When we first saw our house, the staircase was one of my favorite things about it. There are two big, beautiful windows that go almost from floor to ceiling and they let in the most beautiful light to both floors. It took us almost two years to finally paint this area and put up a staircase gallery wall, but that space looked so, so beautiful once we did.
I’ve dreamed of a staircase gallery wall for the big open wall behind the stairs for a long time but have been hesitant since it was such a big project. With the angle of it and the sheer size of it, I knew I couldn’t just throw together something like I usually do (I’m all about progress over perfection, y’all). I went down to our basement and grabbed my box of frames, art, and decor that we’ve accumulated over the years that don’t currently have a home. I spent about 45 minutes rearranging them and playing with them on the basement floor until I found something I generally liked, then decided just to jump in!
Just to make sure everything generally fit, I went the OCD path and did some planning and prepping. I used a giant role of old Christmas wrapping paper to cut out sheets about the same size as each frame and numbered those sheets with a quick description so I’d know what they were. Then, I took all these papers upstairs and taped them to the wall, moving them around until I found an arrangement and spacing I liked. I am SO glad I did this step because I quickly realized I needed to change up both the overall angle of the wall and which pictures I was using in part of it.
Once this was done, I dove in and got started! I began with the pictures closer to the bottom of the stairs and worked my way up, using Command strips to put everything on the wall (my love for Command strips is eternal). I played around with what prints or pictures went in what frame, moved a couple frames around, and even switched out one new frame for another one from Hobby Lobby that fit better. After a couple days of my creative process (hubby is not always a fan of this loooong creative process where I switch things around and frequently ask for his help to move everything he just hung – woops!) it was finally finished!
I love this gallery wall so much because it’s a beautiful balance of personal pictures of our family in various seasons and meaningful art or memory pieces. The framed pictures give glimpses into our engagement, wedding, maternity shoot, and pictures of Caleb’s first year of life (almost all of which were taken by the one and only Haley George).
The top black frame holds our map-themed wedding invitation and the bottom black frame has a beautiful Etsy creation with our wedding date and the lyrics to How He Loves, a song we sang at our wedding (thanks to our friend Jessica for that thoughtful wedding gift a few years back!).
I’ve had these Scripture prints from Naptime Diaries for years and I still love the truth they speak into our home. Wall art that’s both beautiful and meaningful will always be my favorite!
I love creating beautiful spaces in our home that bring us joy and remind us of all the way’s God’s been good to us, and this gallery wall is no exception. I’m so glad we finally jumped in and went for it. And Caleb seems to be a fan too!
In case you want to sneak out and buy some of these frames or art pieces yourself, here’s where I find all my favorite things!
Source List
Wooden Ampersand, Metal E, and Wood Arrows Sign: Hobby Lobby
Simple White Frames/Mattes: Ikea Virserum Frames (We have these in our hallway too and I love them!)
Blue Frames: Thrift store frames painted blue
Black Frame (With Wedding Invitation): Michael’s
White Wood Frame: Michael’s
Wood And Metal Frame: Target
Scripture Prints: Naptime Diaries
Amberly says
I love it! It turned out so great!!!
Amberly recently posted…Family Date Night Idea: Share the Love with Sugar Cookies
Lauren says
Thanks, Amberly! 🙂
Catherine Short says
Your gallery looks so good! Mapping everything out first is so smart. We are pretty sure we’re going to do a gallery wall up our staircase too.
Catherine Short recently posted…Currently / / February
Lauren says
Thanks, Catherine! Mapping things out definitely made a big difference, especially since a stairway has such a weird angle. I hope yours turns out well too!
Julie Hood says
My favorite in progress picture might be the painter’s taped papers on the wall–BRILLIANT. This came out amazing and I hope it gets pinned 1 million times on Pinterest like your living room shelf thing!! 🙂
Lauren says
Ha I’m pretty sure I saw that on a blog somewhere so I can’t take credit, but it definitely helped to make things more organized. And we shall see about Pinterest…it’s so mysterious what takes off there and what doesn’t! 😉
Susannah says
Your gallery wall is so pretty! I’m going to do one in our hallway but there have been just too many other projects to work on so far. 😉
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