Wall of Frames

I dunno if you remember this, but when I posted about Magnolia's nursery right before she was born I showed pictures of this collage over her crib:

Since that post was so long, I didn't give any details about what any of this stuff is, but I wanted to go back and do so because this was one of my first projects I finished for the nursery and it's one of my favorites. So you may not really care at all, but just in case you do, here it goes (sorry for the bad photography).

1. This frame is a D.I. find that I painted. The print inside is the logo for Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich Village in NYC. It's actually cut from a paper bag we got when we went to buy cupcakes there last November. So essentially, it was free. I planned on saving the bag for this purpose because I knew when we had a baby, if it was a girl we were going to name her Magnolia. If we didn't have a girl, I was going to hang it in my kitchen :)

2. This little oval frame also came from the D.I.; it used to be gold. In it is a scrap of fabric from Nolie's crib bedding that I made. I love this because again it was cheap to make, and it also is a great way to showcase one of my favorite fabrics from the bedding, and it's a small detail that sort of ties things together.

3. This lovely little photo of some magnolia blossoms is one I purchased from etsy. The frame is yet another D.I. makeover.

4. This is a calendar page from a mini Vincent Van Gogh calendar. I just cut it out with a paper cutter and framed it (from here on out, let's just assume my frames were D.I. finds that I painted, because they probably all are and it will save you from my boring repetition :) ).

5 & 6. I picked up these little canvas prints at Shopko of all places for $6 a piece on clearance. I was pregnant at the time but didn't know we were having a girl, so I had some serious buyers guilt (which I justified by telling myself I'd hang them up somewhere else in my house if I had a boy). I'm so glad I bought them though because I really love them. One is a yellow bird and the other is a magnolia of course.

7. I searched high and low for cute monograms and I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I couldn't find very many cute Ms; they were all really boxy and masculine looking or the wrong color. I stumbled across this one on Restoration Hardware's Baby and Child website (I don't shop there normally, way too spendy for me) on clearance for $.99! The shipping was $5, which I thought was ridiculous, but still all together it was a huge discount from the original, and when it came I was SO happy because it was perfect.

8 & 9. These little oval beauties are mirrors. My mom gave me the green one; it was just in her basement in a box of things she wasn't using. It was gold and I painted it green. The silver one was from the D.I. and it was only $.50. All it needed was a good cleaning and it was good to go.

10. I found a baby duvet cover in the kids' section at Ikea on clearance for $5. It had these darling little elephants all over it and I love elephants so I couldn't pass it up for that price. I got some batting and tied it into a little quilt for Nolie. It also came with a little pillow case, which I thought was weird and kind of dumb because babies can't use pillows (although maybe those kooky Swedes let their babies use pillows?) but then I decided to cut out one of the cute elephants and put him in this little frame.

11. This might be my favorite piece on this wall. It is a print of a watercolor by one of my favorite artists on etsy. I love all of her work (more of which you shall soon be seeing in my upcoming "stuff I want for Christmas" post) and I fell in love with this little owl and had to have it for the nursery. It's a really gorgeous print and such a unique piece.

12. Finally we have a very special print that I plan to hang in all of my future babies' rooms. Most of these things will go with Nolie to her "big girl room" someday, but this one is specifically for little babies. It's a Vincent Van Gogh print that I love called "First Steps, After Millet." It's a mother holding her little baby's hands as it takes its first steps across the garden to the father, who is holding his arms open towards the baby. It's in the Met in New York and so gorgeous; when we were there last fall I bought this print for our future nursery.

So there you have it. I think it cost me around $40 or so to make this wall, which is pretty darn good considering there are 12 pieces. All of the trips to the D.I. and all of the painting were a lot of work, but it was worth it to me to save the money and have things exactly how I wanted.

I was a little scared to start hanging all of this stuff once it was finished, and it may horrify you to know that I just started hammering away at my walls without really measuring or marking before hand. It worked out how I wanted though and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Now I want to do another wall like this in my living room, and maybe my bedroom.

Just don't tell my landlord about all of the nail holes... (I use those stick on strips too, but nails are just way cheaper...sorry.)