First things first. Weren’t we talking about how foxes might be the new “it” animal (as in, move over birds and giraffes)? Well, I think this video might be proof that we’re all on to something.
Now that that’s out of the way, on to our regularly scheduled program…
Sherry and I have always been fans of the idea of hanging art around a TV just to soften the big black rectangle that it creates on the wall. And since we have quite the collection of frames to wade through (128 to be exact) it wasn’t exactly a speedy selection process. But after more noodling than I care to admit, we officially hung this house’s first frame collage.
Here’s the bare wall that we started with:
Sherry actually did most of the noodling (credit where credit is due) and she used the floor as her work surface. The big gap in the middle is the space she measured for the TV. In addition to paying attention to the size of the frames, our main goal was to choose art that wasn’t too “visually demanding” (i.e. not too bright or high contrast). We don’t want it stealing the show from the, um, TV shows.
Once the arrangement looked good on the floor, we started transferring it to the wall – starting with the frame right in the middle and being sure to center it on the TV. For some reason even though Clara was sleeping we had Little Einstein on. Nothing like a little Mozart in the background to make frame hanging a joy and a pleasure.
We slowly built out from there on one side, just holding each frame up and eying it. We wanted to maintain somewhat consistent spacing between everything, but weren’t crazy careful about it. We like a bit of imperfection in a frame collage (plus, there’s always time for tweaking later). For example, after taking this photo we noticed that the frame directly to the right of the TV was too close to it, so we made a mental note to inch it out a little after we finished the other side.
Here’s what it looked like with almost everything up on the wall. Well, everything except for the bottom frame on the far left because [insert facepalm here] we forgot to account for the light switch. And that little screw up made us realize that [get that palm ready again] we totally should have centered the TV on the ceiling beams first. Oh the things you don’t realize when you map stuff out on the floor…
We were less than pleased about the miscalculations, plus I was having deja vu. But having foreseen something like this happening, we thankfully had only hung things with small picture hanging nails at this point (i.e. I hadn’t broken out the anchors and screws for some of the heavier items) so it wasn’t a big deal to shift everything to the right a few inches (eight to be exact). All but one of our erroneous nail holes got covered up in the end, so we were only disgruntled for a short time.
If you scroll back to Sherry’s initial “rough draft” layout on the floor, you’ll notice that everything stayed the same except we opted for two larger frames on the outside edges instead of three smaller ones. It just looked cleaner that way when we eyed things as we got them on the walls.
This room is certainly far from being done, but it really does feel more personal with some of our favorite stuff on the wall. Everything from wedding photostrips to the lot drawing of our first house and a map we brought back from Hawaii last year made the cut. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if we update a few of the frames down the road just for fun.
We were most glad to finally hang our pin map in a place of honor (we briefly hung it in the foyer but this art looks better in there). And Sherry’s giddy that she got not one, but two faux white taxidermy items up there. Hopefully the deer that congregate out back aren’t offended.
So that’s the story of two screws, two anchors, thirteen nails, and twenty nine holes in the wall. Any one else put some holes in their walls recently? Hopefully fewer unintentional ones than us…
Stephanie says
What on earth? That video is the weirdest and most hilarious I’ve seen on the interwebs in a long time! The funniest thing is that the singer (with the costume and face paint) looks so serious! How?
thanks for the frights and Lols!
I love a frame wall! Looking good! :)
Amanda says
I love it! One thing though, the cream colored turtle shell sticks out from everything else since everything is white, it looks very cream. Could it be spray painted? I love the map art, great job!
YoungHouseLove says
I bet we could spray it, although in person some of our frames and mags are cream so it’s sort of a range like we had in our last hallway’s frame wall.
xo
s
Sassy says
When we do gallery walls, I trace each potential piece on paper or newspaper, label vertical or horizontal and which piece it represents. A roll of painter’s tape and we hang and shift on the wall itself. I tried the floor method once and drove myself crazy. Glad it works for you.
YoungHouseLove says
Love that method!
xo
s
KENDRA says
wow John, you are the man for hanging all those tons of frames in your houses that you have owned! My husband squacks at me if I so much as ask him to hang a small frame with a simple nail in the wall. He hates putting holes in our plaster walls!
Laura says
I think the pin map is a great idea. Don’t forget to add Destin! :)
Amanda says
The wall looks great! My husband and I moved into our house around the same time you moved into yours. We painted every surface and patched every hole before we moved in. We are talking 36 gallons of paint and three plus tubs of spackle. I can’t bring myself to hang anything on the walls yet. I’m getting there though, I think we are up to four things hanging. Your house is looking great! The foyer is AMAZING!!
Liz says
Oh my gosh! Thank you for featuring my forum post, you may have just made my day, week, month year!? lol. Geeking out over here.
Thanks for being such an inspiration, I’m really excited to be digging into my new house as you dig into yours. PS I actually just told my husband that “the door is the smile of the house.” With a straight face.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, if course Liz!
xo
s
Sarah @ An Inviting Home says
I’m in the middle stages of a new gallery wall right now. I feel so stuck trying to figure out the right placement. It will eventually get done and now I’m totally inspired by yours! There is hope. :-)
~Sarah
Heather says
We just mounted our tv onto the wall and I have been stuck on what to do with the surrounding area. This may be some of the inspiration I need.
Allison says
Great idea!! Now I wanna try :)
Sally says
I see you’ve switched out the gray chair for the leather one – good call. Contrast = good.
Kathleen says
The video frightened me,….but I couldn’t stop watching.
Sally says
Also, no pin in Destin? You guys must have had this done for a white now! ;)
sarah says
Forgive me if you’ve answered this elsewhere, but how on earth did you protect 128 frames while moving? We have a move coming up and I don’t know if our art pieces should be individually bubble wrapped, boxed in specially shaped boxes, or just schlepped individually while hoping for the best. Any tips?
YoungHouseLove says
We bubble wrapped every last frame and mirror when we moved from our first house to our second one in a big U-Haul, but this time we took trips over in the car of them just carefully stacked in the back and the trunk without any bubble wrap. It was crazy and made me sweat but nothing broke and we saved miles of bubble wrap. Haha!
xo
s
beth says
Oh my gaawwwd. I, shamefully, admit that I haven’t been able to crush and gush over the ceramic animals. However, IM am totally gaga over that turtle shell. My. Heart. Stopped…literally. I adore it and do believe somehow I missed the post of it coming home to live with you. Where did you find this treasure? Love the wall! Looks great!!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Beth! It’s from Target (from the Nate Berkus line).
xo
s
Cheryl says
I just heard that song in the car today and I was shocked that hey even played it on the radio. I know you are too young, but it reminded me of the song “Fish Heads” from when I was teen. They played that song on the radio and also on MTV back when MTV actually played videos. You should check it out if you have never heard it, its on YouTube. Love the picture wall by the way, especially he tortoise shell.
Cheryl says
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKDtUzRIG6I
here is a link to the Fish Heads song
YoungHouseLove says
So funny! Can’t believe it was on the radio!
xo
s
Kristin says
Did moving the tv stand/dresser over to the right a bit throw off the placement of the tv, rug, or ottoman? I think those are centered on the window across from the tv, aren’t they?
My husband, a band director at Iowa State University, just sent the fox song out to an arranger yesterday. The band will be playing it soon. Too funny!
YoungHouseLove says
Thankfully the TV just moved 8″ over and it was never perfectly centered on the sofa or ottoman so the shift wasn’t a noticeable thing (and viewing hasn’t changed since it was a small tweak). The TV just looks centered on that wall and the sofa is centered under the wide bay of windows, so somehow it makes sense.
xo
s
Penny says
Glee needs to cover that fox song. Also $herdog, I’m painting cabinets today in my inside-out workout clothes. Just kidding, I don’t work out. High five!
YoungHouseLove says
High ten! Go Penny, go!
xo
s
Tatiana says
Don’t you guys think it’ll be too much white-on-white especially after you paint all the wood and trim? Or are you considering adding some more color to the walls down the line?
YoungHouseLove says
We’re planning some color on the ceiling between the coffered beams and on the back of the bookcases that we’ll be adding on the other side of the room. I think between the rug and pillows and window treatments it won’t be too bare looking, but of course we could end up repainting the walls or even wallpapering. Should be fun to see where we end up!
xo
s
ashley sterle says
i really think you should add something above what is already there to create more height! Just my opinion ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Ashley! We were sitting on the sofa thinking about mounting the TV on the wall a little higher and then everything would shift up and look a little more centered on that wall, so I think that’s our down the line plan!
xo
s
otis says
Is there an updated version of yalls pin map?
