Spring Has Sprung…, In My Living Room!

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April 11, 2013 by Decorum DIYer

Well, sort of.

Although spring officially started less than a month ago, I think Mother Nature has been confused.

If you recall, just two short weeks ago, this was the scene in my backyard covered in five inches of snow!

Fast forward two weeks and Mother Nature must be losing her mind because it is 92 degrees here in Maryland and THIS is my backyard now:

Pretty crazy, huh?

Spring, or faux summer as it really is this year, is slowly showing herself in other places.  Most of our flowering trees are starting to bloom.  Here is the one in my front yard:

(Darn power lines.)

Spring has also made its way into my living room, but not in the way one would think.

A few weeks ago, I made an impromptu stop into a thrift shop on the way home from dance practice.

There were some lovely things, but a few framed prints on the floor leaning against a back wall caught my eye.  I am not one to normally go for girly, floral things, but something about the botanical prints excited me.

(Sorry this is so blurry, but I was balancing on one leg while trying to take the picture – don’t ask.)

There were six, well five identical and one identical print, but with a horrible 80’s framing scheme. Each botanical print represented a month of the calendar.  My excitement grew as the first one I saw was June (my husband’s birth month), the next was August (my youngest son’s birth month), but then the pattern fell apart.  Oh well, it would have been nice to have each family member represented, but I still sort of wanted them, even though one framed print was missing the glass and one was framed differently and had a blue mat.

I decided to go for it, even though I had no idea where I would put the prints, once I got them home.  $30 later and they were mine.  I should have pushed for $20, but I needed to rush home and it took forever to find an employee to take my money.

So, two days ago, Ascher was taking an epic long nap (not complaining) and instead of cleaning, I decided to make a change to the living room.

After my last thrift shop experience, I found the two little birdies and hung them above the sofa.

Sadly, that arrangement did not last long, as I had stolen our foyer table to use as a console table and my husband kept knocking over the lamp when he sat on the couch.  So, I was left with this for a while:

I love the metal art piece and the bird prints, but they looked so puny above the couch.  I’ve been thinking of relocating the metal art piece to an outdoor area and maybe find a new nest for the birdies.

So, I thought, “Why not?”

Can you see my crazy pencil lines?

I started the time-consuming and frustrating task of attempting to hang a gallery wall in a perfect grid of six frames.  Why was it frustrating?  Well, the frames are hung by wire, so each nail (or in my case, screws) must be placed on the wall at different points, as each wire hanger was not identical.  Furthermore, the one framed print that was different is slighting smaller than the other five, to further complicate my crazy grid, O.C.D.-must-hang-perfectly-pattern.

Then, I stumbled upon A View Along The Way‘s ribba frame grid gallery tutorial! She’s a genius.  I guess that makes me a pseudo-genius, because I was thinking the same, but using a 3-ring binder ruler (the kind with the holes in the center, oh and measurement tick marks).

So, a two-hour nap’s worth of sweating, measuring, leveling, cursing, etc…, this is what I was left with:

Hey, don’t judge, I have a plan and a vision.  Here is goes:

1. Find a replacement frame and mat for the invasive species botanical frame and mat in the top center.
2. Spray-paint, or some other method, all of the frames a distressed golden hue (not shiny).
3. To further the perfection of the grid, assist the wire hangers hung from screws with some 3M velcro picture hangers.  (This will also lessen the chance that my husband ‘children’ will knock the pictures off of the wall.)
4. In the not-too-near future, paint the wall a dark green.  You know, like my moodboard.

I’m thinking something like the below images:

The symmetrical grid aspect, but with six (unless I find more, there are twelve months after all).
[Via House Beautiful]

Six identical prints/frames with table and two lamps. Although, I would use a narrower wooden ledge “L” bracketed to the wall.
[Via 320 Sycamore]

Something like this, but symmetrical/identical frames, no table legs, and sofa flush to shelf.
[Via Remodelista (KLM Design)]

And lastly, everything about this image makes me weak in the knees.  Alas, I am not taking it this far:

[Via The Enchanted Home]

So, can you see what I see?

Do you think it is possible that I could make this work?

I’d really love to hear your thoughts, as the first thing my husband said when he came home was, “That looks awful.  I don’t like it at all!  It is too much!”

So, that’s us.

I’ve shown you where I am with this and where I’d like to go.

Here’s another photo just to take it all in:

Oh, and don’t worry, your opinions, any opinions, will not cause us marital strife.

We’re a pretty happy couple and I always take my husband’s thoughts into account. Although, maybe not as to the ‘botanical/floral’ prints this time. But hey, I was drawn to them because I saw his birth month first.  Clearly I was thinking about him in some small way. However, I feel that sometimes he can’t see the forest through the trees (oh, yeah, botanical pun intended!) in terms of decorating.  I usually use Pinterest to aid me in helping him see my vision.  I’ll be waiting to see what everyone thinks about this one, or six.

Thanks to all for you anticipated assistance!

(Psst!  You can see the near final version of this gallery wall here.)

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