Two Girls and a Gallery

Brian’s dad recently gave Carolynn a print of two kittens that always hung in his grandmother’s living room. She was over the stinkin’ moon. She hugged it, and exclaimed, “I love it! I’m going to put this in my gallery!”

Where could Carolynn, a 6 year old, have gotten the idea that she wanted a gallery you ask?

Maybe from our stairwell?

Our hallway?

The playroom?

The “office” area?

That’s not even all of them...When I started writing this, I counted SIX different areas in the house where we have hung pictures, signs, quotes, and treasures in the gallery style.

Too much? Meh. Oh well.

Here’s what we were working with in C’s room:

There were a few character building (for both of us) discussions about listening to other’s ideas, and it’s ok to disagree with someone…..and not interrupting even if you think you don’t like the other person’s idea. Two first born children putting up a gallery wall here. The struggle.

She had a few things already hanging, so “we” (read above paragraph) decided to work on that wall to incorporate what was already on display.

There were those conversations, building our characters, but we also had a sweet time together making a plan and getting it all put up.

The way I figure out a gallery, is by first laying everything out on the floor. I move this here, that there until it looks right to me. I try to stick to groupings of odd numbers. I also like to balance out one big picture with two smaller ones under/above/next to. Or an item (a wreath, a sign etc) with something less dimensional, like a photo or sign.

Here's how C's gallery turned out:

There's the kittens! C has done that needlepoint herself. She's almost finished. 

It still needs some work, but as you can see, she’s pretty pleased with it and there's room to add on more treasures.

I better get to my "addicted to gallery wall" group meeting! Thanks for reading!!

XO,

Steph

TIME for a clock update

Get it? TIME? Just checking, it IS Monday. 😉

This was a quick, little project that was also free since I had all the materials handy. Here's the clock I've had since we lived in Houston.....(mental math happening)...6 plus years ago.

After we moved it, to Austin, it's hands were broken, and I took it to a clock repair shop. The owner kindly informed me that the clock was "cheap" and not worth fixing since I could just go buy a new one. I thanked him for his advice, and asked him to please fix it anyway because I didn't want a new one, I liked it.

Well, a couple of moves later, the clock was broken again, and I wasn't loving the look that much anymore. I've been hanging onto it though. And like with so many things, paint can work wonders. (Check out something else I transformed with paint here)


I gave it a thin, dry brushing of Rust-Oleum Chalked Paint *, which I've used for several things and I really like, and recommend.

I hung the clock on the wall above our TV:

This area is still a work in progress. We plan to mount the TV, eventually, so I wanted to leave some space below for that. That board, was a recent project, and has all our shared addresses on it.  The roman numerals are our anniversary date.

As you can see, the clock is decorative only. But I'm happy with it, and as always, energized when I can change things up for little, or no money. Before you get rid of something, see if there's a way you can paint it, or reuse it! Let me know if you do, I'de love to hear about it!

Thanks for reading -Steph

*If you use my link to purchase this paint from Amazon, I will get a small percentage of your sale. This is at no extra cost to you.