The Makings of a Gallery Wall

The living room.  The bane of my decorating existence.  I really thought it was going to be the easiest room to decorate.  After all, we already had a great living room set and tons of accessories.  Boy, was I wrong.  That room has been such a headache, and I'm still at a loss.  Our apartment had a huge combined living/dining room and our couch and chair set fit perfectly.  In the new house, our living room is about average, maybe even smaller.  The couch can really only go on one wall (opposite the fireplace) and the chair?  Well, the chair has found a home elsewhere.  It's simply too big for the space.  I hated breaking up the set.  It was a tearful goodbye, but it was just time for them to go their separate ways.
I can't find a rug for this space anywhere.  I bought one on Overstock a few months ago, but it was much too small for the space.  Thankfully, that rug made its way to the downstairs guest bedroom and compliments the light gray walls perfectly.  So, now the living room is missing both a rug and a chair.  The room is out of control.  I needed to do something to regain my composure, so a few weeks ago, we got to work on the gallery wall.  I tossed around a bunch of ideas for the area above the couch for a few days - tried out some shelves we had, various artwork, etc. and ultimately decided the space could use a gallery wall.  I had originally wanted this to go up the staircase, but as that space is pretty narrow, I thought it would clutter it up a bit too much.
I didn't want the gallery wall to be all matchy matchy, so I just used what I had, including signs, framed sayings, etc.  I did, however, make sure that each frame had one other one that matched either in size, shape, or color just to sort of pull everything together.  I laid out the multitude of frames I had on the floor and played around with them until I got a layout I thought would work.  This actually only took a few minutes, and for the most part, I was able to use all my favorite frames. 
Once the layout was complete, the hubs got all arts and crafty and cut out pieces of paper matching the size and shape of each frame.  He even got so detailed as to cut out the scalloped edges of the round frames.  We then transferred these pieces of paper to the wall so we could be sure the layout fit and move things around if necessary.  This was a great way to make sure all the spacing was equal and that we actually liked the layout. 

One we found a layout we liked, we got to work hanging the frames.  I didn't want to put a bunch of holes in my perfectly painted walls, so I had another idea...Velcro!  I had actually seen this done on an HGTV special and thought it was ingenious.  We bought some super sturdy Velcro strips and got to work.  We just matched up the piece of paper with the frame (we had written little descriptions on each piece of paper just in case).  The Velcro worked great, it was sooooo easy and if something didn't look right, we just repositioned it.  Props to HGTV for that idea.

In the end, we made a few adjustments to the layout, but I think my hubby did such a great job. 

And yes, some of the frames are still empty.  I haven't figured out exactly what I want to put in them.  I don't want them all to be photos, so I'm thinking framing something else that has some meaning.  I just haven't figured out what yet, so those will stay the way they are until the idea hits me.  In the meantime, the Velcro is holding up pretty well and I think the wall really makes a statement.

Be well,

Yard Makeover

One of the things that attracted us to our house was its corner location in a quiet neighborhood. Our lot is just shy of a half acre which is plenty of space for the two of us.  When we lived in our apartment, we dreamed of having our own yard.  The hubs literally couldn't wait to get his hands dirty.  Now that that dream has become a reality, though, it's a lot more work than either of us could have imagined.  Below are the only real before shots we have, which are actually from the original listing.

 

I will make a confession though, we were not thrifty when it came to the yard (hanging my head in shame). Our house was unoccupied all last summer and fall and therefore, the yard was overgrown and full of weeds and leaves. After much deliberation, we decided that we just didn't have the time to devote to the yard (as much as the hubs wanted to). So, we loosened the purse strings and had a company come in to do a spring clean-up. They weeded everything, hauled away all the leaves, and trimmed the bushes. I do have to admit, it was money well-spent.  Once that was done, we ordered mulch and the hubs spent a weekend spreading it. I tried to help...and lasted 45 minutes. Yard work is exhausting! I have a newfound respect for the hubs. He does it all without a single complaint and is looking forward to the upkeep. It looks sooo much better now!

Most of the plants in the yard just needed to be spruced up, and a few we bought at Home Depot and Lowe's to add some color. 

Before we bought the house, we knew it needed a new septic that was to be the responsibility of the sellers. This was installed just before we closed, but the yard had to be ripped up in order to do it. Then, in the early spring, the septic guys came back to reseed the lawn they tore up for the new tank. We weren't exactly sure how the new grass would come in, but it looks great thanks to a lot of care from the hubs. I wish I had more before pictures so you can see the transformation (note to self: get better at documenting projects) but just know that this area was a big pile of dirt just a few months ago.

Our house also came with a garden in the front yard. I'm not so thrilled with its front location, but that area does get the most sun, so I understand why the previous owner's put it there. A former co-worker was kind enough to give me some tomato plants she started and we cleaned up the front bed and planted those along with some peppers. We also planted some basil and cilantro.  We actually used the basil for a pizza last week which I'm just now realizing I should have taken a quick pic of.  Anywhoo, everything is starting to grow and we're seeing our first signs of tomatoes. I guess I can cross "grow a garden" off the list!

The backyard is coming together as well.  The in-laws gave us some cute adarondack chairs for our first anniversary present and we just added a fire pit.  I'm hoping to grab some more chairs and a patio set at the end of the season when everthing gets marked down.  We also want to add some outdoor lighting and extend the back patio in the near future.

For now, though, we are so thrilled that the landscaping is all done and we can sit back and start to enjoy our outdoor space while there's still some summer left.

Be well,