A Gallery Wall For A Boy's Bedroom

Ever feel like you're trying to make a mole hill out of a mountain?

That's where I'm at with my son's bedroom.

It really is a room of disorganization, clutter and messiness.

Is there a way to display those items that mean something? In a way that is out of the way?

Enter one of my midnight sketches. 

How about a Gallery Wall? Could it possibly work?

The other issue with the room is the bed placement. You'll notice that the bed is jammed into a corner - right where HR likes it - nice and cozy and secure feeling.

But, there is no focal point and this is the main uninterrupted wall we see when we enter the room.

So could a gallery wall be used to tie the TV and bed space together across the great divide? AND, make that turkey trophy look good?

I'd say it's worth a shot.

Now, this is where thrifting pays off.

Once the idea struck, I dove in.

However, I did manage to spray paint all the frames black for cohesiveness... in gale force winds. Didn't ya know?  --When spray painting, anything over a .5 mph wind is considered gale force.

So, yes, I had this to work with, and I refused to rehang the hanging hardware for it out of sheer laziness. So it was going to have to work right where it hung. 

Also, this print from the Norman J. Rockwell Museum needed to be prominently displayed for the cowboy of the house.

HR's Christmas present from his Uncle Nate arrived all wrapped up in his outdated flight maps. He flies the F-16, so for HR this is waaaaay cool. 

I just cut up pieces and framed them. Three done in total.

Then there were the Pinewood Derby cars. Well, at least most of them. One was recently converted to hold a rocketry fuel pack on it's back. Yeah, the rocket fuel that is supposed to go up, in a rocket designed for that particular fuel pack. Just so you don't get all worried on me here, mom and dad handled that one right quick!

So, normal derby cars, prepare to meet your maker hanger. This project is good for frames that are missing their glass. I used heavy scrap booking card stock and plastic twisty ties saved from Christmas presents, and then traced and cut paper according to the size of the frame opening. I borrowed the glass front from another frame the same size.

Next, I screwed a teeny-weeny-tiny screw eye (without getting frustrated, promise!) into the underside of the derby car.

After positioning the car on the backside of the paper exactly as I wanted it to hang on the correct side, and I carefully marked  with a pencil where the screw eye was directly above the paper.

Then, with a hat pin, or craft tool, I poked two holes into the paper about 1/2 inch apart, flipped the paper over, and threaded the twisty tie through the hole and the screw eye, and through the other hole.

Both twisty tie ends were then on the back side of the paper like so:

After taping them down, the derby car looked like this from the top:

I also placed some double sided tape at the top of the paper and when framed, I pressed it against the backer that slides into the frame - just to ensure the paper did not pop out or sag at the top.

Hang with me here... almost done. :-)

Next I took two old preprinted art canvases and spray painted them black. The "paint within lines" can still be seen, but it actually gives a neat graphic feel to them.

Now I will attempt to do the impossible: display origami art.

Fragile, tiny, and 3-D - hard to display.

But, I think this will work:

That's it! Place them and pin them right through the canvas! 

I taped the pins somewhat flat on the reverse side.

And, viola!!

He has an entire box of them for me to pick from...

At last, it's time for some really fun "art". Ya know, the stuff preteen boys are made of!

Caution tape art:

A nod to a favorite team and his dad's recently sold sports car:

I also included two small frames that aren't filled yet - maybe for a scouting badge from camp? - and a small framed cork board for his use.

Throw in a few professional photographs and family shots from prior years, and here you have it - all laid out and ready to consider:

After a little more considering and placement changes:

Rather than do a brown paper or newspaper template, I relied on my photographs to remember placement when hanging.  Guess what? I moved a few around as I hung them. I also had measured the distance along the bedroom wall and noted where that was on the carpet, and stayed within that space. The art is hung high enough that he can sit against the wall without disturbing most of it. 

Nothing fancy done in the hanging here. It's called eyeballing it, an initial good measurement, and some photos. 

And, finally, after hanging it in near darkness before bedtime one night, the resulting wall (minus some sticky tack and straightening that is yet to happen):

Phew! That was a lot of pics! Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Check back again as I update this preteen bedroom as part of the

29 Day Organizational Challenge over at the Organizing Junkie.

After all that hard work, I'm partying at these lovely sites: