Dining room photo wall done!

As I am sure you recall, one of the projects on my list back in September (can you even believe it's October??) was the dining room wall.  As much as I loved having the colourful chaos of the kids' artwork, I really wanted something cleaner and more relaxing to look at.

While home in New Brunswick, I took a few photos out my bedroom window looking down the river, and had an idea for a small series.  I ended up taking a photo every day of the same view, at different times of day and in different weather.  Out of a ton of photos, I eventually chose the following six:






I had to do a bit of photoshop tweaking to get the exact same ratio of sky to water and the same zoom, but I didn't touch the colours or add any filters.  With hindsight I should have lightened them and maybe added some filters to bump up the sunshine or the mist or the grey, but I didn't think they would print as dark as they did.

I sent them off to my printer buddy Dan (the man) Thompson, who printed them on photo paper just the right size for my Ikea frames.  Then, while my boys did crafts, I framed them and attempted to hang them straight.  Tell me, why, oh why does Ikea give you SO MUCH wire with the frames?  I had to find my wire cutters, of course sliced and punctured myself with the sharp ends, and said all kinds of nasty things in my head as I tried to twist them to just the right height. Yes, I know there are gloves for that, but have you ever been so impatient to finish a project that you skip the rational and logical safety steps?  I seem to do it a lot.


They are a bit more tonally identical than I thought they would be, but all in all I am kind of thrilled with them (can you be 'kind of' thrilled?)  They look clean and sharp with the white frames (which are mostly straight and level - lathe and plaster is my nemesis).  Plus the blue hue echoes the blue of the painting we have up in the living room (not pictured).  And of course, they are all photos of a view I love to bits, and it is nice to look out at them from the kitchen and pretend I am home again.

dining room photo wall white frames
simple soothing dining room photo wall white Ikea frames

Being a lazy blogger, I didn't style them beautifully or give you an idea of how they work with the whole open space, but I will in a future post.  Also, I see now that the bottom one is crooked.  Sigh.  Oh well.  The great things is, this was a super-inexpensive project since a) I framed my own photos b) I have a printer buddy c) I already had the frames.  Score one for the budget!  And there goes one more project - hooray!

20 comments:

  1. sundeep @ designwaliOctober 5, 2012 at 9:07 AM

    wow looks great.

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  2. Love how this looks! What a great idea!

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  3. Kerry @ First Time FancyOctober 5, 2012 at 9:34 AM

    LISA! I LOVE these! They look great and they are beautiful and calming... and even better that they can remind you of home! You did a lovely job hanging them (I actually ALWAYS wait for B to hang stuff as I am incredibly bad at it). I love that they are all the same with slight differences, and really, I'm glad you didn't change them at all! :) Beautiful... I hope it's okay if I include them in my Fancy Friday post for next week??

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  4. Thanks Danica! I always like to throw in something personal... :)

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  5. What an inspired and wicked idea :) A piece of home at home. I love it and I think tonally they are perfect.

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  6. I will just go ahead and call this MAGNIFICENT!!!
    Love it to tiny bits and pieces!

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  7. Hooray! That looks perfect. They look great in the white frames and mats.

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  8. I really like this. You've inspired me!

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  9. Love framed photos in simple frames - never fails to look great!

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  10. Grace @ sense and simplicityOctober 8, 2012 at 9:28 PM

    They look fantastic. I love the simplicity of the water and sky, water and sky, repeat. Have you tried to put that white sticky tack at the back corners - it helps a lot with pictures that move around and drive you crazy.

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  11. WOOHOOO! Thanks Kerry! Of course I would be honoured to be on your Friday list! (I always love everything on that list!)

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  12. Dharma, you are the bomb. I am getting used to them and I think I do like that they are untampered-with. :)

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  13. WOW Shannon - thanks so much! You made my day!

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  14. Thanks Jen! I am really happy to have them up and I like how they make the place feel a bit more put-together. And it feels great to be ticking things of my list! :)

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  15. Amazing! Alison - you have to share if you do something like this!

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  16. Thanks Vanessa, I agree it is pretty fail-safe! I wish I could make a photo wall like yours...

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  17. Thank you Sylvia! Great idea for the corners - they are driving me bananas. :p

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  18. the new wall looks AWESOME!

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Thank you so much for your comment - they always make my day!