Gallery Wall on a Budget

One of my favorite bloggers Veronika's Blushing did this AMAZING gallery wall in her home. You can find her blog post HERE. When she posted the gallery wall it was around the time we were listing our house and planning to move to Texas. I decided in my next house this was the type of gallery wall I wanted to do. It was clean, crisp and beautiful!!! 

When we looked at our house I immediately thought of 2 places to do the gallery wall. I started planning to do one. I loved the frames Veronika used. She got hers at Target HERE. I put a lot of thought into those frames. I have all silver or brushed nickel hardware in my house. I love the gold frames, but I was concerned with having large statement gold frames with silver every where else. Also the cost was another reason I just wasn't sure I could go for them. 

Walmart has REALLY stepped up their game with their home items. I have bought a few things from them for the new house. I bought this bench for my mud room. It is very sturdy and adorable! I also bought this desk which matches the bench. We have the desk in the mud room too. The mud room is very large, so I wanted the items to match. The colors of both items are gray and they go together well. The description of the names isn't the same online. I feel they might have had a different option for the desk when I bought it months back. Anyhow these items are great quality! 

I started looking for frames all over the internet. Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kohls etc. I read a lot of reviews to see what people were saying. I wanted to keep the gallery under $150. The size of the frames I wanted to use if I went with the Target frames it would cost me around $300. Walmart had THESE frames for $10.99. I was able to get all 9 frames for under $100. The frames I bought from Walmart are AMAZING quality! If you bought them from any other retailer you would spend $25 and up on them. 

The frames sat in an enormous box in our guest room for a month. The thought of measuring and hanging them was daunting. I ordered all the pictures except one. I had Cash's pictures taken, so I wanted to put one of his new pictures in a frame. I was talking with my friend Krystal and she mentioned using these Command Strips to hang pictures. Using the strips no longer sounded like a daunting task trying to hang 9 frames. I ordered the strips from Amazon. Then I came down with strep throat and the project got pushed back another week or so. 

One day during nap time I decided it was time to just bite the bullet and hang the pictures. The huge box kept George entertained while I took all the frames out of their packaging, put the pictures in the frame, adding the command strips and arranged them how I wanted them to be on the wall. Laying them out of the floor really helped give me a visual of how I wanted them on the wall. I moved certain pictures around and was able to determine the order before applying the strips on the wall. 

I used a level to make sure each picture was level and to measure the space between each frame. It was so easy to do! It took longer to take them all out of the packaging then it did to hang them. It took me maybe 10 minutes max to hang them even with letting G climb up and down the step ladder a couple times. The entire project took me around an hour and a half from start to finish. I was able to sit down for about 10 minutes to enjoy the amazing gallery wall before Cashy woke up from his nap. 

I absolutely LOVE the final results!!!! I sit in my living room and love look at the gallery wall at least once a day. This is one of my favorite projects I have done in any of my homes. I love the white frames! I think it really lightens up the wall and makes the pictures pop more! 

Frames: Walmart 

Photo Credits:

Photography by Chelsea Lynn Bulik 

Sparkle Photography by Ashley 

I ordered all my pictures from Costco.Com  I have always used Costco to print my pictures. I find their quality to be great! I have pictures from them from 11 years ago that still are great quality and crisp. I spent maybe $10-$15 on the pictures. 

Total cost of the project was around $132. 

Frames were $98.91

Pictures were $15.00ish

Command Strips $18.00

Bike Rides

Growing up I spent HOURS riding my bike. I wore my tires down until they were balled. I loved to rid. As long as I could be outside I would ride my bike up and down our dirt road. I still LOVE riding bike! It's one of the things that can make me smile and relax me, so quickly. 

G outgrew his bike, so we bought him a new one recently. I also found a used bike since we didn't bring my old one from CA. G and I have loved going for a bike ride around the lake. The hard part is we can't go in the morning when it's the coolest. I have been searching Facebook Marketplace to find a bike trailer. I found one this past week. I loaded up both kids and off we went. Holy cow! Hauling 50 pounds of kids is a great workout for your legs! We made it around the lake one time before I had to go in. It was also 98 degrees outside. Cashy was singing away though on our ride! G will be able to ride his bike in front of us for our early morning rides in the future. 

My parents bought G this little Radio Flier trike for Christmas when he was a year old. When he opened it he gave the box a big hug and LOVED that trike! Now Cashy is big enough to ride in it and boy does he love it. If everyone goes outside he starts yelling that he wants to go outside. He knows if we take him out back we will put him on the trike. 

I have also been going on walks around the lake with the boys. G rides his bike and I push Cash on the trike. Houston heat is no joke! We make it around the lake once and will usually stop at the play ground for a little bit. Then it's home to drink a gallon of water! 

When we first moved into our neighborhood I struggled with how quiet it was. It was eerie to me. In CA we lived on a pretty busy street. Now that it has been a few months I LOVE how quiet our neighborhood is! I love that we can walk around without worrying about traffic. The lake is great to walk around. There is plenty of shade through the entire neighborhood from all the trees. The only thing I wish we had was a neighborhood pool. I feel there are always some trade offs though. You can't have everything, so we will find splash pads to visit in the summers. 

It's very nice to go out for a bike ride or walk and not stress about G staying right beside me. I lived in the country with absolutely no traffic until I was 16. I was able to run and play all day. I like that the boys will be able to go fishing at the lake, ride their bikes, and have space to run and play. 

Cashy - 10 Months

It's hard to believe this little guy is 10 months old today! He has brought so much joy to our family. The moment he was born there was an instant connection between the two of us. He has been the biggest mamma boy since he was very tiny. I have cherished that too! 

He sure loves his brother and daddy. Even though he is a mamma boy he refuses to say mamma. He says dada all the time. Actually every morning he gets up he looks for Art saying dada. Some days it's almost like he is telling me stories about Art. He will be jabbering away talking about dada. So adorable!

He wears 12-18 month clothes

Size 3 diapers

Crawls & walks around furniture

Favorite foods - bananas and sausage are his very favorites! 

We were shopping the other day. I picked up a package of chicken and apple sausages. He started SCREAMING. He wanted to eat one right there. He is WAY picker as a baby about food than G ever was. G wasn't picky about any food at all. G ate anything and everything until he was about 2.5 years old. Cash is not that way. He wants color and flavor with his foods. He spits things, refuses to eat, yells and is very vocal when it comes to food. 

If Cash sees a bottle he thinks he needs to have it even if he just finished eating. He can drink 4 ounces in 2.5 minutes. I should enter him into one of the baby bottle drinking contests. lol

Each day before Cash goes down for a nap or bedtime G has to give him a hug and kiss. G and Cash just adore each other. They are the sweetest together. G might get jealous at times, but he has never been mean to Cash. Cash giggles so much watching G. At this point Cash is 20 pounds and G is 32 pounds. One day Cash got on G back. G was yelling mom get Cash off me I can't move. bahahahha oh boy!