Monday 4 May 2015

My favourite corners #4 - gallery wall before and after


This post started out as a bit of a 'before and after' but then I realised that our gallery wall is definitely one of my favourite parts of the house, so I've continued my series of My Favourite Corners with this lovely lovely wall.

This weekend I had a revelation. I always thought that when it came to walls, bright white is best. It's light, it's airy, it's clean and it goes with everything, hence most walls in our home are white. This wall in our front room is one of the biggest, most 'free' walls in the house, because it doesn't have any furniture on it, and I decided pretty early on that this would make a brilliant gallery wall, seeing as it would be bloody boring round here if we left it all blank for too long. As you can see, it's not particularly neat or precise, but it's a growing collection of different frames, each housing a little memory of ours, and I like the 'higgledy piggledy' feel. Precise this home is not.

I've been looking at our gallery wall almost every evening for the last year and a half (it's right opposite the sofa after all) and something about it hasn't been feeling quite right. The wall's getting a bit smudgy and dirty, the pictures were looking a bit flat and 'meh' - I was getting bored. So I decided a change was in order. I took all the frames down, one by one, and painted the wall underneath grey. And what a bloody difference some grey makes! The frames all look SO much better against a darker shade, the colours really pop and the pictures stand out more. Even our toy trolley looks better against the grey wall (pictorial evidence above). I'm so mad about it, I've been spending quite some time this weekend just gazing out at it and swooning. Lesson learned: sometimes a darker background shade just makes everything else in the room look brighter by association. 

If you're a fan of corners (and who isn't?) you can see some other Favourite Corners from the series here and here, although I can't guarantee they won't all have been painted grey by the time you read this. 




Home Etc

22 comments:

  1. Your gallery wall looks really lovely! X

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    1. Thank you so much Michelle! After a bit of a lazy spell, it's definitely spurred me on to do some more DIY! xx

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  2. Beautiful bright gallery wall!

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    1. Thanks Amy - I'm wondering when it will ever stop growing! x

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  3. This is absolutely lovely! :) We've got a gallery wall up our stairs, but they're all black and white pics in black frames. I love your rainbow wall :) I co-host a homes linky on a Wednesday — #HomeEtc — please pop along and link up any home/garden/craft/upcycling posts you have. We'd love to have you!! X

    #HomeCorner

    Caro | www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk

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    1. Thanks very much, and thanks for the heads up - planning on heading over to #HomeEtc now for a share and a read! x

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  4. Aaah SO lovely to see you over here :) Thanks so much for linking up — we really do appreciate it #HomeEtc

    Caro | http://www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk

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  5. That is a great gallery wall! The colour does make a huge difference x #HomeEtc

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    1. Thanks! Funny how such a small thing can make such a difference xx

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  6. So lovely and yes the wall does make it stand out, we have a black and white gallery wall and its great to look at all those memories isnt it x

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    1. That sounds lovely, I am a sucker for a gallery wall. I'm worried I'll run out of wall space soon! xx

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  7. Wow that must have been hard work taking all the frames down! Worth it though, it looked amazing before anyway, but it looks all lovely and new with the clean wall underneath now. Well done! #HomeEtc
    Sabrina xx

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    1. Thanks so much! And yes it was a bit of a mission - luckily I had the 'before' pic as a guide for putting them all back in the right place after! xx

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  8. Wow, the grey really does make a huge difference! It looks amazing! Xxx #HomeEtc

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  9. The new wall colour looks stunning. I really want this colour in my new home! I have a gallery up my stairs now but it's all black and white frames. I adore all the different frames!! Thanks for sharing :) Jess x #HomeEtc

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    1. Thanks Jess! The colour is called Alfie from B&Q and it's such a good all-rounder. My sister has it in her bedroom too and it looks lovely x

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  10. Wonky pictures would bug me! But I love this wall! it just works and the new wall colour really does give it a new life! Great job!!! I want to start a gallery wall on our bare brick wall but the husbands says NO :(
    #HomeEtc http://2littlefaces.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/diy-exposed-bulb-chandelier.html

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    1. Hehe - the wonky pics really bug my other half too! But I kind of like it now, there's so many frames up there that as soon as you straighten one up, you make another look wonky anyway! x #HomeEtc

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  11. What a fun wall! Soft grey really is the best shade - we already have it in our sitting room and kitchen and it's tempting to paint the whole house with it! I am currently planning our own gallery wall and can't wait to get started x #HomeEtc

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    1. Thank you - I can't believe I used to think grey walls were dull or dark, doing this has completely changed my opinion! Ooh, do share pics of your gallery wall when it's up and running, would love to see! x

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