Gallery Wall Update & Pinterest Challenge

So… have you guys all heard about the Pinterest Challenge? Since I love Pinterest and I love projects, it had me at hello. Basically, you choose a project from Pinterest that you have been wanting to make and you actually make it. Instead of just collecting a bunch of inspiration, you actually put that collection to work! Tomorrow is the big reveal for the challenge but I decided to reveal mine a bit early.

I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do and then I noticed that my neglected gallery wall was staring blankly at me. I really needed to fill those frames up with something! My goal here is to have a mix of pictures and artwork but I decided just to fill it up with something… anything for now. That’s why the Pinterest Challenge was helpful. I have lots of DIY artwork pinned and I finally took a second look at some of them. As a reminder, here is what my gallery wall looked like before:

I had a couple of things in there, a photo and 3 pieces of artwork and the rest was just what happened to be in the frames. There was even some stuff from a past life (the top two frames). Something seriously needed to be done here :)

The first inspiration I chose was this artwork from BHG (pin here):

All you have to do is choose an object, place it on paper, and spraint over it. When you lift your object the white will show. Cool, huh? Rather than choosing an object, I chose sticker letters. I stuck them down on my paper and armed with the left over spraint from my neon lamp, I sprainted the tar out of that paper. Once I took the sticker letters off my paper, I ended up with this:

It’s perfect for the wall because it adds another neon element to the living room. Since the living room and dining room are connected, I like to have the decor work together. Super simple project. One down… a million to go :)

Next, I chose this pin (from How About Orange):

Using paint chips, you cut them into the shape you want and then frame them. Sounds like a project I can handle :) First I went to Sherwin Williams and picked my paint chips:

I didn’t want everything on the gallery wall to be too matchy matchy so I chose a variety of blues, greens, and neutrals. I really liked how these paint chips already had the shaped top so I cut off the bottom and used them as they were. Here is the finished piece of artwork:

Another super easy project. And it’s kind of fun :)

I also have a million abstract artwork pins saved to my boards so I figured it would be good to have one of those too, right? The only problem? I don’t paint. At least I never have before. But I thought I would give it a try and if it turned out horribly, I wouldn’t use it. I just used regular craft paint and then once it was dry I added the drawing on top. I used a photo of my mom and I from when I was young and traced it onto the painting. I think it turned out pretty good for an amateur.

Ahhh… Pinterest has been good to me :) Here is the gallery wall now:

I forgot to mention that I added some more frames to the wall as well. I’m about half way to my goal of filling up the whole wall with frames. I added a few photos to a couple frames as well.

I can’t believe I am actually making progress after having them be empty for so long! Here are some close-ups because it’s super hard to get a decent picture without glare on the glass of the frames!

This is my favorite section. I just love that pop of yellow!

So there you have it folks. Still a few empty frames but it is definitely coming along. And just when I get something in these frames I will add new ones and have to start all over again. Silly me :) But I do have a few ideas for some more, I just might have to get busy!

If anyone wants to join in on the PInterest Challenge, you still have today to complete your project. Each of my projects took less than an hour so there is definitely still time!