Black & Gold Chalkboard Gallery Wall

In my last post, I showed you the small nook that connects our laundry room with our kitchen & family room.  I felt this small space could make a big statement by painting it a bold color & adding some fun accents.




I started the transformation with a couple of coats of  Rustoleum’s Chalkboard Paint.  Then, I waited forever three days before “setting” the chalkboard by holding a piece of chalk sideways & rubbing it all over the walls.




Then, I erased the walls completely & cleaned up a ton of dust!

While I waited patiently for the paint to dry, I scoured thrift stores & our basement hoard for goldish/ brassy things to hang.  I taped off a section of the floor that was the same size as the wall & played around with the arrangement until I found something I liked.  It took me a while to get the layout right, but once I did, I was ready to hang everything.

So, here’s how it turned out:




Sorry about all the “Where’s Waldo” pictures!  As much as I tried to stay out of the reflections, I think parts of me ended up in all of them!

I really wanted to make this wall a meaningful reflection of our family, so I was immediately drawn to the angel’s wings when I saw them in Hobby Lobby.  They reminded me of a tattoo worn by a Harley riding motorcyclist, which made them very cool, but I also thought they would be the perfect item to represent the baby I miscarried a few years ago.  With a coat of gold spray paint & a spot high on the wall, they are a happy reminder of the little angel that awaits us in Heaven someday.




Below the angel wings, I framed some words from “Your Song” by Elton John.  I thought it was a great reminder to my family how much better their presence makes the world!  Obviously, I didn’t spend much time playing with the typography on the lyrics.  I might change the way they look later, but right now, I’m okay with it!

The frame on the right holds one of my favorite paintings from my daughter Eliana.  My original thought was that I could change out the kids’ artwork every once in a while, but I love this piece so much, I’m not sure I’ll be able to replace it!




On the next section of wall, I centered a very cheap mirror from Wal-Mart.  (I think it cost less than $5.)  Then, I flanked it with a couple of frames I spray painted gold.  The frame on the left holds my kids’ hand print tracings & a wedding picture fills the opposite frame.

Below that, we hung the letter E to represent our last name, some keys, a DIY heart (from craft paper), & a DIY wall clock.  I’ll post a quick tutorial on the wall clock in a couple of days.




The bottom section of the gallery wall holds three silhouettes of my kids, an empty frame, small mirror from a thrift store, & a framed drawing of an armadillo by my son!  For now, the empty frame says, “Give Thanks” but I plan on changing it for different holidays.  I can picture, “I’ll be HOME for Christmas”, “Home is where the heart is”, “I Love You”, & lots of other words & sayings filling this space in the future.




So, there you have it.  I love the bold color, meaningful artwork, contrast between the gold & black, and the practicality of the mirror & clock (to help us get out the door looking good & on time!).

Are you feeling daring in your décor, or do you prefer a safer attitude towards decorating?

I'll be back on Friday to show you how I DIYed the clock & some other details on the wall.  Then, next week, I'll show you what we did with the perpendicular wall!

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DIY by Design, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Thrifty Decor Chick,