Dart Family Blog: Collage Wall

Back in November, I posted this picture on Facebook asking for help on what to do with this wall:

These photos aren't the best quality being snapped with my phone rather than a camera and in not the best lighting, but you get the idea. We have a long rectangular family room and a big wall that I wanted to decorate somehow with some family pictures, but didn't really know what I wanted. I searched Pinterest for a lot of ideas and just thought about it for a few months. I decided I didn't want to spend a lot of money on it and would make most of the frames and such myself. I wanted a large D (for Dart of course!) and fun colors. I bought some mdf, free handed a D on it and cut it out with a jigsaw. It was my first time ever using my jigsaw and it was very rough and needed a bit of sanding. It isn't perfect, but I made it and I like it. I bought some spray paint in fun colors and decided it would be yellow:)

FYI, spray paint doesn't stick so well to raw edges of mdf. I used a whole can of spray paint trying to get it all yellow. After that didn't work, I bought a can of spray primer (and another can of yellow). One coat of primer and two coats of yellow it looked even and covered and was just what I had envisioned.

I had thought I would make a variety of frame types and sizes and sort of make a random display. I was going to use some leftover bead-board and wood scraps to make at least 4 frames for my kids photos. I also REALLY wanted to make some chunky frames in interesting shapes. I didn't really have the confidence that I could make them look like they did in my head though:) Last week I was blessed by a friend and had 1 hour to myself with no children and so I stopped into Hobby Lobby to browse. I was so super excited to find some chunky frames in interesting shapes, but they looked this:

The 8x10 frames were originally priced $29.99, but you can often purchase things at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. These frames had been marked down so many times, they were almost giving them away at $3. They were in great condition, just not the prettiest floral print on them. I bought the entire stock. I didn't know still what I wanted to do with them exactly, but with the cost of wood to make all the frames, plus drawing out shapes, cutting, sanding, etc. It seemed too good to pass up.

On our recent vacation, we had a professional photographer take family pictures of us and we had a bunch of 8x10 prints from our session that I decided to use. I also purchased 11x14 frames that were clearanced to $4. I had several Pinterest pins waiting to be created and displayed in my home, so I decided to use those for the 11x14 frames.

I measured my wall and in the basement, I laid out the frames, re-arranging until I decided what I liked the best.

Then I drew a sketch of what photos I wanted in each frames and used crayons to decide which frame needed to be what color. I am so glad I had this sketch, I referred to it often as I painted the frames and designed some of the images to go inside the frames.

Lastly, I spray painted all the frames in their colors and let them dry well. I used Sams Club to print the 11x14 prints and I bought dollar store frames to use the glass and the backing of the frame. I wanted to be able to easily switch out photos as we get new ones or my taste changes:) My dollar store even had the 11x14 frames with full glass panes in them for $1. I hung them all up with command strips so that my wall wasn't completely filled with nail holes and in case I decide to change the layout at some point. I hang almost everything now with command strips.

Here is the new wall!