My perfect picture wall

When we move into our house, we couldn’t put anything up on the walls. We had plenty of pictures, I just couldn’t decide how I wanted everything to go up. We lived in our house without anything on the walls for quite a while until I begged my family for some help. This is the wall we started with

I gave my family some options to choose from an I did the popular vote. I rearrange a ton of different possibilities that seemed okay, these are just a few

This ended up the winner.

But I still wasn’t happy with it. I’m not a huge fan of organized and boring, so I changed it up a bit lot. My new layout might seem very chaotic and unorganized to some, but for me, it’s perfect an I absolutely love it.

My first change was the color of the frames – from black to white. My original plan was to use white frames with different color mattes, but in the end I just went with all white – white frames, white mattes. We added the mirror to the wall – got it at a garage sale (without the frame) for $1!! Grant made the frame and I painted it white to match.

We started our layout with the console table (made by Grant), centered the mirror above it, then added the pictures randomly around it. This is much more my style – random and sporadic! There are no tips or tricks to this layout. The only thing I can say about it is I didn’t want the pictures to line up or seem organized much at all. There are a few that are lined up and even with each other, but for the most part, they are all randomly set.

We added a lot more pictures than what we had up previously, and I love the addition of the shelf (made by Grant) under the thermostat. It’s a lot easier to cover it up or make it blend it when I put décor on the shelf.

This wall is part of a vaulted ceiling, so it goes up a lot higher than this and I’m tempted to keep going up with the pictures, but Grant thinks this is plenty. He might be right, but I may try to add one or two more! That picture in the middle of the console table was actually suppose to be on the wall, Grant won that battle.

And, because I love before-and-after’s, here you go

Rocket Shooters

This is one of the cheapest, easiest, and most entertaining craft/toy for the kiddos. Rocket Shooters. All it takes is a straw (per person), some squares/rectangles of scrap paper (preferably construction paper or thicker), tape and scissors.

I got the idea from straws themselves. I’m never good at shooting the wrapper off of restaurant straws, but this makes it pretty fool proof. It’s pretty self explanatory, but just in case you are a visual learner, here you go:

1. Wrap the paper, fairly tight, but not too tight, around the straw. Tape it.
2. Put tape on the end
3. Fold it down a little
4. Wrap the rest of the tape around the paper.

Ta Da! Rocket Shooters (named by little G)

These are pretty plain and boring looking, but they do their job. I’m sure you could put some fins on them and dress them up a bit, if you have older kids (and more patience than me!).

 

My boys, especially little G – the 3 year old – loved playing with these and he was very entertained for hours.

Then I made some targets for him and the fun started all over again!

Not only are these Rocket Shooters cheap, easy & entertaining, they are easy to replace and if they get broken or lost it’s no big deal. Have fun!

 

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Unique Salt Lake LDS temple wood cutout

My newest design in my shop, Remembories. This is a wood cutout of the Salt Lake LDS temple.

My brother, Scott, drew the original picture and I used that as a template to cut the wood temple. It is about 8.5” (H) x 7.5” (W) x 1”.
The natural wood is finished with a lacquer finish and clear coat.

You could also add to the bottom part in a darker stain a wedding date, or the temple name, or some other saying.
I was married in the Portland LDS temple, and that is my next cutout. I’ll definitely be putting something like that on the bottom portion under the temple.