My Gallery Wall, Finally!

One of the things I've always wanted in my house is a gallery wall.  Ever since I can remember, gallery walls in books and magazines fascinated me. In my last apartment, I overthought the process and when I moved out 9 years later, I still had no gallery wall.

Below a couple of gallery wall images I've had on my Pinterest board for a while now.

I've now been in this house for 3 years and was still over-thinking. Where could I assemble a gallery wall--my bedroom? The family room? The guest bathroom?

The other day, my designer friend Tommy, who happened to be in the house (he's been instrumental pushing me forward to finish the details of my living room)  just looked at the frames on the floor and with a big impatient sigh said, "I'm putting them up right now!"

"Now? But don't we have to plan it?"  I asked.

He asked for a hammer and some Orjan picture hangers, and just like that, he started hanging up the frames.

No overthinking, no measurement, no drama. With a hammer and with the Orjan concrete picture hangers, he went to work. It helped that I had gathered all the frames around the house the week before and had them on the floor. Seeing this mess irked him into action.

 This wall sconce was the very first thing he put up. One of my favorite purchases from Clignancourt.

He just went on and on, while I sat on the stairs just amazed that my little gallery wall was finally becoming a reality. 

There was none of this measuring detail for us, which is what you find online if you google "how to hang a gallery wall". He said we'd hang it Parisian-style, as if we were adding pieces as we acquired them.

  

He eyeballed on the spot and did everything by feel. The result is natural and spontaneous--exactly the way I like it!

  

It's not yet done but it's coming out the way I envisioned my gallery wall would look like. We left some space on the bottom for more flea market souvenirs.

 The view from my kitchen. 

Working in my messy kitchen

 

Giverny by Galicano is the biggest frame on the wall

My own tiny watercolors of the Carmel Mission Basilica

An oil I made when I was 13. It's a miracle I still had it!

Carvings from China bought years ago. 

Tommy stuck them in this antique hardwood frame before hanging.

The great grandparents of my kids' future grandchildren :)

More Porte de Vanves flea market purchases

Included in the wall: a photo of my grandfather who I never met (he died before I was born), more flea market art, my own artwork, photographs from my sister's collection, old prints, and a couple of small paintings from Philippine masters. I LOVE the way it came out. More so because Tommy did everything spontaneously, and with frames that are meaningful to me.

He tells me I should buy some artwork--even just one--for my living room. But the truth is I haven't been moved by any artwork so far (Lucky husband!) and I don't see any sense in buying major art if it doesn't say anything to me.  Good thing I only have one tiny wall to fill, and maybe I'll eventually paint something for it. My own painting will move me. I'm cheap that way.

Faith and G's Dollhouse

 Faith Bradford started her collection when she was 7 years old, 

and donated it to the Smithsonian in 1951

I've always had a fascination for dollhouses ever since I saw the Faith Bradford dollhouse at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC more than ten years ago.  The history of this dollhouse is so intriguing that there is even a book dedicated to the details of the dollhouse.

Last year, when G mentioned that she wanted a dollhouse for her birthday, I immediately asked the carpenter, who happened to be building shelves in our (real) house, to work on a dollhouse for her instead.

Planning a Bathroom Renovation

 I like the thick wood shelf here. And of course we can't have a hanging sink. We need storage.

My new assignment is a bathroom renovation for mom's home office (which was originally a bedroom I shared with my sister when we were growing up). It's at least a 30 year old bathroom with beige marble tiles. It was renovated once during the lifetime of the house, when we were both away at college. I remember painting and doing artwork in this little room because our bedroom had wall-to-wall carpet.

Yup, it's about time we got a new look!  Okay, I can't post a photo of what it looks like now or mom will kill me, so these photos are all just ideas to get us in the mood.

So mom, take a look at these...

 

To start, this is a more traditional vanity and design. I think we should have a light counter top. I would go with a stone (maybe not a solid surface?--it doesn't match the rest of the house) but then finding a nice white stone is kinda hard here. I'll ask Pam what she'd suggest. I'm not too thrilled with the agglomerate stones available locally, unless they have better shades of white now. Or maybe you don't like white?

We shouldn't do a black/dark top. First of all, if this will be your everyday bathroom, we need the glow from the reflection of a light-colored counter top. Secondly, black is not advisable because the water leaves white marks on it if it's not wiped up right after.

This one is promising, with a light-colored solid surface top and ample storage below. But I would put open shelves under for your rolled hand towels. We should have two light fixtures on either side like this.

This is between traditional and modern, and very practical. Enough storage below. Real wood floor is totally out because it can't take the humidity here, but we could use porcelain tiles that look like wood. But I have figure out a nice termination between the bathroom and the shower stall. I've seen some installations where the wood-look tiles are also installed inside the shower and it looks a bit odd to me--wood isn't supposed to get soaking wet, so it mustn't be inside a shower (tiles or not!). The cool grey is a nice updated color scheme too.

By now you would be tired of vessel sinks so let's not do this. But I thought you might consider also the open shelf below? Open counters are nice when you have other places to store cleaning supplies. Less dark, damp places to maintain.

Okay, I'm not considering this at all, but I couldn't help adding this here because I love the color, and I'm sure it looks fabulous in real life. But a bit to impractical for our needs. I once stayed at a hotel that had a similar look for the vanity. This was at the Westin in Valencia.

For a hotel it was great, but a bit  too modern for the house no? Okay, tell me if you like anything here while I look for a few more. I already have ideas. I just know that we have to re-tile and re-do the vanity, which is practically everything in the bathroom.

All photos (except for the last one) are from the archives of this wonderful blog, Simplified Bee.