Before & After: Family Gallery Wall Goes Glam
Heather had the perfect place to feature photos of her two daughters. A bright hallway between the girls’ rooms, it would help define the ‘children’s area’ of their home, while giving it the personalize feel she was looking for. But Heather wasn’t thrilled with the gallery wall she’d created. She wanted to print larger photos on canvas and to include her older daughter’s artwork, but she wasn’t sure what sizes to get, or how to properly hang them on the wall. We told Heather about Shutterfly’s new Design-A-Wall tool, and then watched as she took her gallery wall to the next level. Want to see how it turned out?
Heather used Shutterfly’s Design-A-Wall tool to find the gallery wall layout that she preferred, and uploaded her favorite photos and artwork to see how it would look. In Shutterfly’s preview mode, she found that she liked the look of the white wooden frames around the printed canvases, so she picked the framed canvas option. She went with the 44.5″ x 33″ arrangement, and then added two more photos to the bottom – building off of the existing Shutterfly template made it easy to set up a balanced wall.
Heather also saw the opportunity to dress up the hall table with a curved glass print and an acrylic photo block, as well as a brand new photo book from Shutterfly featuring family photos and the kids’ artwork from the past year.
Design-A-Wall comes with a hanging template, so you can place your nails without all the angst of measuring. Heather used the included level to make sure everything was even, and then figured out how high to hang the photos above her table. Nails went in and photos went up, remarkably easily.
For Heather, the most striking difference is how the larger scale of the photos makes the hallway feel more expansive. She was concerned that bigger pictures would make the space feel cluttered, but instead it soars. The white frames help to add lightness to the hall, as well, another contrast. The decor is now stylish, bright, and cheerful, but it’s also meaningful – it reveals the delightful personalities of Heather’s girls.
Best of all, the girls love to see their favorite photos and artwork as decor between their bedrooms. Now that she sees how easy it is, Heather feels confident that she can update the wall with new images as the girls grow.