Mission Dress the Walls: The Hallway Gallery Wall

I've been wanting to hang a gallery wall since we were in our home in Toronto. Unfortunately, in Toronto we were a little short on photos and/or art to really create what I wanted. So, now that we are pushing to get settled into our home here, I've really pulled together and started to collect some frames and pieces to create a gallery wall in our rental. I decided I wanted to hang them in the front hallway, just past the doors to our dining room...

{That big empty wall to the right of the photo, just past the doorway}

My original thought was to do a small collection of frames at the proper height on the wall. However, when I started to look at what I had, and what I could add I decided to go big or go home. We have such a large space that is so empty, I wanted to create a gallery wall with some serious impact. Something more like these inspiration photos...

{via curbly}

{via Young House Love}

As much as this is the look I'm going for, we still have a lot of art and pictures to collect, but for now we're making progress. I tried to make some newspaper templates to figure out the layout that I wanted, but when it came down to it, we had too many pieces that were large and awkward, so I started by finding the right spot for my favourite piece and trying out everything else around it. This is where we are at the moment...

Still not huge, but I was getting pretty tired of having all of these frames stacked up all over our kitchen and living room. Here's a more detailed look at what we have added to our wall. 

At the top is a family photo from Halle's newborn session, with Nicole from Bittersweet Photography. I love that picture of the three of us. The frame is from Indigo. I purchased it right after that session, specifically for that photo. 

Underneath is a cutting board I bought for B for Christmas last year from AHeirloom, over on Etsy. It's in the shape of the state of Massachusetts (his home state), with a little heart that resides over the Boston area. Since it is a cutting board, it actually came with no way to hang it, so we had to add some little pieces to the back of it to get it up on the wall. I'm glad we did and it can now be displayed in our home, rather than sit stored away in a box in the basement. 

At the bottom is Halle's silhouette. We had this done at Downtown Disney when we were in Florida this past May. The frame I picked up at Wal-Mart for only $9.99, and I really liked the shaped. I think it works perfectly with everything else we have on the wall. 

I also added one of my favourite prints, from Art Shark Designs. This print is a fun way for us to recognize how we met and fell in love in New York City. It makes me smile every time I look at it, and I am reminded of our time in that beautiful city together. One day we'll go back.

That leaves our final three pieces. On the top is a frame from Poppy Tree Frames, which I had won in a  giveaway back at the start of the year. It never made it onto the walls of our Toronto home, but here it is now, as what I see as the statement piece on our wall. I love what the shape symbolizes, and think it is perfect for family photographs. So, I included one of the photos of Halle and I from her one year session, and my favourite photo of her and B from our trip up to Whistler back in April. 

On the left is a print from Brittany's shop, that reads "count your lucky stars". I do every single day, but there's nothing wrong with a little reminder now and then. The last photo is pretty self explanatory. This is our favourite photo of our baby girl from her newborn session.

So there you have it, the start of our gallery wall. I'm sure I will be back with updates. I have a few issues with spacing in some spots, and some more that I would like to add to it. Right now, I'm just happy to have all of this on the wall (and off our counter). Just another small thing that is making this rental space feel more like a proper home.