Ella's Finished Gallery Wall

Last night we finally put the last finishing touch on the gallery wall in Ella's room. I really love how it turned out. It brings so much happy colour into her room.

I was really excited to take pictures of it, so the colour is a little off, because it was 7:30am and it was still getting light outside.

One of the last touches was adding this antique doorknob. I won two sets of these on Ebay about two years ago, but never used them, because we were trying to sell our house or we were renting, so we didn't want to put a big hole in the wall.

We ended up cutting a small piece of MDF, and putting a screw through it, pointing out, and then another one straight through the MDF and into the wall. We filled the hole in the back of the door knob with hot glue and placed it over the screw. We secured it with painters tape while the glue dried, and then used it as a hook for the picture frame below.

I still wasn't comfortable with hanging something off of the knob--just in case--so the frame is actually secured to the wall itself, but appears to be hanging off of the doorknob. Safe and cute.

The picture that I used in that frame is a print of an old Ella Fitzgerald album. No, we didn't name our Ella after the musical icon, but we do love her music and the album cover was yellow, so it seemed appropriate.

In another frame I put a photo of Ella dancing in the rain. Somewhere there is a photo of me at the same age, in almost the exact pose, but we haven't been able to find it. So, my dad sent me a different one to hold it's place until it shows up. Ella is on the left, I am on the right.

Here's my secret to having any size of frame matting: I place a good piece of cardstock in the frame and tape the photos right on top. Unless you look very closely, It looks like the photos are behind a mat. This way I can put any size or number of photos in, without trying to find a mat that will fit.

Here again is the yarn wreath and embroidery hoop that I made. The fancy frames are from a collection I bought at the dollar store. They were cheap plastic and ugly, but after a coat of spray paint, they looked great. I found a couple children's storybook inspired pictures to put in the frames.

 

 

 Here's what the frames originally looked like

These little guys filled up a hole in the gallery nicely. They were bright orange and in the dollar bin at Michael's. I sprayed them and put some remnants of Ella's quilt fabric in the frames.

The little yellow canvas and the 'E' note card were both found in the Michael's dollar bin as well

'She...' quotes

Nicey Jane fabric from Heather Bailey in thrift store frames, and $2.50 stick on mirror

So, there it is! All done and looking so blue and pretty.

Here's the token 'reality shot'.

Here's some more info on the rest of the items on the wall:

Wool 'E', wool wreath, and embroidery hoop info found here
Mirror and fabric filled frames found here and here
'She...' quotes found here

All frames found at thrift stores or dollar stores.
Spray paint used: Rustoleum American Accents - Aqua

We are now onto the next step of Ella's bedroom, which is making her new bed. I bought a headboard and footboard from the thrift store last year, and didn't realize until last week that it is the top of a bunk bed frame. Neat. So there will be a little extra building going on to make it taller. At this point it is as low as Ella's current toddler bed.

But isn't it cute?

Here's where I need your input. I have a few different ideas for colours to paint the frame, but I can't make up my mind. Staining is not an option, due to too many other staining projects, so I'm trying to decide on the perfect paint colour.The other furniture in Ella's room is white, so that is an option. Or maybe a version of the aqua on her gallery wall. Lighter? Darker? More saturated? Less saturated? What about that beautiful dark teal? Or something totally different, like grey?

Any opinion is much appreciated

Thanks! :)


Joining these link parties:
 

Just A Girl - Show and Share day
The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday
Chic On A Shoestring - Flaunt It Friday
Simply Designing - Friday Link Party
Fingerprints On The Fridge - Feature Yourself Friday
Tatertots And Jello - Weekend Wrap Up Party
The DIY Show Off - DIY Project Parade
The Lettered Cottage - How To's Day