A Blank Canvas…

That’s how I feel about our dining room walls, especially the large one that’s just ripe for décor.  Here at the Shant we are slow to hang things on our walls (we’ve lived here over a year!), probably because they’re plaster (although the dining room walls are dry wall since we gutted the old sun room and turned it into a great eating space), which is way more finicky than dry wall, but also because we like to live in our space awhile before spending lots of time and/or money on décor.  But I subscribe wholeheartedly to the “hustle while you wait” mentality, so of course I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for any inspiring wall décor I come across.  Here are a few of my favorites…

Young House Love

Style Court

Pottery Barn

The Lettered Cottage

High-Heeled Foot In The Door

Pottery Barn

Akk.  I was really torn over all the stellar ideas out there, especially the slightly eclectic gallery wall that seems to be all the rage.  I’ve been itching to try my hand at this, and our dining room is the perfect place for it.  The room is simple enough to handle a busy arrangement and because it’s dry wall we can afford to make a few mistakes while we’re figuring out how to hang a bazillion pictures.

Alas, we chose to go the simpler, cleaner route for now.  As I write this post, I wonder if we made the right decision.  I mean, how cool would it be to have a gallery wall?!  But if you know anything about us by now, we’re committed to our budget.  The reality is that even if we were to buy used frames and DIY all the artwork, it would still take some serious cash to make it look decent.  And since we were getting ants in our pants to do something with the dining room walls, we opted for the safer route.

Before hanging, we hung paper on the walls in place of frames to figure out our spacing.

While I love these Target frames...

I would love them even more if they didn't have such difficult hanging hardware...

This required some extra measuring (thank goodness this English major married a man who understands all kinds of math), but eventually Matt figured it out.

Take a look at the final product!

Versatility is a great thing, which is one of many reasons why I love love love white frames.   Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that when we have the energy, time, and money (do those ever all line up at the same time?), we’ll simply move the frames to another spot in the house (perhaps right over our living room loveseat) and settle them in a new home.

For now, they’re filled with photos of succulents that Matt snapped at the Denver Botanical Gardens—which we recently visited for free with my cousin Andy—and after googling around for a coupon, we snagged a deal at Walgreen’s and got four 8x10 photos for under $7 total!  We both agree that this art is not permanent, but it’s great for now.

We’re pretty happy with our crisp and clean frames.  It makes me even happier that my husband’s handiwork is framed inside them!

Oh, and if you think the frames look small on the wall, they really don't when you see them in person.  I'm a total amateur when it comes to photography...