Dining Room Gallery Wall

We are heading into our third year in our home and the wall decor in the dining room has gone through many changes. It's been the hardest to decide on, mostly, because it's our main backdrop for pictures. It gets the best natural light, so at one point I thought I'd leave it empty, but that emptiness got to me. I didn't want to spend a fortune on art work, but I wanted it to be a sophisticated, coastal, farmhouse feel; hence, the gallery wall.

When we first moved, the main focus of the wall was a photograph my husband and I bought on a whim when we were engaged. We were in Cape May at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's wedding weekend. There was a street fair, where we both (mostly me) fell in love with this coastal cliff photograph. We had no business spending the amount we did on it. I remember purchasing it and then the skies opened up and it poured for the rest of the night. We left the hotel early and sang Billy Joel the whole ride home. So, needless to say, that piece of art holds a special memory, but it just didn't fit on that wall. It now resides on the wall in the bar. I'll post about that room soon. The only picture I could find of the dining room wall with that photograph is this one with my cartwheeling girl. You get the picture though; it was way too small for that space.

For awhile, it stayed bare. I used it as a backdrop for birthday parties and other events. I hosted my sister's "Little Cutie" baby shower and the wall transformed into a citrus backdrop. My daughters' joint mystical creature party, as well as my son's "Monster Mash" each used the wall to give pops of color to support the respective themes.

The most recent attempt to decorate the wall was a three panel canvas. It was beachy and modern. My math skills are not the best (there's a reason I have an English degree) and the wall was much too big for the art. Also, as much as I loved the piece it was a bit too modern for the dining room.

Finally, after skimming Pinterest I decided on a gallery wall. They always intimidated me, as I said measuring and math make me nervous. However, I almost feel like it's hard to mess up a wall like this. I did have help from Etsy. I found these beautiful coastal, farmhouse prints and the shop even gave me a sample gallery wall layout. I added a few others and then just moved things around until it felt right. Is it perfect? By no means, but I figured I could add onto either side in time and as long as you don't look at all the holes in the wall (I kid) it was pretty easy to put up by myself, with a hand from my seven year old now and then for placement.

Eleven of the prints I got from North Prints on Etsy. They came in a gallery and they were beautiful and calming. For $13.99 I got several sizes for each print immediately downloadable. I used Shutterfly to print most of the prints, except for the 9x12 prints. The antique seascape print (middle row on the left) was also from them, but not part of the gallery package.

The space needed a bigger gallery, so I found several gorgeous landscape prints from HEIRLOOM Print Shop on Etsy. These were immediate downloads, as well, and they fit perfectly into the coastal farmhouse feel. Overall, I think I paid around $40 for all the downloads, which I mean, really?!?!

Of course, the printing and frames brought costs up, but I think the impact was worth it for the few hundred I paid. I ordered the frames online. I did think about heading into Homegoods or Marshalls and searching there, but online shopping has been easier these days. I was worried about the golds mismatching in person. I wanted a cohesive look, but still wanted some variation in texture and tone. The 11x14 frames (the biggest) and the 5x7 frames (the smallest) were both from Target. The 9x12 frames felt the most vintage and the 8x10 frames I found on Wayfair.

Overall, I'm happy with the end result. I'm sure I'll play around with it now and then, maybe add a few things. It definitely changes the feel of the dining room. Now to find a new dining set!