We’ve been in our home now almost a year. It’s kind of amazing to see where we were in life then and where we are now. When we first moved in, one of the first things I did was hang this photo of our little family (but it’s in black/white – see below).

Taken when R was just a week old…I wanted to have it in a prominent place so it’s at the top of the stairs. R loves to point and smile at it.
The more I looked at the photo the more I thought, “it needs something else…” But I wasn’t sure what. That’s when I turned to Pinterest for inspiration (click on the link there or here to see my Gallery Wall board). I searched “gallery wall” and “collage wall” for ideas, many of which were over the top (too busy) or way too cookie-cutter for me. I wanted ours to be different and made up of things that mattered to us – not just pictures. Which also meant this wasn’t going to be just a weekend project.
I debated on things like a paper mâché zebra head….truly, I did. Something like this:
One of our first real dates was at an amazing restaurant in Charlotte called Zebra. So I have a thing for zebras now. Andrew wasn’t a fan of my idea so that was scratched. What else? I thought about several pictures but then decided that I would rather keep going with the things that matter….with gold and black as the main colors.
Here’s what we have so far:
On the left: I found this cute little craft idea on Pinterest and knew I could make it myself…SC + GA; the L came from Michael’s; the shadow box I inherited from Dana which houses R’s hospital bracelet as well as Andrew’s boutonnière from our wedding. I hope to add a few more small things to this as the kids (that’s plural…) grow. The verse board was another sweet gift that Dana picked up for the space and then the cross I purchased at a great little boutique, Just the Thing, here in town.

On the right, we got R’s silhouette done last fall at our local Learning Express; I added a little clock (because I like to know what time it is…always); and a mirror (R loves to see himself in it) I found at Target and purchased with my cartwheel app :-). I hope to have a matching silhouette done for Eliza Jane this fall to put next to Reynolds’ since that’s currently an empty spot…

It’s certainly not complete but I’m really enjoying how it looks. And I’m thinking the center photo will be updated come September!
Has anyone else done a gallery/collage wall? If so, how did you choose what would be included in it?

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