Living Room Gallery Wall

The space above our couch is super awkward. In fact it’s so awkward it’s been empty for as long as we’ve lived in our home…..almost 8 years! I just couldn’t make my mind up, shelves or gallery wall. So there it was blank and lonely.

Until I got word that we had family coming to town; family that had never visited our home. I dug through my “goodie” closet aka the corner of Weston’s closet that holds my random finds and pull out a few things I thought would snaz the wall it up.

No planning or measuring. That’s too stressful. I just grabbed a hammer and some nails and went to town!

The H was a flea market find. The yellow frame was Goodwill frame I fixed up with some spray paint and the Kent and Kendra art work is from Esty store. I LOVE everything is their store. I bought a few things for Weston’s nursery and had this done as well hoping I would find a place for it someday. I think it’s kind of perfect in our living room!

Eeek isn’t nugget so cute. This was from his 6 month shoot which by the way I have not finished editing and he’ll be 1 in a month! Kiddos that have a photographer parent totally get the shaft! Can you see his sweet little teethies? I remember wanting to get his 6 month pictures done asap to capture that sweet smile right there……with those 4 little teeth…..before all the others came it. He now has 8 and is working on 9 and 10. So glad even though it was a busy time and even though I have yet to finish editing them that I made it important to document that sweet smile! 

The fancy dude silhouette was another flea market find I bought hoping to use in Weston’s nursery but couldn’t find a spot for it. I love it so I’m glad it ended up working for this wall.

The Huie’s sign was a craft project I whipped up while I was preggers. It special to me. I remember painting at the coffee table trying to maneuver over my big belly while I thought about all fun memories that that lead us to where we were “The Huei’s”. Yep this one will be with us for a long time.

The sweet girl picture was a Goodwill find and the Picasso (yes it’s totally real) is from Ikea. What you didn’t know they sale Picasso originals at Ikea? They totally do!

And there ya have it! Nothing fancy or earth shattering but it’s pretty, it was done on a budget and the awkward wall looks much better!

Okay now onto something a little off topic. Well not totally of topic but I’m switching gears a little.

Do you remember above when I said we had family coming into town which is why I decided to do this? Well it was a very last minute project and I needed something within an hour to fill my empty frames. I did a big no no. Something I tell all my clients not to do. I had some prints done at Costco. Shame shame shame! They were able to get them to me in 30min so I went with it.  Even though I knew I was being bed I was shocked at just how awful the transfer was. Can we say GROSSSSS!

Pro lab print is on the left and Costco is on the right.

The saturation is way over done. Compare Weston’s feet and face. Among many other things. I edited this image to have a warm (not Costco warm) vintage feel to them. My pro lab print matches my edit perfectly!

Pro lab on the left and Costco on the right.

Compare the skies the contrast and shadows. Nice try Costco but now even close!

I left the uglies in the the frames just long enough to replace them with prints from my pro lab.

So when your photographer tells you not to use a printing services like Walmart, CVS, or Costco this my friend is why!

However if you do not have access to a pro lab and would like to order from a safe place I highly recommend Mpix.  Nope not affiliated but I’ve run test images though them in the past and have been happy with them. Going though your photographer is always best. You just can’t beat pro lab prints but Mpix works if a pro lab is not an option.

Instagram: Kendra.Pryor