Photo Collage 2

It has been a long time since I have been able to Blog and I am happy to say, that from here on out I should be pretty consistent. With summer approaching, my list of home projects is growing (much to my Husband's dismay).

Since Thursday afternoon my Husband and his friends have hijacked our downstairs and have been playing a computer game for four days! I, of course have been trying to be the perfect  good wife and stay out of their way while still providing them with delicious food when I can.

To keep me busy while they click away in their own little world that I do not have even the slightest understanding of - I decided to tackle a project that has been on my to do list since we moved in: A photo wall going up the stairs with a collection of old family photos. Here is the play by play of completing this mission.


Compile the supplies:
Since I am a shop-o-holic, I already had quite the collection of picture frames laying around, however, a trip to the craft store was still a must. I was dreading this project because I am aware of the insane price of custom framing. I am fortunate to have some fabulous old photos from both sides of my family, but sadly - they are not standard photo sizes. I went to Michael's and was happy to hear I had a few options aside from custom framing. I had the option to purchase a frame and get matting cut to the right size. If I chose this option I could "float" the photos on top of the matting. I have seen this done before and it actually looks quite good. The option I chose was to buy a floating frame, with no matting. You tape the pictures in between the double glass and the color of the wall behind it will show through. I also purchased a wooden "W" and some light blue paint to add some color.

Arrange:
Yikes! I hate this step. I am such a visual person and it's hard for me to imagine what the outcome will be without actually hanging them on the wall. I did the next best thing which was arranging them on the carpet to get somewhat of an idea how the layout would look.

Templates:
This step is certainly the most tedious, but it's so necessary! You trace all of the frames on newspaper or paper bags and cut them out.

After you trace each frame, you flip the frame over, place the template against the back of the frame and mark where your screws will go. This honestly makes hanging the frames a piece of cake! And come on, who doesn't love cake?

Practice:
Next, I taped all of my templates on the wall. This allowed me to move anything that did not look right. I also traced templates for two to three extra frames just in case I saw some spots that needed filled (I ended up using all of them).

Nails:
 When the wall looks just how you want it...put nails in all of the spots you marked!

Finish:
 Once all of your nails are in, start hanging everything! I just rip each template off the wall as I replace them.

I am so proud!