Today's Must Reads

Finding the decor style that best fits your life can be challenging. Some trends can look great in model homes. However, until you live in it, you may love it or hate it. This happened to me with our dining room decor. I went with a contemporary style for the dining room. I ended up hating it!

Read along how Custom Picture Frames transformed our dining room.

I initially had blue abstract art for our dining room. It was too cool with our grey walls. The abstract art wasn’t big enough to cover the large wall. I looked around for ideas to take up more wall space. Many sometimes opt for a mirror when they don’t know what to do with a wall. I considered this as well but I wasn’t sold on it. I love how pictures add a special touch to a home. I chose my daughter’s headshots because to me, home is where she is. Seeing my daughter’s pictures makes me happy and that’s what decor is all about. To me, art decor creates the ambiance and sets the mood similar to color.

I went with their Noir Classique moulding and created 30” x 30” oversized picture frames to add a luxury feel to the dining room. I have watched YouTube videos on how to make your home decor look like a million-dollar home. From this, I learned that oversized pieces add more of a statement versus smaller decor pieces. I also saw this when we went to open houses. Sometimes we would stop by million-dollar listings for fun and inspiration.

We are still in transition to a more modern farmhouse style for the dining area. I went with linen colored tufted chairs. The colors of the chairs and rug add a touch of warmth to our cooler wall color.

I have received many compliments on the dining gallery wall from Custom Picture Frames. I love decorating for the holidays. The dining room is currently decked out for Valentine’s Day! I love that I can change the pictures to decorate for every holiday. This benefit makes it an inexpensive large decor piece. I DIY painted Valentine’s Day art myself for the frames!

Custom Picture Frames now offers prints. I was shocked at how good my pictures came out. I'm not the best photographer, I use my camera in auto mode. My daughter's photos came out amazingly enlarged in 13" in X 13" in prints.

When the house is at rest (non-holiday decorated) I have the words: eat, laugh, love in half the frames to give it a dining room theme.

You can't go wrong with Custom Picture Frames to decorate your space. They have so many frame options to select from. They are hands down the best selection in sizes anywhere online.

About The Author

Connie Barnhart is a San Diego native and full-time lifestyle influencer. She shares about home decor, San Diego, motherhood, and style on her blog and Instagram. Her husband is a cyber security engineer and they have been happily married two years!

A day without wine is like… well, we have no idea! If you’re a big fan of being wined and dined and have accumulated a large cork collection, it’s time to put those drink stoppers to use to become a show stopper!  Your red wine at dinner and white wine in a bubble bath habit is about to pay off with a beautiful recycled piece of art that will fit right in next to your wine cellar or liquor cabinet.  The country chic design of the Bruno shadowbox frame will play up the aged look of corks to create something to speak to your wino personality.

Supplies:

• 8 x 12” Bruno Frame
• Patterned paper
• Recycled wine corks (if stained with red wine, even better!)
• Steamer pot
• Serrated knife
• Hot Glue
• Adhesive Vinyl
• Gluestick

First, arrange your corks in your pattern or design of choice.

Next, we’ll need to trim them down to fit the shadowbox. To do this, steam, but do not submerge, the corks in water about 10 minutes.

Remove each one from the pot while still warm but cool enough to handle. A cooking tong is helpful! Use a serrated knife to trim down the cork to fit in the shadowbox. In our case, we trimmed them to ½ inch pieces.

Remove the backing from your frame, and adhere a piece of patterned paper over top, using a glue stick.

Adhere the corks in the design of choice onto the backing, using hot glue. We chose to use purple-stained cork pieces for the base of our house and the natural color corks for the roof.

Replace the decorated backing back into the shadowbox frame.

To make it extra special, add a phrase onto the front of the shadowbox using adhesive vinyl cut from a cutting machine. If you also have a cutting machine, you can grab our SVG file for free here!

Decide if you want it to have your frame hung or stand using a sawtooth hanger or an easel back and let everyone know that home is where the wine is!

About The Author

Tara Nehil is author of SpotOfTeaDesigns.com, a lifestyle blog sharing home décor, crafts, party inspiration and parenting lessons learned the hard way. Her graphic design background is evident in the home she lives in and styles with her husband of 8 years and 2 young daughters. Follow her creative journey for photo tutorials, printables, budget-friendly decorating tips and ways to celebrate occasions big and small.

