Everybody loves a good gallery wall, right?
I like the mixed media type walls, with items other than just framed stuff. Like a giant letter or maybe some ceramic antlers. But for my own gallery walls I just went with my own travel photos and a related wall quote.
My upstairs hallway was the perfect location, but it is fairly narrow so I couldn’t add anything that would stick out too far. Encountering ceramic antlers in the middle of the night could be quite dangerous in this spot.
The door on the right leads to Mr. Q’s study, the door on the left is the master bedroom … and behind door no. 5? The guest room. Why is the door numbered? I numbered all of my doors on a whim one time. The upstairs doors still have their numbers. And can I just take a moment to say, I love my doors. Super heavy, original six panel doors. Over time I have switched out most of the knobs to black or white vintage enamel.
Anyway, when I decided to do this, I began by stockpiling black frames at garage sales. They are easy to find, and usually pretty cheap. I still have more black frames on hand and hope to get more pictures soon to add to my gallery. You could also find basic black frames at Goodwill on the cheap.
I suppose I could have done something fancy, like lay all of the frames out on newspaper first and arrange and re-arrange until I was happy with the layout and then use the newspaper to line up the nail holes on the wall. But no, that would be way too much work for me. Instead I just started in the center and worked my way out. Not perfect, but I’m happy with the outcome.
All of the pics were taken by your’s truly. I love, love, love travel photography. Did I mention, I love it? Thank goodness Mr. Q is up for wandering around a foreign city without a goal in mind other than finding fab things to photograph. As long as we occasionally stop for coffee, he is game. Mr. Q and I put a lot of miles on our feet when we travel and we know from experience that getting lost is the best way to see a new city.
Both Barcelona and Copenhagen are fantastic cities to get lost in. We were in Copenhagen in springtime and these fabulous trees with hanging yellow blossoms were everywhere. I don’t know what they are, but they were amazing and they looked gorgeous behind this verdigrised statue.
These doors were all in Barcelona. I love graffiti, it has such a raw, urban feel to it. And I also love taking photos of doors, so these doors were perfect for me.
Tangier has some great doors too, and it also had this fantastic motor scooter/cart. We hired a private guide in Tangier, because the Medina in Tangier is probably one place you really don’t want to get lost.
We went to a wedding in this church in Puerto Vallarta. One of Mr. Q’s co-workers was from there and he invited us down for his wedding. The church was fantastic and filled with history and the reception was a blast. It was held in a big park, but there were tables with linens and candles right out in the open and it was a gorgeous night in February. Each table had several bottles of tequila and bowls of limes and we were serenaded by a mariachi band. As you can imagine, much fun was had by all!
The red mailbox with the “GR” on the front is in Gibralter, and the fruit stand is in the Cinque Terre. The photo with the canal in it at the upper left was taken in Prague.
Although I didn’t keep track of how much this gallery wall cost, I am sure I never paid more than a dollar or two for each frame. I printed the photos myself, so yes the paper and ink cost me something. But overall, this was a pretty budget friendly way to make a big impact as long as you don’t factor in the actual cost of the travel!
As you can see, I have filled the walls nearly right down to the baseboard. I think this helps up the fabulousity factor.
If you are a budding photographer, I recommend you do your own gallery wall. Take some great shots, print them out and fill up a wall in your house!
q is for quandie 
Hi, I’ve been meaning to post for awhile, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your blog! You have great ideas and such a pleasant writing “voice”. I’m in the Twin Cities as well so my ears always perk up when you mention local places and shops. I’ve been wanting to do a gallery wall for our home, but we’re in a lovely 1930s cape cod that’s FULL of plaster walls and I just haven’t been able to figure out how to handle that. All I can think of is to use very very lightweight frames and Command hooks/velcro. Any other ideas that won’t butcher my old walls?
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Hi Gretchen! Thanks for your lovely comments! I have plaster walls too, so my ‘gallery’ is on plaster. I use a trick I learned from Martha Stewart and it is deceptively simple. I put a piece of scotch tape on the wall where the nail is going to go first, then nail into the tape. The tape stays in place, so make sure it isn’t going to show over the top of your frame. Somehow this seems to keep the plaster from crumbling, like it has a tendency to do. It also seems to give the nail a little more support. I don’t think this would work for super heavy items, but for your typical picture frame it works great. Good luck!
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That’s good to know. I’ve seen a few spots here where the previous owner has done the same with masking tape. I’ll just have to work up the nerve – plaster just seems so formidable, somehow. 🙂
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Your gallery wall looks so pretty!
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Thank you!
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Hi Linda. The trees with the yellow flowers that you saw in CPH, are laburnums, apparently known as golden chains. I had to google it to find the English word. In Danish they are called Guldregn, which literally means “gold rain”.
Best wishes, Susan, Denmark
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Susan, thank you so much for letting me know what kind of tree that is! After reading your comment, I researched further and found that they do not grow in my climate (winters are too harsh for it here in Minnesota), drat! I shall just have to travel back to Denmark sometime to see them again!
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I don’t know how I managed to post twice, I thought the comment disappeared so I wrote another 🙂 I have a big one in my garden. It did get amputated last fall because a huge birch fell down on it during a heavy storm, but I think it will grow back fine. I can send you a picture next spring :-))
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I’ll delete the duplicate comment, and no one will be wiser 😉 I’d love to get a picture next spring! Keep me in mind.
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Hey no. 5 is my room! And you didn’t mention me as one of your travel companions too. Maybe not on those trips but on many others.
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Yep, I have room no. 5 reserved for a party of one beginning August 22. Wish we were going on a fabulous trip somewhere this time, but I guess we’ll have to make do with the Twin Cities.
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What a fun idea, a travel memory, gallery wall. I bet there are times it just brightens your day to pause and reflect on the day, the trip, the occasion of these photos. The numbered doors are charming and I am going to copy your idea. The doors are just awesome. I have door envy.
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It is fun to see the photos and be reminded of good times without having to drag out a photo album. As for the numbered doors, I’m pretty sure I copied that idea from somewhere myself. Kind of a fun way to add a little whimsy. I just used stick on vinyl numbers, they come right off when you are tired of the look.
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