how to | modern natural gallery wall

Wow, thank you all for your enormous support on sharing how I put my gallery wall together. I am blown away! You guys are the best and I am more than happy to share exactly where I got everything and how to put it all together. The best part? It was all under $250… but, in my opinion, looks more like $2,000. I am very excited to share with you how you can get the same look in your home!

Keep reading for how I put it together…

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

My husband and I bought our very first home a little less than a year ago today. We had this intense desire to stay in the city, more specifically in Brookhaven. If you’re not from the area, getting into a house in Brookhaven is competitive to say the least. We chose Brookhaven because I absolutely love the city and I want to be as close to a “city life” as I can get, in our own separate home.  If it were up to me, I’d be in a high rise with a city view, but my husband wanted a backyard and our own space (can’t blame him!). In other words – our house is the best compromise that we could get.

Because of the competitiveness of the area, we opted for a house that was move in ready, but needed a little help with the aesthetics… but let’s be real, any house we would have chose I would have wanted to change most of it anyway. Call it a fault, but I LOVE putting my spin on everything. Anyone else do the same?

We’ve done a TON of work changing the current design of the house; which I promise I will share with you one day (soon!). I think the most requested content that you guys ask for is for me to share more of my home. So hopefully this post is a good first peek into the process I go through when designing my space. A lot of neutrals, a lot of Pinterest, and a lot of indecision; but we’re getting there!

Our kitchen had a very large, very blank wall right behind our kitchen table. My husband is, for lack of a better word, impatient and this blank wall drove him nuts. No joke. He’d ask me maybe twice a week for a few months straight – “what are we going to put on this wall? Should we just go get something from Lowes?” – the stress.

Anyway, I finally decide on a gallery wall. It would fill enough of this large space, but still look clean. The problem was I didn’t want to put pictures in the frames, I didn’t want something that didn’t go with the vibe (natural, modern), and I didn’t want to spend a million dollars – I mean, we just bought our first home and have like 10 other rooms to decorate and I tend to have expensive taste.

So I decided on wood. Natural, beautiful, and can be seen as art since every piece is different.

I absolutely love how it turned out. Definitely a modern feel, but natural at the same time. It really does pull the entire room together. Now that it’s up, I would not have it any other way. Here’s how you can get your own…

HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN GALLERY WALL

Now I have to preface this by saying that I am not a DIYer. Not that I have anything against it, I just have the opinion that if someone else is an “expert” at it, might as well outsource the project then try and do it myself.

HOWEVER, when it comes to my style – as I mentioned earlier – I have expensive taste. I personally think it makes more sense to spend your initial money on long lasting furniture (couch, bedroom furniture, etc.); so naturally, decor comes second. This doesn’t mean buy random decor from Homegoods (although Homegoods does serve it’s purpose!) it just means you have to get a little creative and very selective.

1. What you’ll need.

LINKED HERE:

1 | 2 (similar) | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

**Note: I could only find the RIBBA Frames that I used in black online.

I purchased the white ones in store at IKEA Atlanta**

On purchasing the wood: I purchased a few 5 1/2″ +/- and a few 6-8″.

2. Sand, condition, seal the wood.

If you have a sander, great! If not, you can simply purchase a sand block and do it by hand. I was lucky that my husband has just about every tool in his shed (thanks to his brother, Cooper, who use to sell Milwaukee Tools!). In all honesty, I didn’t sand that long. Not my cup of tea; but I did do this step and it made the wood a little more smooth, so do it was worth the effort.

Next, put on the wood conditioner. This helps bring out the details of the wood. Let sit for 15 minutes and then apply the Polyurethane. Let dry 3 hours (I let it dry over night).

3. Attach to 12 x 12 white card stock.

Use the Gorilla Glue to glue the pieces of wood to the cardstock. Let dry for at least an hour to be safe. Note – if you put too much glue, it may come out on the side and you’ll be able to see it.

4. Add to frames.

First, add the wood/cardstock to the mat board that comes with the IKEA frames.

With the wood face-up on the cardstock, put packing tape – also facing up – around the edges of the cardstock (half under the cardstock, half out for the mat board to stick to). Be very carful to get the tape to lay flat. If it doesn’t, you’ll be able to see the wrinkle when mounted.

Carefully place the mat board on top so the tape sticks to the back. Press out to make sure the tape sticks. Then flip the mat into the frame and continue to make sure the tape is flush agains the back of the mat.

Close the frame and you’re done!

***

Easy enough! I hope you enjoyed this post. If you did, please leave a comment below or find me on instagram and let me know what you thought on my latest feed post.

xo

[sw]