It only took like a year for me to gather a bazillion mis-matched frames from Hobby Lobby and Goodwill, paint them various (wedding) colors and select which photos I wanted on the wall. I took all the random family photos off the top of my desk hutch and added them to our wedding pics so everyone in our families could be included.
Because some of the frames were second-hand, they didn't all have hanging devices on the backs. I was trying to find a good solution for hanging them straight (Note: don't hot-glue a ribbon loop to the back of each frame; the pictures will hang crooked and the frames will fall off the wall after a few days) and I mentioned my problem to my friend Linda, who has a gorgeous gallery hallway in her house. She started pulling frames off her wall and showed me she was using these photo hanging strips that are basically like Velcro stuck to both the wall and your frame, but they peel up easily when you're ready to move them.
via Target
So I bought a couple packages of them to give them a shot, and it worked! A few weeks after we started, the pictures were all hung up for real.
I definitely didn't try that ribbon trick.
I love how the wall turned out! I love the mis-matched frames, and how the colors stand out from the white wall. Right now we've mainly included wedding photos, but I'm excited to expand the wall over time.
Do you have a gallery wall? Do you have any good tricks for hanging up photos?
It looks great - I love the mis-matched frames! And those command strips are so awesome - I love 'em!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good hanging tip! I have a couple of tabletop frames that I may need to use that tip with. Your wall looks good!
ReplyDeleteIt worked well on tabletop frames so long as the backing part didn't stick out too far from the frame! We did have to rip apart the backing on one of the frames because it wasn't close enough to the wall!
DeleteI love your gallery wall! We have one that's about 1/2 the size of yours - I couldn't talk the husband into waging war with our unfriendly walls any more than that ;)
ReplyDeleteIt looks great, Allie!! Congrats on finally finishing it - what a project!
ReplyDeleteAs soon as we have our own house I'm doing a gallery wall -- so happy to see tips!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip on the command strips! I'm always wondering how to hang a frame I love but is only table top. Genius!
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone! :)
ReplyDeleteHave any more of them fallen down since you did the command strips? My husband and I did these in the beginning of July using the velcro command strips, and one of our giant frames JUST RECENTLY fell (in the middle of the night, too!). We had two strips sticking it on the wall, so it had more than enough support, and it was fine for six months before it fell! I'm baffled.
ReplyDeleteI did have one more fall, but it was because I stuck the command strip to the velvet backing on the back of the frame and not on a hard surface; over time (also a few months, weird!) the velvet peeled away from the back of the frame, so it wasn't really the strip's fault that it fell. I got a new strip and put it where the velvet was no longer there and haven't had any problems since. Hope that helps!
DeleteNEW IDEA! I had my velcro-backed frame fall off the wall again. My mom suggested attaching the strip to the velvet with Tacky Glue (you know, the kind that's meant for fabric) so maybe it'll stick better. I'm going to try that later this week.
ReplyDelete