We moved into our house over two years ago and I was eager for decorations to get up on the wall. So the BEFORE picture is what we looked at...and I loved it! However, as the years went on and the rest of the decor in the house came together I realized that the black frames were not meshing well with my new love of lightening up the house by using, natural colors, whites, and blues.
Another reason I wanted to change this entryway look was every time I shut the door the frames that were hanging before tilted from one side to another. They never hung perfectly straight. :( I was constantly looking at crooked pictures or adjusting their direction.
So I stared at that entry wall for several months before having time and my plan put together. And now that it is done I am happy to share it with you~
Here is our BEFORE and AFTER look and I am in love with it.
With having a large family, it is simply too hard to choose which photos to put up. What I LOVE about the photo ledge is how easy I can change the direction of a frame, add a new photo or even a new frame all together.
If we want a splash of red and silver for Christmas time, well, up it goes! It was super easy to put together. Once I knew what I was gathering from the store I was able to put it together in an afternoon!
I got to use my new sawhorses for this project and I was so giddy about it! I love them!
PLANNING THOUGHT: Having 3 inches on the bottom of the ledge allowed me to overlap the frames to give it a cozy look. If you wanted to have them single layered you could get away with a 2 inch bottom as well as in the front.
Supplies:
1x4x8 (x2), 1x3x8 (x2), 1x2x8 (x2) already primed
2 sandpaper blocks (I didn't have a ton of sanding and didn't want to pull out my electric sander)
2 cans of white satin spray paint (I bought a 3rd can just in case)
1 bottle of wood glue
2 inch nails
hammer
level and drill for wall hanging...and screws for extra support
1) I sanded down the edges so they weren't super sharp. Wiped off the dust and glued them together. My husband helped hold them in place, I could have used clamps (*cough* christmas gift idea!) to hold them together.
2) Once the wood was stuck together I added nails for extra support. I would suggest starting with the underside first...it took me a bit to get into a groove of nailing straight down. :) I was nervous as I pulled some nails out and found a new spot.
3) Then I spray painted evenly across. I love my new saw horses so much that I covered them with the tarp so they wouldn't get paint on them. :) They were already primed so it didn't take a ton of paint. I was able to use 2 cans. But I had purchased a third, just in case.
4) With my husbands help we put them up on the wall, this was the moment I had been waiting for! We used a level and used my stud finder to mark where I would screw them in. I tend to use screws into the wall instead of nails for extra support. I could have painted over the screws but I knew the photos would cover them up.
As you may notice, I still have spots on the wall to touch up from filling in the holes from my previous display. I was just too excited and got these up anyway!
Another view on the wall. I loved that I wanted 8 feet and that is what the wood came in. So no need for extra work to saw them down to size. Perfect fit! I was a little worried about how much they would stick out of the wall but they were perfect.
5) I started to put up the frames I had been collecting for the last several months. When shopping, I would search for cheap frames that I fell in love with, either because of the shape or the texture or the color. I knew that I could always spray paint (oh how I love spray paint) the frame if I desired a different color. So I finally put my pile of frames on the wall and added in some of the black frames I had to fill it in, knowing I would paint them to go with the color scheme.
Here is the final look. However, I might add that the light Robin Egg blue doesn't quite look the same with my entry way lighting so I plan to use a jade color instead.
6) Once the frames were up and in the spot, direction I wanted, I jotted down the sizes I needed and went through my photos. I sent a quick order the my local photo store and grabbed my pics.
My least favorite part was using a soapy washcloth to take off the sticky price tags on each picture frame. :( But other than that I was able to get this up (with a bit of spray paint smell) into my entry way after just a few hours!
YAY!!
I love it so much. It adds so much character to our entryway. It is refreshing and calming at the same time. I have a perfect view from my couch and it really does blend well with the rest of the decor in the house.
I hope this post encourages you to take what you have and vamp it up a bit!
Super easy and stress free.
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