Spraying a Future Gallery Wall

After my recent trip to New York City, I decided that it could be pretty nifty to display some of the tickets used during those wonderful two days. It would be an easy and fun way to remind myself of what a nice visit I had while “working” there in September.

I’ve still got bare walls in my house, if you can believe it, so a gallery wall became the perfect opportunity to fill empty space while displaying items that brought back wonderful memories.

Of course, with my precious knowledge that spray paint can improve anything, I decided to invest in frames and mats from thrift stores such as Goodwill. I knew that with the right amount of elbow grease and spray paint, these old ugly things could be turned into exactly what my walls needed.

After several weeks of watching the sales and many scores at each one, I found some beautiful, solid wood frames with some matching mats. This will be just what I need!

I broke away from my normal Rustoleum spray paint use because I was at Lowes. They have a wider color selection in Valspar, and I didn’t want to pick the same blue that is on every many other surfaces throughout the house. My absolute favorite color is a deep teal called “Lagoon” in Satin by Rustoleum’s Painters Touch. If you’re looking for a great can to start you off, Lagoon is it!

Valspar is actually Lowes’ own brand. It works well and has such pretty colors.

I sprayed this first batch back in September, so you can imagine that I had to act quickly under the intense sun. The ideal spraying temperature only goes up to ninety-five degrees, and it was probably one-hundred and ten today. Yuck!

So I scrubbed these guys clean and removed the glass and mats. Then, they were quickly placed on a spraying board in the backyard and given several thin coats of white.

From ugly to gorgeous, all with a few passes of the can. Man, I love this stuff. Talk about instant gratification at its finest!

I wanted the frames to all be white, but I picked a rather obnoxious bright color for the mats to add some color and dimension to the wall.

   

The mats were given a few bursts of love from the spray can, and they also looked new and ready for a life in our home.

The sun was pretty intense, which made taking accurate pictures of the blue a little difficult. You can see the same color in a table that I did near the fireplace when I got the new rug for the reading nook.

I told you that it was loud…

Just like all paint, this stuff has to dry. I try to let it sit for a few days to really harden. There is nothing worse than a little scratch after some new white paint has been laid down. So I spread them out in a safe place to let them mull over their new cosmetically-altered lives.

Because it was so hot outside, I brought the mats inside to finish drying as well. These were on the kitchen counter on top of small plastic cups (leftover from our wedding!). Because the mats were painted paper, they dried much more quickly than the wooden frames.

Hopefully, it doesn’t hurt your eyes. Once these mats are back in white frames with a little pop of color inside, they will look awesome. I am waiting until I collect even more frames before we start hanging.

Can you believe all of that patience?!

Lowes is quite a drive for me, so I stocked up last time I was there to make sure that I had enough to do whatever frames found their way to our home in the future.

Plan ahead so you don’t run out of spray paint, I always say!

Well, look what we have here! Looks like I found another half-price sale and scored a bunch of frames for a few bucks each! I try to look for various shapes, sizes, and textures. They will all be white, so I want the interest to really come out in the frame itself. This wall will come together nicely in the end. It’s certainly a work in progress now…and it’s taking way too long in my book.

So much for patience…

What projects do you have going on right now?