DIY quick change gallery wall

Welcome to Transformation Thursday! It’s the one day of the week we all get together to celebrate getting stuff done. No matter if you’ve been coming around for months (or years), or this is your very first transformation rodeo – everyone is welcome to link up your projects at the bottom of this post. I ♥ gallery walls – I really do. But here’s the thing – I’m WAY to indecisive to actually do one. I know it’s just putting holes in the wall, but when you have wood beadboard on the walls it’s a little trickier to disguise. This wall in my kitchen has been changed at least a dozen times in the last two years: Wow! I learned to take photos somewhere along the way! But, seriously, I’m way to ADD to keep putting holes in the wall. So I found *what I hope* is a solution.  Start off with some 1x3s (about $2 each) – I used two of them. You can either cut them the length you need or get the lumber store to cut them. Oh, and I cut mine from a wider piece of wood that I already had… no sense in buying wood when we’ve got it. And use a fun pen to do it – I can use my frilly one if I’m doing it all by myself!If you use a table saw to cut your wood, you can make it a little thicker, but I wouldn’t suggest thinner – skinny isn’t a good thing here. Next make a mark where the studs are in your wall…. you figured that out first, right? If you have wood beadboard walls like me, no worries – you won’t need the studs. I marked mine every 12 inches – if you have drywall find the studs, then mark it by those measurements. Have you ever seen a pocket hole set? It puts an angled hole into the wood so you can hide screws. There are two parts – the bit… and the jig. You need to line up the line you drew – exact as possible if it’s for studs. Then drill your holes. Keeping your drill on low will mean a cleaner hole. Go down slowly, then when your bit hits the jig go up and down again just to be sure. Yeah, I missed the mark – but it’s ok for me – I’m not aiming for studs. Now sand your board good (I missed taking a photo of that step – but you can sand, right?) Pocket holes take special screws and a special bit. The bit (and a few screws) come with the set when you first buy it. They allow the screw to go in, yet keep the head from breaking through. Now grab a kid or two to help hold the board level while you put a screw in each end. Don’t have kids? Uh… sorry, you can’t have mine – I need them for dishes and stuff :) After you put a screw in each end, go back and put the rest of the screws in. On the top shelf I went from above, since it was above eye level. The bottom shelf went from below because it was below eye level. When you’re done they will look like they’re floating… pretty cool, eh? Next I painted them directly on the wall with leftover wall paint. They kind of disappear into the wall, so the art is the focus. I took photos from our trip to Tybee Island, along with a piece from Red Letter Words and my photo from Easy Canvas Prints. This wall was planned out for weeks – so I put all the pieces together to get something perfect for us. I simply prop them on the ledges randomly. Although I could have waited and found thrift store frames then paint them all out, I went to Dollar General and bought all the frames for about $25. Add in a couple of starfish plaques and I was done. Total for the project is about $40 – and now I can change out the art out quick and easy, just pop out the prints and add something new – no holes! I can rearrange them whenever I want, as often as I want… love that!

Check out more about picture hanging system.

Sooooooo……. whatcha got? I wanna see – and so does everybody else! Please put your PERMALINK into the linky – and link back here so everyone can find all the great ideas. Please, please, PLEASE – pretty please DO NOT LINK TO A SHOP!!! Be sure to visit your neighbors and have fun – it is a party after all.

Welllllllll…………. Let’er rip, tater chip!