Ah, a clean slate was the motto for 2021. And with a cross-country move, a clean slate was exactly what we got, which included a quick sale of our house, a major liquidation to be able to fit our brood into a downsized 2-bedroom apartment for the year and thus and now the re-design of our new short-term digs has begun. Whew! And with a clean slate, we needed everything for our living room from seating, tables and media/TV stand. So without adding permanent fixtures like sconces or painting the walls, I knew that utilizing all of the frames and trinkets boxed up would be the perfect addition to the wall behind the new sectional. Regardless, we had the matching brass and marble table lamps from my staging inventory which were simple enough to add some warmth and height so we used what we had, no need to go buy more. Less is sometimes really nice to work with and make work for where you are. The staging barstools were the stand-in side tables for this, too. I hadn't found anything affordable that was small enough to fit but would soon find brass round hammered tables at Target. Ah, yes, Target!
Sidenote: How amazing is this vintage Turkish rug that fits perfectly in our new living room?!
So after a month, the sectional and brass side tables that I ordered finally arrived and we got to move our TV watching off of the floor and onto the soft, velvety gray sectional! Do you like how the pillows were the placeholder for the sectional? Ha! This wall is the main wall that you see when you walk down the hallway after entering our apartment and I knew that the only thing to do was to create a gallery wall of our 10+ bins of framed pieces, artwork the kids had done and anything else to add some color and interest on the wall. This original oil painting that I absolutely love was the center of the wall and it grew outward from there. The three black rounded mirror were found at a cute flea market here and worked well to bounce some light, add a touch of gold and black and the repeated round shape that I have throughout the entire living room.
Mixing metals with wood, various sizes of frames and the three round mirrors anchor this wall with a nice variety, which is the key to making a gallery wall truly WORK. The thing I love most about a gallery wall is the imperfection of it. I know, the OCD part of the process makes laying items out on the floor beforehand, but the templates aren't cut and hung on the wall, like some people do. I am more of a wing-it kind of a hanger, at least for my own walls. The unique appeal of adding such a space is really for those that don't mind asymmetry and a bit of surprise.
Do you have a wall or two within your home that shows a gallery style wall? If so, did you paint it an accent color? Have you changed it up since you first hung your items? The art of the gallery wall is purely personal and I love seeing them!
Until next time, happy Spring, be safe and stay healthy!