Our "Top 9" Family Photo Gallery Wall in the New Multipurpose Music Room
You've seen the start of our music room and how I painted our piano and Marketplace bookcases, but as we settled in the house, it didn't take long to figure out what this room really needed to become: a multipurpose room with places to sit and work. Plus, it gave me a space to put our "defining moments" family photo gallery wall.
Due to COVID, our school district went to a hybrid schooling model last fall, which was a rollercoaster of crazy but meant I needed to be home a couple days a week to work while Hank navigated "school." We both needed dedicated spaces to do our work. We had these IKEA desks and a cube shelf in the kids' playroom in the old house, so I nabbed them for this room and tucked them into a corner you can't really see from the entry.
Did you notice the trim paint!? We got that finished recently. I'll share more about that process in another post sometime, but glad to have this room fully painted! Haven't tackled blinds yet but this room actually had some.
It's been nice to have a place to store the office supplies and printer stuff on the main level. This set-up worked well for his hybrid days, but when he was fully virtual, we moved him out to the living room so that we weren't on Zoom calls at the same time in the same space. Now that he's back to school, we're going to keep these desks here for the foreseeable future.
Opposite the windows, we had an empty wall so I ordered a new couch from Wayfair. Wasn't sure how that was going to work ordering a couch that comes in a box, but it was actually pretty slick, quick and cheap. It's not a forever couch quality, but for a room that just needs a little sitting now and then, I think it'll do the job. Above the couch, I thought was the perfect place for our "defining moments" photo gallery wall. Our footstool bench was in our "before" picture when I shared the four season room. It was always in our piano room before but I painted the cloth top a darker black-grey to match better in this house using the same brand of Heirloom Traditions paint that I used for these bookshelves. The blueish grey wasn't cutting it.
I actually created this gallery back when I was on maternity leave with Abbey in the old house, but love it so much as-is I haven't updated it yet. I suppose moving here makes that one more big defining moment, but I'll have to spend some time deciding which moment will have to leave the grid. The matted frames are pretty timeless in my opinion and transferred well into the new space. To make this gallery wall, I measured out how many matted frames would fit across and above the couch before deciding on the quantity. I liked the even nine square. It was really fun to go back and pick out our "Top 9" but also really hard to narrow down. I usually frame mostly our professional photos, but thought this would be perfect for snapshots. To make them all a little more cohesive, I toned down the saturation of each photo before printing to like 10-15%. So they're not quite black and white, but have just a little bit of color.
Our current "Top 9"?
Meeting at UNI
Introducing Kiersten to Minnesota Lakes and Fishing
Getting Jake
Tying the Knot
Scuba Diving
Last Days Pregnant with Hank
Baby Hank
Pregnant with Abbey
Baby Abbey
What would your "Top 9" be? Get those pictures off your phone and on your walls!
Shop-able Furniture and Decor:
Modified Windsor Wood Dining Chairs for the Desks - Threshold with Studio McGee at Target
Better Homes and Gardens 4 Cube Storage Shelf (affiliate)
13" Fabric Cube Storage Bins from Target
Small Tapered Fabric Storage Bin from Target
Adjustable white desks from IKEA
Gold Thin Metal Matted Frame for 11x14 photo - Project 62 at Target
Heriloom Traditions Paint in Corinthian (affiliate)
Heriloom Traditions Paint Tools (affiliate)
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