Small Space? Put up a Gallery Wall!

 Our upstairs bathroom is one of the first places that you see when you walk in our home, and given our open layout, it is pretty much visible throughout our entire top floor.  A few months back, on a whim, I started a little gallery wall on the wall you see first, and have been eagerly awaiting Gray's move to his brother's room to steal all of his artwork to complete my dream of having one room that is essentially one big gallery wall (don't worry, his brother still has enough for the both of them ;)) 

 I wasn't quite sure exactly how to lay it out, but just like last time, I realized that once you jump in and start hanging, you can start to see a clear pattern (or actually the opposite which is what you want) emerge.  Given all the "projects" we've had going on around here, this was not something I wanted to throw money at, so rather than buying new frames, I collected what we already had, hit the clearance basket at target, bought a few mini cans of spray paint, and got to work. 

 I'm not sure how the experts tackle a gallery wall, but I've found that the easiest way is to hang the frames first, sans artwork, just eyeballing, and try not to have too similar of a color or shape near a similar color or shape.  90 percent of these frames started out white, which made things a little easier, and as I hung, I would swipe a little q-tip of spray paint on the frame, so I knew what the end color would be.  Using, gold, navy, and bright blue, I painted all the frames at once, and when dry put them back on the wall.  I then collected all the random artwork and pictures that we had around (mostly in Gray's room) and filled in what fit by size, again trying not to put too many of the same medium side by side.  Finally, I saw where there were holes, and ordered a few of my favorite prints in the sizes needed from shutterfly, and grabbed an inexpensive print from etsy to fill in the one remaining frame.  In the end, this little project probably took about 4 hours, and $40 bucks, and for the visual impact it provides, I'd say that is quite a bargain!

I'd like to say that this room is "done" having painted it white a few months back to try to get the art to "pop" but no sooner was the last nail hung, when I declared that I think another color underneath would actually make everything stand out more (insert my husband's eye roll here.)  Initially I thought it should be navy (no surprise there) but the other day it hit me that this would be a perfect room to try out one of my favorite colors; mint.  I am a firm believer that mint is the perfect shade to paint any room, because basically everything looks better when paired with it.  Given all the random colors in the gallery wall, I think this would really make what once was a boring 'ol bathroom, look really special.  Now of course, finding the right shade of mint is my new mission, and luckily the internet is not short on inspiration. Here are a few of my favorites the prove what a great neutral mint really is. 

I'd like to say I'll wait a few weeks before taking everything down and painting the walls (leaving every nail of course) but knowing how I work, I'm already plotting how I can enlist my sister to get this done by the end of the weekend.  Final results to follow...

If you have a small space and are looking for a BIG impact, trust me when I say you will not regret a large gallery wall.  Who knew our little upstairs bathroom would actually become my favorite room in the house?