Room by room - living room + gallery wall

I present to you my 95% finished gallery wall.  What a labor of love this was!

But it's our new favorite spot in the house and it was worth every minute of waiting.

As my sister said, it took a new wall treatment, selling a house and buying another for me to have this wall  I dreamed of WAYYY back in January/February. Read about the OLD living room re-do here.

So, plans for this new wall started when we sold the Magna house.  I planned to fill our home with things of great meaning. Substance and significance over fluff.  To me, the living room was the most important place to do that.

I knew the kids would be emotional about leaving the place they knew, so I scheduled family pictures to be taken at a park near our house in May.  I wanted those to be displayed in the new place so they could remember "home".  As a ridiculously sentimental person, I also wanted to fill the room with other elements with emotional weight to them.

I gathered frames, pinned to Pinterest boards, decided on sizes, printed the photos, shopped for a monogram, and made a sign board.

Strider took each frame and traced the shape onto paper so we could make decisions without making nail holes.  Since the day we moved in, we hung this clock on an existing nail in the wall.  It was off-center, but so was the couch.  After planning out the placement of the frames we chose to use the clock spot as a starting point and grow outward from there.

The first frame to go up was the huge one - 20"x24".  I love it.  I have had this since the beginning of the year, folks.  We lovingly wrapped it and brought it here with us just to be used right here.

Strider meticulously worked to get everything placed correctly.  My plan was not too matchy, but balanced.  Not centered but evenly spaced.  Kinda planned and kinda haphazard.

I got so excited as it came together.

Here is the masterpiece.  

Now, at the top of the post I indicated that this was 95% finished.  See the two pictures of skeleton keys?  Those will be replaced with actual keys once my glass knobs arrive.  They'll hang from ribbon.  For now, just pretend it's finished.  I'm too impatient not to show you.

The next piece of significant decor is the temple picture.  We live 3 blocks from this temple and see it every day.  I found this watercolor painting in the first shopping trip down main street that I took with the kids, about a week after moving in.  It was $16 at a little boutique and I love it.  It will sit in our living room to remind us why family is so important.   

Here is the monogram.  $5 at Hobby Lobby.

Here is the clock that I made (and personalized) at a RS activity years ago.

Here is the spot where the keys will be, and our numeral 7.  For 7 family members.  There will be a large key and a small key, each representing a house for our family.  I'll label them with the house numbers.

I made this sign last week.  My first craft in months!  It was fun and the message is spot on.  Perfect reminder for me.

Here are my silly kids at that family photo shoot, along with a monogram from my sister Wendy and a vase/pot that my little brother Matt made for me in high school pottery class.

Here is inside the front door, where we enter every day and now we smile each time we see that awesome wall.

A room filled with meaning and significance.  I think we nailed it.

Check out other rooms in our new place:

Laundry Room

Girls Room

Dining Room