's for $9.98 for both.  A couple of these frames came from that half-off yard sale where I found a few frames at 13 cents!  Most were around $1 to $3.  The love sign was $1.  The wreaths were 25 cents each.  The door was under $3.  The sconce was about $4.  Oh, I love bargain prices!

The blank cabinet door is not finished.  I'm still working on a good short phrase/quote to put on there (Cricut, of course!)  Thinking of also putting a monogram directly on the wall inside a bigger frame too... we'll see.

The ornate metal 5x7 rectangular frame to the left is the sort with an opening at the top to slide in a photo.  I plan to make some sepia-tone photos of the kids to put in there... birthday child gets theirs for the day.  Otherwise, we'll stick to photos of all four.  Maybe previous Christmas photos at Christmas time?  

The frame in the middle that is showing a slight glare in the photo holds a piece of scrapbook paper that is a map of the Americas.  Cute.  I have this wonderful idea of one day putting the Google satellite map of our house in there one day.  However, it's still outdated and shows an empty lot!  Someday, those images will be updated....

See the ornate sconce on top?  The bottom edge of the sconce has a curled up lip.  PERFECT for holding a tiny piece of chalk!

I took these photos this morning.  Since then, I did a little yard saling and have since replaced the candle and the wreaths.  However, I'll wait to repost updated photos until the quote is in place, too.

OK... can I brag just one second.... look how dead center those middle three frames are on the wall.  The chandelier is centered right on them!  I even did this arrangement at 11pm at night, when I was getting drowsy.  Now my OCD, symmetrical mind is satisfied even with this arrangement.  Oh yeah, uh-huh! {{tee hee... back to the blog}}

Somehow these photos make it look like the gallery is a bit small... IRL, it's a bit bolder.  Funny how photography works....

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