Entryway Gallery Wall

Our entryway is a little tricky, but I finally made the decision to go with a gallery wall for one section. This wall “greets” our guests, but it’s also the wall that we see from the couch in our main living area so I wanted to make it a meaningful and fun focal point for us as well.

I had a version of this, the “love gallery wall,” in our Colorado home, but I gave some of the frames a paint refresh (with BB Frosch chalk paint powder, of course.), updated photos, and added a few things. For this wall, I wanted to tell a story of our family, and I explained why I chose what I did at the bottom of this post.

In full disclosure, I have a love-hate relationship with gallery walls. Well, it’s similar to a regular relationship. There is a honeymoon stage when I’m pumped and excited, but then when the puzzle isn’t coming together as easily, I enter the disillusionment phase when I’m totally frustrated and may have a few moments when I’m not sure about gallery walls anymore. But then I eventually get it, and it’s back to true love.

All that to say: If gallery walls discourage you, don’t lose hope! Give it some time and it will eventually come together.

To start, tracing on paper and doing paste-ups are the way to go. Takes a little more time, but so worth it. Then I nail directly into to the paper or if I’m using 3m strips, I just remove the paper when I’m ready to hang. 

When I did the paste-up, I realized our current walls are longer so I needed to find some things to fill in. The gallery is all about family and love, so it seemed appropriate to add some photos that we took on our honeymoon in Greece. 

Then the hanging…

For the blank spot, I found some other things that went along with our story.

And for this final draft, I did some “hello” sign and arrow painting (again, with BB Frosch) and switched out the “S” since this one has our marriage license mod podged on it (Pinterest-inspired).

One thing that’s annoying when using nails to hang, the frames often move and go crooked. Rest assured, you can get that sticky tape to place on the corners so they stay in place and your OCD self will thank you.

This gallery wall’s story, from top to bottom:

• “Hello” and arrow (from Very Jane) since it’s the entry, of course.
• Our wedding photo printed on wood (from Firewood Creations). We follow the traditional anniversary gift guide and my husband got this for me on our 5th anniversary since it was wood that year.
• “5” for the number in our family. I got the number from Far Away Hood and the wreath at Target Dollar Spot.
• White frame will eventually have hooks with keys from our former houses where all our kids were born. That will tie into “love is the key to happiness” sign.
• Greece honeymoon photos (frame from Pottery Barn), where it all began.
• Various family and kiddos photos (all frames from Hobby Lobby). The family pic isn’t an updated one, but it’s our first family photo with all five of us. 🙂 And I always like to have pics of my boys hugging so I can remember that they do actually love each other, because sometimes I’m unsure when they are fighting.
• Scrabble tile board DIY (one of our favorite games) with our names and “family” and “blessings.”
• “S” (our last name initial, from Hobby Lobby) DIY with our marriage license mod podged on top. I was never happy with this project and don’t feel like it’s complete, but it’s a reminder that not everything has to be perfect, right?
• “Love is the key to happiness” sign is from Kohl’s.

My next gallery wall project is the hallway. Eek. Any gallery wall projects in your future?