Gallery Wall "Reveal"

Wow....it feels SO good to finally be done with this project!!

 I have been dreaming of it ever since I saw this on House of Smiths...

So GORGEOUS!!  And I had just completed this board and batten in my living room...it was the PERFECT idea for this long wall....

So when a friend came into town, we made our way to IKEA and bought a TON of white frames to make my own gallery wall...just like Shelly's... ; D  Since I couldn't make beautiful Subway art like Shelly (she has a vinyl business), I was hoping to find some type of word art that would work.  My friend and I found this at Hobby Lobby and I loved what it said, but obviously the colors weren't right.

Ummm...that was in October!  ; )   Before she left, we had the layout all designed and I was just waiting for all the pictures to get printed.  I got the pictures, hung most of the frames...but then, I ran into a roadblock.  There was a space in the center of my design that I had left open for a large Y (since we are Youngs).  And none of Hobby Lobby's large alphabets came in a Y.  Can you believe it??  I was so frustrated and had no idea what I was going to do since I had already hung all the pictures and had left a space for that imaginary Y that I just knew I was going to find!

So...I just kind of moved on to some other projects for a few weeks.  Then one day, a friend encouraged me to go to Hobby Lobby again and just LOOK at what they did  have.  And what do you know?  I was able to find the right elements once I opened up the possibilities a little.

I found a large Fleur de lis that could fill the spot I had left for the large Y.  I found a smaller Y that worked fine (once I painted it) and I found a candlestick that worked.  And I found this little guy...

I love this bird.  He is so beautiful and the moment I saw him I knew he belonged on my shelf!!  He was even the perfect combination of blue and yellow! ; )

Here's a few pics of the process:

I started by cutting craft paper to the size of all my frames so that I could tape them up there...just like Martha Stewart tells you to!  (Sorry for the bad pics...I was without a wide angle lens on my camera at this point...)

One time I came down the stairs hearing the sound of hammering...and this is what I found...

The funniest thing is that he actually nailed in the exact right spot and it was straight and everything!! ; D

He was so proud!

And remember this?

Well, I have a fabulous friend who is a graphic designer and she designed this for me...

 I. LOVE. IT.   Love the colors...love the fonts...it is just exactly what I was envisioning!!

So...here it is...finally finished and I absolutely love it.  It was so worth all the work and effort.

The photos were taken by my AMAZING friend, Raquel Acevedo.  I am so lucky to have such a talented friend.  I love ALL of the photos, but we actually had multiple whole family shots that turned out.  (That must mean our kids are finally  growing up and no one is making crazy faces.)

My two favorites are these:

 Oh, I just love when a project is completely done!  It is this feeling of accomplishment that keeps me cooking up my crazy schemes for projects around my house!  Next project to put on the list:  a fabulous re-do for this little lamp shade.  Just gotta find the right fabric!

Wish me luck!