It is no secret that I love a gallery wall. I’ve learned that I’m very far from a minimalist. Instead, I love a collection of several things together…in an organized and uncluttered way, of course. Ever since gallery walls started popping up on Pinterest, I’ve wanted to do one on every wall. I think it’s a great way to showcase multiple things you love, fill a large space, and add an ample dose of interest to your décor. Today, I’m showing you the wall I’ve done in our master bathroom.
The master bathroom is one of those “big projects” on our renovation list that will likely be done in the year 2072. We did a few small things to make it work better for us, like taking out a closet in the sink area to add more standing room. I’ll show you the full bath eventually. Today, we’re just taking a peek into the shower/toilet area.

While we wait on the bathroom remodel fairy to arrive, I needed some sort of plan for giving this small space a bit of personality. One way to add some pizzazz to a small space is through the paint color. I did neutrals (all shades of gray) throughout the house because I had no idea what colors I wanted and a limited amount of time to decide. I did a lighter gray (Sherwin Williams light french gray) in here because I wanted the room to feel as large as possible, especially since there are no windows. The basic light gray, though, left the room feeling pretty bland.

For the first several months, this room only had the light gray walls and plain white shower curtain. (It turns out that extra-long shower curtains are hard to find! I caught this one on sale at target.com and thought it was that fancy waffle knit fabric. It’s totally not, yet has served its purpose until I find something different.) After months of using the bland bathroom, I knew I had to do something bold in there. I found the marbled rug at TJ Maxx and started pulling together items for the wall that matched the rug’s crazy colors.

The collection started with that George Washington board. From there, I pulled together items that I already had and only had to purchase a few small things to fill in holes. I also made or re-purposed several items. Immediately after getting so many colorful items on the walls, I let out a sigh of relief. The room feels so much more alive and inspiring now…just what you need when you’re struggling to wake up in the mornings. I’ve included a list of resources below in case you’re curious about a certain piece.

In addition to adding the gallery wall, I also added photos of Matthew and me as babes in the tub over the toilet. I came across this idea in the early days Pinterest, and the link has since been removed. (If this was your original idea, Random Person on the Internet, here’s a high five for you!) I had the photos printed in black & white, because let’s face it, late 80s film photography isn’t known for its outstanding quality. I also decided to do them in light gray frames so that they wouldn’t take away from all of the color on the nearby wall. I didn’t want the toilet wall to be blank, and doing monotone art there would add something without distracting from the chaos on the adjoining wall. I must say, I absolutely love seeing our baby photos every day. I think it’s adorable, and I’m sure my husband is thrilled to have his naked bum on the internet. Shhhh…it’ll be our little secret.

In other bathroom news, adding a curved shower rod made a huge difference in making the shower feel more spacious. It didn’t make the room feel smaller like I thought it would, and made the shower feel 100x bigger. The extra-long curtain also made a difference. Adding the extra height made the ceilings feel taller and gave the impression of extra space.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the outcome of the gallery wall. I’ll probably adjust some things here or there as time passes. For now, I’m happy with the outcome considering how little the project cost. If you’re interested in other walls I’ve done, check out my mirror wall and the small collection in my rent house living room. I certainly have more collections planned for this house and will share those as they’re completed!

Sources: 1. Nashville Flea Market 2. gift from Australia from Matthew’s grandmother. 3. Elise Blaha Cripe 4. frame – Hobby Lobby with our second photo ever taken! (I intended to replace the photo with something else and then decided it could stay.) 5. vintage 6. framed marketing piece from one of my Elise Joy purchases 7. my Mom’s house (I think.) 8. Hobby Lobby 9. free printable from the A Beautiful Mess newsletter 10. Hobby Lobby sale isle ($2!!) 11. TP Outdoors warehouse & it’s a favorite! 12. DIY painting 13. thrifted 14. Hobby Lobby ($2!) 15. DIY 16. Hobby Lobby 17. DIY & it’s a favorite. 18. thrifted 19. Hobby Lobby 20. DIY 21. Hobby Lobby (purchased right after this post)

Sunday was my only day off this week. This means I had one million personal items that needed to be done on Sunday, including not setting an alarm and slowly drinking my coffee…you know, the important stuff. Somehow amidst trying to squeeze in enough rest to make it through the upcoming week, I made quite a bit of progress on the home front.

I’ve mentioned before that hanging things on the wall gives me a bit of anxiety. After writing this post (and reading that fantastic book), I made a tremendous amount of progress with decorating. I was inspired and encouraged and even a bit fearless with making things happen. Then I hit a wall. Several months have passed where I’ve done very little decorating at all. The ideas were still coming, yet I was overwhelmed and not actually doing anything. I seemed to have hit that decorating paralysis where I was too afraid to do anything until I was certain. Or until I had a perfect plan.

Thankfully, I snapped out of that over the weekend. I mentioned that one of my August goals is to share a home tour, showing my home in its current state. (I feel my blood pressure rising just typing that sentence.) Even though we’re not even close to finished, we have made a ton of progress with our renovation. Knowing that I want to share a progress report this month, has forced me to really think about the unfinished portions of my home. In addition to the one million projects we haven’t started, there are also one hundred projects that just need to be finished. With our busy schedules, it’s easy to put off finishing things because we actually need time to rest or spend time with family/friends.

We’ve also started several new projects lately. We are currently in the middle of turning our guest room into a guest room/home office. This means we have mattresses standing in our foyer…totally normal. All of the items that were safely hidden under the guest bed are piled in my dining room. We’re also FINALLY making some progress in my closet room. We purchased a new storage system from Ikea that I’m so very excited about. However, some of the pieces were out of stock, so we’re at a standstill on that project too. This means there are piles of clothes here and there that don’t have somewhere to live just yet.

Starting two new, major projects while I still didn’t feel settled in the other rooms has made me feel a bit crazy. Sometimes, I’ve wanted to throw my hands up and quit. Or move. There has been a certain amount of chaos around our home lately that hasn’t been very conducive to progress for me. (Just imagine folded laundry piled up not far from the protruding mattresses.) I know that you have to start somewhere and tackle a bit at a time. However, sometimes I reach a point where I just can’t think that rationally. Finally, I started chipping away at the chaos today. I started in a corner of the dining room and worked through things one piece at a time. Shortly after squaring away a few items, I began feeling inspired to hang some things. I’d had a few lingering ideas lately and had not had the time (or the courage) to actually start putting nails in the walls. I recruited Matthew to come along, and we hung several new things here and there. It transformed my entire day and my outlook on our home.

First, we hung a new (and slightly dangerous) Hobby Lobby find over our bed. We finished my bathroom gallery wall that I’ve been working on for months. We hung two sets of curtains (!! – even though one is just temporary). We hung the pallet hanger that Matthew made for me for our second Christmas, and I played with chalk on an old chalkboard to hang there. I also ordered a print for the kitchen from Etsy and hung a frame to put it in.

After so long of a creative funk, it felt amazing to make some progress. Several of the projects still need some attention or are temporary, yet it still feels great. I am reminded that I CAN get this home looking how I’d like and that I WILL eventually be happy with it. I never intend to be “finished.” However, I want it to feel good enough. After yesterday’s progress, I’m feeling much better about the possibilities. I’m also wanting to paint everything deep, bold colors. (Thanks, Pinterest.) I’m fairly certain that at least a wall or two will become this green color. Brace yourselves! If you haven’t seen a home tour here by the end of the month, you might need to prod me a bit. I’ll probably be hiding in a corner somewhere…next to something that most likely doesn’t belong there.

(P.S. These aren’t the best photos, because I was running out of daylight. Please forgive me.)