Gallery walls have a way of demanding attention. They inject pattern and color to a home and showcase who you are and what you love. It’s easy to see why so many love them. But, they can seem intimidating to create. Where do I start? How do I hang it? And, oh, all the nail holes!! It doesn’t have to be scary. I’m going to take you through my three favorite layouts and give you some helpful tips on how to hang a gallery wall of your very own.

Styles of Gallery Walls

There are several different styles of gallery walls. From the layout to the frames and artwork you choose, your options really are endless. That’s what makes them so appealing. There truly is a gallery wall for everyone!

Grid

The most simple layout of the gallery wall, but certainly not lacking in style, is a grouping of frames in the same style and size hung in a grid pattern. For this layout you will want to pay close attention to placement, ensuring that each frame is level and evenly spaced. These work best when the photos or artwork are similar.

Staggered

A play on the grid layout, this staggered look uses two sizes of frames, one oriented vertically and one horizontally. Stagger the vertical and horizontal frames for an eye-catching pattern along the center.

Collected

Collected gallery walls are just that, ones that have been or appear to have been collected and added to over time. Frames and sizes don’t have to match, and the beauty is in its randomness. These work well for bringing together art and/or photos that are different from each other.

How to Hang a Gallery Wall

Now that you know the style of a gallery wall you want, let’s get you ready to hang it. This part can be intimidating, but with some tips and tricks, you will be able to confidently hang a gallery wall.

Accept the Holes

You’re going to be hanging a lot of frames so you’re going to have a lot of holes in your walls. But, it’s ok. I promise. Holes can be filled and paint can be touched up. If you have some existing wall damage wait to touch up until you have your new gallery wall layout in place. That way you can fill any accidental holes you make on your way to your new gallery wall at the same time.

Renter Tip: If you’re living in a rental and your landlord says absolutely no to holes in the walls you can try Command picture hanging strips. I’ve done that in a rental before. Just make sure you are not using heavy frames and add extra Command strips just in case.

Lay it Out

Your first step is to lay all of your frames out on the floor and figure out your layout as well as how much space you want between the frames. If you’re doing a collected gallery wall it’s a good idea to take a photo of the layout so you can refer back to it if you forget what piece of art goes where.

Find Center

Grab a tape measure and a pencil. Find the center of your wall and mark it. You want to build your gallery wall out from this center point.

How to Get Even, Straight Frames

To get even, straight frames every time grab some painter’s tape, a marker or pen, and a level. And yes, nails and a hammer.

• Tear off a piece of painter’s tape a few inches wider than the frame. With the frame picture side down, lay the piece of painter’s tape across the back of the frame sticky side up. Mark the centers of the hanging hardware on the tape with a marker or pen (this is the sticky side). If you can’t see the mark through the front of the tape, mark the front side as well.

• Keep the tape pulled tight across the back of the frame and in place over the hanging hardware. If this is the first frame you are hanging up, sit a level on top while you find the correct position. After the first frame is hung, use a measuring tape and pencil to lightly mark the wall with the width you want between frames both above and to the sides. For my frames, I had a 2-inch space. You will use those markings as a guide for placing all remaining frames.

• Press the tape into the wall and remove the frame. You now have exact marks for where to add your nails.

• Hammer in your nails and remove the tape.

• Now you have perfectly level and evenly spaced frames!

Touch Up

Now is the time to touch up any holes that were existing or occurred while adjusting your frame placement. Take your new frames down but leave the new nails in place so you know which holes need to be filled and which are in use.

Once everything is touched up, hang your frames back up and enjoy your beautiful new gallery wall!

About The Author

Shelley, the blogger behind Crazy Wonderful, lives outside of Houston, TX with her husband, two children, and a dog.  She is currently working on making their builder-grade house feel like a home through DIY projects and thoughtful purchases.  Inspiring others to create a home they love is why Shelley enjoys blogging so much.  Her belief is that with a little creativity and elbow grease, you can make your home look like a million bucks without spending it.

Share all your favorite family memories in one spot with this Mini Clothespin Photo Gallery Frame. Whether you’re looking for a trendy farmhouse look, a modern bohemian vibe, or keep it clean and classy, you can create a mini gallery to fit your home décor style with your choice of frame options. The country-chic style of our Alston picture frame is the perfect base to create a rustic gallery frame for the Fixer Upper look.  Add some painted and distressed clothespins and you’re all set to display photos or mementos in your home in an artful way.

