Updated Hall Gallery Wall

Happy, happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I did a lot of laying around in my painting clothes, a little painting, a little stripping (furniture of course) and a lot of Netflix binge watching (hello, Making a Murderer!)  I am a big fan of Forensic Files, so of course I quickly got hooked on this popular Netflix series.  Anyone else watching?  I highly suggest you start if you're into this sort of thing.

I had plans of sharing my updated hall gallery wall later this month, but I just couldn't hold out any longer.  I'm just too excited and in love with this space to wait another day.

Over the past year or so, I've noticed that my style has changed.  I've slowly started transitioning my decor and home to reflect more of what I love, contrast.   It all started with our entryway and I've been hooked ever since.  Adding the plank wall and painting the interior of our front door Ion Ore started a decorating snowball.  I realized I love the contrast between light and dark paired with wood and gold accents.  Since then, I've painted our dining room, kitchen, mudroom and now our hallway.


A few year's ago our hallway got an update with all new molding (crown, base and trim) along with new paint, a new light fixture and floor to ceiling gallery wall.  The gallery wall alone made such a huge statement to an otherwise dull and boring space.

I've always loved the hallway, but I was itching for a change.  I wasn't ever fully happy with the placement of the frames and was looking for a change.  Ever since I added my daughter's thrifted gallery wall I wanted to incorporate the same octagonal frames in the hallway.  The problem was, they were found at Goodwill and I was having trouble finding more.  I mean really, what are the chances that you find more of a particular item at Goodwill?  I'll tell you, slim to none.

Persistence apparently pays off though, because after months of searching I finally found not one, but TWO more of these oh so lovely swan picture frames.  They must have been pretty popular back in the day.  The original gold frames were painted over in a lovely 1990's hunter green, but I could spot these beauties from a mile away.    I snagged both then drove over to the Dollar Tree to pick up a few gold frames.   The hallway update was officially underway.

I'll be the first to admit that Dollar Store frames are not the best quality on their own.  They need a little help to make them look not so "Dollar Store" quality, but I had a plan and that plan didn't call for expensive frames. 

I took them all apart and gave them a little update with gold leaf Rub 'n Buff.  It wasn't a "wow what a transformation" kind of change, but it was a subtle enough change to take them from looking like cheap plastic to more like dull metal.

The green frames got an update with gold spray paint and a layer of gold leaf Rub 'n Buff.   I knew from the very start that I wanted to fill the octagon frames with silhouette pictures of my kids.  I already had profile pictures from previous silhouettes I made, so I printed out the pictures and traced them onto black card stock.  I backed the pictures with burlap and they were ready to go on the wall. 

I like to lay out my gallery walls on the floor or bed, so I moved everything to my bed and rearranged picture after picture until I was happy with the lay out.  I then transferred one frame at a time to the hallway and my gallery wall was officially done. 

Oh yeah, did I mention I also painted two coats of my favorite Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore on the wall?   It's the perfect backdrop to the white and gold frames and creates the contrast that I was after.

Do you spot what I did with those inexpensive Dollar Store frames?  Instead of going out and buying all new frames I layered them over the existing black frames.  This helped them pop against the dark wall without spending a fortune on all new frames.

My favorite white metal deer head also found a new home.  He's made his way around our house,  first starting in my son's room, then our bathroom and my entryway Christmas gallery wall.  He finally has a permanent home in our hallway and I couldn't be happier.

What do you think?  

I like the before, but the contrast of the dark walls paired with updated Dollar Store and thrifted frames is exactly what I was looking for in this small space. 

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