I have two exciting things to share today!  First, I’ve finally finished the gallery wall behind my TV. I originally posted my ideas here, but have had a hard time actually getting it done.  I have had these pieces for weeks… evidenced by the instagram photo below which I posted forever ago. I don’t know if it’s baby brain or what, but I’ve had the most difficult time recently envisioning my ideas whereas I typically can easily imagine an outcome.  I’ll blame it on the babe.  Anyway, let’s press on.

I loved all of the individual pieces of art I ordered from Minted, but couldn’t figure out how to put them all together on the wall.  Finally, I just cheated and took pictures of the art, took a picture of my wall, printed everything out and played with the little cutouts like paper dolls… paper art. It actually helped a ton for me to figure out placement of the pieces.  A little crazy, yes.  Super helpful, absolutely.

When I shared my rug conundrum last week, I hinted that I had some other blue accessories to liven up the living room.  I loved the Saint Mary’s Lake print and how it worked with my antique dutch oil painting that I’ve had sitting around for a while.  Both blue pieces were going to tie in the couch with the rest of the room a little more.

I wanted to add some personality to the room and also to kind of soften the prominence of the TV, but I didn’t want the room to get too busy, so I kept the wall fairly simple.

Aside from the blue elements, everything else was in black and white.  I ended up deciding to use a mixture of abstract and photography to keep the gallery wall interesting even though the palette was very tight.  When it was all said and done, I ended up with black and white photography (‘All is Quiet’ by Jenni Kupelian), black and white abstract (‘Inked Kumquat’ by Katie Jarman), blue abstract (Saint Mary’s Lake by Lorent and Leif), and a painted portrait.  I also added a few small frames of random  brush strokes that I just made on my own.

Overall, I love how the art wall turned out and I love that I have a mixture of new, old, and homemade pieces in the mix.  It’s a simple wall but adds a lot of personality to the room.

So I told you I had TWO things to share… The second is that we’re partnering with Minted to giveaway $250 toward purchases at minted.com!! I’m not the only one who can get a new gallery wall going, you can too (or you can use it toward anything at minted.com).

Enter to win $250 towards purchases at Minted.com!

After you enter be sure to come back here and let me know how you feel about the gallery wall in the comments below!

*The giveaway is open for one week! Enter today, October 4th through Monday, October 10th!  A winner will be chosen at random on Tuesday, October 11th and emailed about the win.

Disclosure:  I partnered with Minted to bring you this post and this giveaway.  Thank you for supporting the sponsors who help us bring you fresh content!