Out of the box {A new answer to art}

Hi friends! Thank you for letting me share our 'new' living room with you yesterday! As I mentioned, I refreshed the wall above our church pew with some newly inspired art.

Honestly, after I rolled out the bold Ikea Lappljung Ruta rug I was stumped what to do for art. The book-page wreath hanging above our couch made the cut, (tutorial here), but we've got lots of blank wall space above our church pew that needed something. 

We had some really pretty soft flower canvas prints hanging on that wall previously, but once we moved the rug in, they just didn't measure up. They looked way too timid with the new bold rug. I spent a bit of time looking at some different options; mirrors, clocks, bolder art prints, etc. The other thing I had to consider was that on the other side of the wall, in our dining room, we've got a gallery wall. 

I didn't want to have two large gallery walls less than a few feet apart competing with each other...but when it came down to 'what do I really want to look at and see?', the truth was I wanted something personal like a gallery wall with family pictures and fond memories.

After seeing this image while Google image searching, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

Pinned from lesleymyrick.com

simply hung, meaningful art to go over our church pew in living room. Love this, by Lesley Myrick Art + Design.

My version

I collected a few family photos and mementos from some favorite trips. To 'beef up' some of the family pictures, (most of which are 3x5 and 4x6), I just glued the photos onto pages of scrapbook paper. 

The 'B', for our last name, was a very easy project that took all of 10 minutes one afternoon! I wrote out a large 'B' on a thin piece of cardboard, cut it out, and wrapped it in a long strip of white scrap fabric that I had, (it was actually a piece of trim that I had pulled off a curtain which I re-purposed).

After my 'B' was done, I spread out the pictures and mementos on the floor and arranged everything how I wanted it to look on the wall, (I measured the space above the church pew to figure out how long my strung-up collage needed to be, then just placed the hooks on either end that far apart on the floor).

I screwed my hooks into the wall after marking the space with measuring tape and a pencil, then tied a line of twine between the two hooks.

Finished product!

The hooks and decorative clothes pins, (bought in a pack of 5), are from World Market. The hooks were $1 each, and the 5-pack of clothes pins were $3. Now we've got the perfect piece of sentimental art over the church pew for a whopping $5, (well, free thanks to the WM gift card I got for Christmas. Thanks, Casey!!!)

What I love about this look is that it's personal, casual, and easily swap-able! I have so much fun decorating our home but don't believe in taking the decorating too seriously, and I think this out of the box art above our church pew speaks of that.

Another company thinking out of the box is Today's Homes! As custom home builders, they understand more than anyone that an ideal home, ideal budget, and comfort are as individual as a persons fingerprint. That's why they work so closely with their clients in open communication to build the home of their dreams!

Thank you so much for coming by!

~Chelsea

This post was originally published on Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.