Supplies:

• 14 x 16” Alston Frame 
• Mini wood clothespins
• Cardboard box
• Acrylic paint – grey and bronze
• Optional: sandpaper
• Paintbrush and palette (or paper plate)
• Twine
• Drill
• (6) Screw Eyes

To go with the distressed look of our Alston Frame, paint your clothespins with a similar effect.  Clip your clothespins onto a box so it’s easy to paint both sides. Paint with a layer of grey paint to cover.

Put just a little bronze paint on your brush and dab it off on a piece of scrap paper. Lightly brush your clothespins to leave light streaks, but not enough to cover the surface. This creates an aging effect.

If you felt too much was put on in certain areas, use a piece of sandpaper to rub some off and create the desired distressed effect.

Turn your fame face down and use a ruler and pencil to mark 3 holes on the left and 3 holes on the right side. Do your best to make sure they are even!

Drill a small hole on each mark.

Screw the screw eyes into these holes.

Tie (3) pieces of twine to each screw eye, attaching it to the other on the other side.

Once secured, your mini gallery is ready to be filled. Clip your recent favorite photos or treasured family portraits onto the twine strings. If desired, you could also clip memorabilia or letter cutouts spelling a special message.

Consider creating this mini gallery frame as a gift for Mother’s Day, as an accessory for a first birthday party, or to display photos through the years at a graduation celebration!

About The Author

Tara Nehil is author of SpotOfTeaDesigns.com, a lifestyle blog sharing home décor, crafts, party inspiration and parenting lessons learned the hard way. Her graphic design background is evident in the home she lives in and styles with her husband of 8 years and 2 young daughters. Follow her creative journey for photo tutorials, printables, budget-friendly decorating tips and ways to celebrate occasions big and small.

Here at Custom Picture Frames, we ship your handcrafted picture frames, shadow boxes and canvas frames right to your door with everything you need to put them on display. Installing your hanging hardware can be tricky, so we've put together some easy-to-follow instructions to help our customers!

Follow along with the steps below to install the hanging hardware onto your custom frames.

If you're hanging a canvas frame, see how to properly install your canvas using canvas clips or offset clips first!

Sawtooth Hangers Hanging Instructions

A sawtooth hanger is the perfect hanging hardware for small, lightweight frames. Easy to install, these hangers get attached directly to the back of the frame, and from there you can easily hang your frame on a nail in your wall.  

When you select "sawtooth hanger" while customizing your custom frame, here's what you'll receive in your hanging hardware packet:

• Sawtooth Hangers

To install a sawtooth hanger on your custom frame, you'll need: 

• A hammer
• Measuring tape or ruler
• Pen or pencil

Installing Your Sawtooth Hangers

Measure the top of your frame to determine the center point.

Mark the center point and line up the sawtooth hanger with the teeth facing the bottom of the frame.

Lightly hammer the ends of the sawtooth hanger to attach it to the frame. 

Place a nail in the wall and hang the picture from the sawtooth hanger.

D-Ring Hanging Instructions

D-Ring hardware, also known as wood frame hangers, strap hangers or mirror hangers, is the perfect hanging solution for frames big and small. This hanging option, with or without the wire, is a great way to secure and display your picture frames. Our D-ring hangers have Multiple screw holes to reduce the possibility of hanger failure due to screw tear-out.

Here is what's included in your D-ring hanging hardware packet: 

• D-rings
• Screws
• Wire

Other supplies you'll need to install your D-ring hangers: 

• Screwdriver
• Wirecutters
• Measuring tape or ruler
• Pen or pencil

Installing Your D-Ring Hangers

Measure the sides of your frame and make a mark 1/3 of the way down from the top on both sides.

Attach a D-ring using the provided screws to each side with the ring facing up.

String the wire through the first D-ring, leaving approximately 2 inches of slack.

Loop the wire a second time and wrap it around itself to secure it.

Extend the wire across the back of the frame to the other D-ring, leaving some slack in the wire. 

Thread the wire through the 2nd D-ring and trim, giving yourself 2 inches to secure.

Repeat the steps to secure the wire to the 2nd D-ring by looping the wire a second time and wrapping it around itself. 

For further assistance, please contact customer service.

If you have any additional questions about installing hardware and/or hanging your custom frames, don't hesitate to reach out to the team! Our framing experts can be reached at hello@custompictureframes.com.