YoungHouseLove says
I think we shared a more recent shot of it in this traveling post: https://www.younghouselove.com/2013/03/inforgraphing-it-up/
xo
s
Amber McMullin says
Ok, so I totally scored the mustard turtle shell at goodwill the other day for only 12 bucks! Yay! Just had to share my luck with you guys! :)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome! Such a lucky find!
xo
s
Maria says
Looks great! We did the same thing in our room, but we mounted the TV! I’ve been toying with the idea of adding some color to the TV frame. :)
http://www.seethatthere.com/2012/03/hiding-in-plain-sight.html
YoungHouseLove says
That looks awesome!
xo
s
Megan @ The Brick Bungalow says
I just started on a gallery wall in my daughter’s newly remodeled room. She has almost a hallway like effect by her door thanks to us stealing some extra room from her room to make our hallway bathroom larger (in the future) and to add in her new closet. So it created the perfect spot for hooks (on the board and batten) and a gallery wall. She loves to create art, so a few of her originals are up there (she’s 4, so she’s happy with it right now) and a few pictures. I am looking for additional items, maybe something fun and of course some photos. It’s taken a month or so to finally bust out the nails because I was enjoying the freshly painted NEW drywall (the majority of our house is still plaster except her room and our master). It’s so nice to finally get art up on the wall… but in her words, some of it is “too cute!” What?!?! She made it! Crazy 4 year olds!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, that’s so sweet!
xo
s
Christa says
Just curious – are you planning on leaving the bottom half of the wall in that room wood? Or will you paint it?
YoungHouseLove says
We’re going to paint that like we painted the wood paneling and trim in our first house’s den. It was our favorite room in the house!
xo
s
Diana says
I really like frame collages and how much they personalize a space. Nice job!
Judy W. says
Mea culpa in the Not Planning Department. I finally got around to stenciling the beam that runs across our bedroom, and now every time I look at it I grit my teeth and have to resist the impulse to paint over the whole thing and start again. Instead of figuring out where the middle is and starting there to work out in both directions, I just started at one end and went for it! Bad planning! So it’s lopsided, with more space at one end than the other. And furthermore, the stencil is asymmetrical, so I should have turned it over for one side so it would run smoothly and symmetrically out from the center. Ugh. It’s driving me crazy.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, I totally feel for you Judy!
xo
s
Caryn says
Starting to feel all homey and cozy in there! I’m dying to see how insanely awesome this room is going to look with bright white paint on all that wood!
Amanda @ The Scacchi House says
I’m in love with your pin map. I’ve been looking for one, but I can’t decide if I want one of just the US or the world. My grandma has a really nice one of the world, but it’s huge!
Yetunde says
After being unduly influenced by Houzz and Pinterest, I decided to embark on my first gallery wall attempt. Filled 2 pages with drawing and calculations to 3 decimal places. Measured, nailed, hung up the pictures and realized that I had measured the picture sizes without including the frame area.
Lets just say it looks more like a picture choo-choo than a picture gallery
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man! I think every single gallery wall we’ve attempted has involved a bunch of tweaks or extra holes – it just seems to happen all the time!
xo
s
Alicia says
I couldn’t help but notice that you map doesn’t have anywhere in Nebraska pinned. If you ever get the opportunity, you should head to Omaha. Clara would love our zoo, and we have a couple of other fun things to do as well.
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds like so much fun Alicia!
xo
s
Andrea says
Seriously guys, where do you find these videos?! Hilarious!
YoungHouseLove says
John’s a Facebook and Buzzfeed addict, so at night he plays around on his phone and digs up the weirdest things!
xo
s
Sherri says
How does that “128 frames” collection compare to Sherry’s pillow and ceramic animal collections? haha. Sorry to bother you with a question, but you always steer me right when it comes to doing DIY projects. I am going to help a friend paint some furniture, and I resourced your 5 step tutorial from Feb 2009. Are those products still the ones you recommend? I love the brush for tight spots that you suggest for edging. Would that work for furniture or something else? Do use any particular brand of small foam roller? Your detailed resourcing distinguishes you from the other blogs out there and is appreciated. Thanks for your help.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s Sherri! That tutorial is still how we paint furniture and I use a short handled brush all the time along with a foam roller set from Home Depot (don’t remember the brand, but it’s the only small set of foam rollers they sell). Good luck!
xo
s
Kristen says
I promise you, yesterday, my boo called me a fox, so naturally I went to make a fox sound… I didn’t know what to do! So I made it up. Then THIS!!! I can not wait to show him. HA!
