It's a picture thing.

I have been wanting to put a gallery wall together for years.  I think done properly they can look amazing, done badly and they can look a total mess.  I am not sure why but the thought of putting one together really scared me , so until now I backed away from putting one together.

With our hallway re-decoration in full swing I decided now was as good a time as any to embrace the whole gallery wall thing.  

I started off by creating a mood board of ideas over on pinterest.

I found lots of useful tips on layouts and how to plan your wall.  I then set about collecting up all the old frames we had knocking about the house.  I wanted to achieve a uniformed look and not spend a fortune, so I painted all the frames the same colour.  I used Annie Sloan Old White.

Then came the tricky bit which I put off for as long as possible.  To start with I traced around the frames onto some large sheets of paper which I then cut out and attached where I roughly wanted them on the wall.  I then left the frames knocking about for an age in the hope that Michael would hang them for me.  Eventually I decided I could do it myself.  Having knocked the first nail in I wondered why I hadn't done it before now.

Once the frames were hung where I wanted them I set about choosing the photos for the wall.  I had so much fun doing this bit.  I didn't want a whole wall purely of the girls so fiinally after about 10 years I got round to having some of our gap year photos printed up.  It was so nostalgic looking back through old photos and reminiscing of the time we spent together prior to being married and having children.  I loved telling Amelie about some of the places we visited.  I had the photos printed with Photobox for no other reason than I have previously set up an account with them and I am constantly receiving emails from them. I was pretty impressed at how quick and easy it all was.

Into the mix I added our plastic butterfly collections which I just LOVE.  

I am really pleased with the end result.  Each photo has such happy memories and make me smile each time I walk past them.  I am missing two photos as I got the wrong sizes printed up.  What do you think of my wall?

You can see my Hallway mood board over on Pinterest.

Follow ADomesticLoveAffair's board Hallway Inspiration on Pinterest.

Into the Frame

One of the areas of our house we have been working on is the hallway part of which has involved collating and putting together a framed photo wall. 

Wanting to inject a bit of child like fun into our walls we decided to make use of the countless plastic bugs we have lying about the house.

You will need a boxed frame

A selection of plastic bugs

A glue gun 

A sheet of heavy stock water colour paper.

Select your bugs and cut your paper to fit your frame.

Glue gun the back of the bugs and or butterflies and stick them onto the watercolour paper.  Because you won't be needing the glass I placed the paper in the frame first and secured it in place and then glued my bugs directly onto the paper.

Voila one child friendly framed butterfly collection.

I would like to take credit for this little DIY project and whilst I did select the bugs butterflies and put it all together it was in actual fact my husbands idea and what a great idea it has turned out to be.

Hallway Renovation.

One of the areas of our house that was in desperate need of some TLC was the hallway.  Being open under the stairs it just became one big clutter collector.  Buggies, coats, shoes, school bags, toys, wellies.  It was just awful.  The clutter was starting to creep further and further out into the hallway.  In full view every time we opened the door I was finding it really depressing.  If someone didn't know where to put something it got dumped in the hallway.  The clutter was breeding.  Finally I had enough and after some nagging we decided to tackle the problem head on.

This is what the hallway looked like before we started (I removed a lot of the junk before I took these photos!)

This what it looks like now. 

Something I have been dying to do for ages is create a photo wall.  I think done well they can make an attractive focal point.  Having set ourselves a budget of roughly £100 for the hallway re-decorations I set about painting a load of old photo frames I had knocking with some Annie Sloan Old White Chalk Paint. 

We soon got rid of the magnolia which in the sunlight gave the space a hideous sepia glow and replaced it with Dulux Matt White Mist.

The mirror was a bargain from The Range at £14.99.  I actually brought the antique silver one as it had a much more rustic finish and then again gave it a coat of Annie Sloan Old White Chalk Paint.  I am not feeling the love for the lampshade in the picture so I am on the hunt for a new one.

The idea was to build the girls a playhouse under the stairs.  I thought that this would make the perfect replacement for the cardboard playhouse we used to have but no longer have room for.  They just love playing in it.  Amelie was very impressed with the heart shaped window.  Somewhat annoyingly I thought I would paint the little door red but it doesn't look right so I am going to re-paint it white.  

Michael has hung some fairy lights inside for them and I am going to make them some little curtains.

I still needed some space in which to hang coats and store shoes.  So we sectioned off a space of about 500mm at the end of the playhouse and made it into a separate pull out cupboard.  We have built in some shoe racks and a rail to hang the coats.  This also allows us to get into the play house without having to squeeze through a borrowers door.  

We have tried to include the girls in making their playhouse.  Amelie very carefully sat and painted the exterior of her house and Harriet attempted to help me polyfill the screw holes.

This is still very much a work in progress but I just couldn't wait to share our latest project with you.  As it currently stands we have spent about £131.00 building the playhouse and re-decorating the hallway.