Gallery Wall and Living Room Update

Do you ever complete and project and feel like it is just missing something?  Or maybe that you are not sure if you like it because it is so outside your norm that you just need to live with it a while before you decide?  My Gallery Wall was that kind of project.  I knew I wanted one, I also knew I wanted it to include some old "Funky Junk" type elements, and I had a picture in my head, but it was so hard to explain to anyone.  Last fall my sister Lois and my mom came to visit and along with Hubby helped me put my wall together.  I liked it, but I always felt it was missing something, and so I never showed it to you all.  I still love it, and I have added some elements since last fall, but I still feel like it needs something.

 

 All of the frames are either vintage/antique or just old frames I had.  I used acrylic paint on all of them, and tried to match the colors in my curtains.  I really hate having to take frames off the wall and pull out the back and stuff inside to change out pictures.  A long time ago, before I started blogging I saw an idea for turning a picture frame into a jewelry holder by adding chicken wire.  I saw another idea that looked like a close line in a frame and decided I would combine the two.  I use miniature cloths pins that I painted a sparkly copper color to attach the picture to the chicken wire.  The chicken wire itself is spray painted with oil rubbed bronze to give it an old rusty appearance.  I am trying to remember my cost, I know it was less than $50 for all the frames, paint, chicken wire, and cloths pins, but I don't remember the exact amount.  It is so easy to change out pictures!!

 I decided this wall needed some rusty junk, so I appropriated a few things from Hubby's stash, with his permission of course!  This fantastic old hay pulley is one of my favorites!  It has a wooden wheel that has lots of character.

 This rusty gate hinge is another great item, it is part of a set, but I haven't figured out yet where to put the other one.

 Perhaps the best elements of all, these old HEAVY gears!  The whole gallery wall had to be arranged around these gears because the nails they rest on had to be set into the studs.  These came from an old water turned grain mill. No, they will not fall down easily, they have made it through one good size earthquake and lots of aftershocks, as well as kids banging against the wall, and the train coming by multiple times a day and shaking the house a bit.

We also decided to rearrange the living room!!  This little loveseat came with me from California when I got married.  My grandmother gave it to us, and it had been given to her when she was first married by a neighbor.  We think it was made in the 1930's.  It is incredibly comfortable, even if the fabric is not my first choice.  The piano got moved to the corner, instead of where the couch is now.

I have a really awesome large antique frame to go over the couch, it is a dark orange, like the frame in the center of the gallery wall.  I really, really want to get a nice family picture done and have it made into a canvas so I can hang it over the couch in my awesome antique frame!  I haven't convinced Hubby to go get pictures done yet, hopefully one of these days!  I really love how our living room is now, it is so much roomier!  It also helps to have the piano in the corner, the kids no longer want to play under it, which means a whole lot less crying and banging of heads!
Thanks for stopping in!
I hope you all are having a great week!
Melissa