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!
xo
s
Hillary says
We have a gallery wall behind our TV too, in part to disguise some weird switches, thermostat, and covered wires that are off-center behind the television stand. Ours has fewer/larger pieces of art because it’s a huge blank wall with a high ceiling and doesn’t have nice wainscot like your living room. I tried white frames but I thought the TV seemed more connected to the gallery once I switched to darker frames. Our TV stand is really dark too (a Hemnes black-brown one from Ikea) so it makes more sense that way. I think your TV wall will really come together once the wood tone is painted out white so it makes sense with all the white frames.
Bailey says
I almost always seem to end up with extra holes in the wall when I hang multiple things in a cluster. #Doh!
Bailey
Kathryn says
Here in Dublin, we definitely know what they say. http://www.foxpop.info/dublin_map.html
But yes, waking up in the middle of the night hearing one is scary stuff. I went straight into ‘a child is in grave danger!’ mode.
YoungHouseLove says
So scary! I would freak out!
xo
s
Sarah W. says
Bye, bye birdie! Foxes are definitely the “it” animal.
Shannon says
Just an FYI, fox bark. My neighbor feeds some wild ones in his yard so they are always around and they bark like weird raspy sounded dogs. What a bizarre music video.
Susan says
What are the height of the ceilings in that room? Will you be painting the beams white? I love the wall but not the beams. it looks too dark. I was surprised to see this room in your home? It is so not you. Sorry. (It’s my Interior Design degree speaking up)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we’re not close to being finished in here, so we’ve mentioned in a bunch of posts how we’re planning to paint the dark wood to lighten things up like our first house’s den.
xo
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Stacey says
The frames look really good. I’ve done something similar around our wall mounted tv. It kind of takes away it’s “center stage” look and makes it blend better.
I must confess, I am really hoping you paint the brown woodwork and beams soon!! It is beautiful wood, but will look a hundred times better painted. :)
Also, that video is so funny and bizarre. I called my kids in and we watched it together and had a good laugh with a few looks of “my how very strange! ” What’s it from?
Thanks for sharing!
Genevieve says
BAHAHAA!! I have loved following you guys for many reasons over the years, but introducing me to that Fox music video has catapulted to the top of that list. :) wow, the tears from laughing were falling here. My 2yr old loved it!
Hannah Q says
Ha! My husband and I have been singing that song nonstop all week. I actually had just finished watching the video when I wandered over to your blog this morning. :)
Dennies [ Kerala house plans ] says
Great great job!!!! really inspired with your living room!!
Ann says
Just wondering, do you have any plans to paint the dresser or stain it in a darker color? Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
We’re planning to paint the wood paneling, so the dresser will hopefully pop instead of blending in!
xo
s
Eliza says
Looks great! I want to do the exact same arrangement around our TV…I can’t wait to get started. Please, oh, please, paint the woodwork! AGH! It’s calling for lighter and brighter paint and then will feel so much more like you! I want to run up from Raleigh with my paintbrush and do it for you!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I’m working up the endurance for all that primer and all those cracks, but I can’t wait!
xo
s
chris wehner says
Hey!! nothing to do with this post…which I love…I have five bamboo plates and three mirrors above my tv in a weird pyramid like thingee!! What’s the app/website you use for give aways because it rocks!!! Could you suggest it to Pioneer Woman??? or I will LOL!!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Chris! We use Rafflecopter! It’s nice and easy, although we pay a small fee to use it, which might be why some others aren’t as in love. It really simplifies things for us, so it’s worth it!
xo
s
Margo says
Ok real talk now. How the heck do you keep your picture frames straight?! Even one frame on my wall manages to float to the side and become wonky. A gallery would be chaos! Chaos!! Could be our delightfully crooked walls and floors (the joy of a 1920’s home) but if you have any tips I would love to hear them!
YoungHouseLove says
My secret is that white poster putty you used to use to hang posters in dorm rooms. I just shove a little wad behind each frame and press it into place so it stays straight.
xo
s
Karin says
The frames look awesome!
My kids though, were embarrassed for the people in the video. We’re talking 6 year old and up here folks. LOL! Me, I was laughing like crazy. :D
Shannon @ River City Reading says
I don’t know, foxes might be the new it thing, but I’m totally in love with that tortoise (turtle?) shell. We might need to have that guy journey across the city to my house.