Tuesday Special - my new wall!

Although I still have trouble saying thank you and feeling proud, I indeed am - mostly because I thought up the project and carried it through 100% on my own! What a pleasant sight when I got to the top of the stairs Sunday morning before church - made me smile!

Here is the finished project (with frames to fill and room to grow)

Want steps? Beginning to end:

1. Find frames. I had the project in my head for months but got very lucky with an amazing sub job with a very nice gal. She happened to bring in two bags of frames she was giving away and I unashamedly scavenged them. She saved me a fortune! 

2. Research. I was pretty sure this wouldn't only be about frames, so I spend a day or two on Pinterest gathering ideas. More to come on that in a bit.

3. Paint frames. Clean glass. I'm pretty sure I used the wrong paint and the wrong brush and that Windex wouldn't work in the long run, but so far, so good. And it's all fixable; more on that also in a bit.

First I used regular old paint I had the scrapbook room (Making Memories); it was a bit old and a little gloppy, which was actually better on the frames. Some of these are wooden, some are metal. I ran out of that paint, so I got a plain black acrylic from Hobby Lobby. Already I can see one frame that will have to be repainted and probably sealed. 

I also gathered up some other frames pieces we had lying around that were given as gifts and never mounted. I painted their frames black and rematted them to match. There is a Mom & Dad poem and a Policeman's Prayer and picture worked in there.

4. I filled those frames! I was fortunate enough to have enough printer paper and ink at home, and a decent photo printer. This kept the cost of this project way down for me. I chose some of our classic pics, some funny, some of our favs, and I even have a few blank ones to fill with those pics "I can't believe I didn't think of!", which should happen sometime next week.

Here is what very little planning I did for this part:

I used white cardstock and posterboard to mat the photos, which are all in black and white. Again, it's probably not the material professional framers would have used, but I'm happy with it so far.

I also have a list of glass that needs to be replaced and am hoping my local glass place will help me out with that.

My table looked like this for a week (I have a very patient family):

5. I bought an over-sized wooden letter "K" and small wooden letters on sale (yay!) at Hobby Lobby as well. Painted those. Tip for painting small spaces: I used one of the kid's watercolor paint brushes, they're a dime a dozen and I wouldn't feel bad if I had to throw them out).

6. Next I took a picture of the space I was filling, measured and taped off sides and angles on the floor in my foyer. It looked like this for 24 hours (I had a surprisingly accident-free family, too):

7. We had monkey hooks and I found the 3M Command wall hangers in WalMart and Hobby Lobby. I wasn't sure I'd trust the Command on the sandy-textured wall, but 2 days later, none of those frames have fallen!

8. I had to take the backs off of most of the frames. I wasn't worried about ruining them because I knew I'd never take them down to use as standing frames ever again. Taking the stands off helped keep the pictures flush to the wall.

9. Ready! Here I go!

Some tools of the trade: monkey hooks, thumbtacks, a level, painter's tape, a flashlight (to see behind the frames when mounting, screwdriver, scissors, Command hooks (up to 2lb, 12lb and 16lb), double-stick mounting tape (some of the backs of the frames were sunken and I used a few layers of double stick to pop the Command strips up), duct tape (reverse rolled up for the small letters); not pictured: a tall chair and a 6 foot ladder. 

Here's a tour of our new wall. :) You'll have to visit in person for the real effect, it does look better in person. :)

Disclaimer: I promise to take new pictures in the morning light and from a ladder as soon as I can. I was too impatient to find a filter for the flash, wait till a free morning, and gain proper height to take these.

small wooden letters from Hobby Lobby, painted black, mounted with reverse
rolled up duct tape (which I think you can see here, but not in reality).

A few of our fav pictures.

bride & groom

family pic from last fall

Pinterest-inspired K; painted black, with a simple
rhinestone cluster trimmed and fit.

Babies in police hats.

Babies in police hats.

This is a Making Memories sticker that I recolored. It fit the tiny frame
perfectly and ended up matching the wall as well. I'm still considering adding
a patterned background for it.

So I just now noticed that the two small frames are opposite -
when the God frame is on top and the verse on the bottom,
the hearts make an hourglass shape. Again, this will be fixed and retaken.
-------------------------
This is a dollar store frame!
This is one of the readings from our wedding - 1 Corinthians.
I just recently realized that it can be literally translated to God is Love
thanks to our Pastor's sermon a few weeks ago.
I'm working on that post for Sunday.

the newborns.
label added with their names and birthdates.

Another Pinterest inspiration. These are the lyrics to
our wedding song written out as a poem. I printed those
out and added our wedding date on top of the glass.
Still searching for the perfect heart embellishment. 

the brothers

the parents
(yes, both of our parents are still together 4+
years later, we're proud!)

one of our newer favorites:
Matthew pinning Doug as his Sergeant's promotion.

Here's how the Command process works, once mounted,
so I can easily edit and fix frames for years to come.

like a super tight velcro, it snaps back in place but pulls off easily.
holding nicely so far!

So there you have it. If I can do it, anyone can!