Wanderlust Gallery Wall
This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure PolicyI’m happy to report that the gallery wall in my living room is complete! As you may know, I’m on a mission to get art on the walls of my living room and office. A couple weeks ago I decided to create a large drama-filled gallery wall above my sofa in the living room. (Click here for the details on the frames and how I hung them.)
The theme for this new gallery wall is wanderlust – places that I’ve visited and places where I want to go. One of my goals for the year is to travel a bit more. I’m always on the hunt for inspiration, and traveling seems to be a wonderful way to soak in the personality of a place. To help make my travel goals a reality, I’ve teamed up with Carnival Cruise Lines to share a few posts on IBC over the next few months. From cocktails to gallery walls, I’ll be sharing ideas inspired by some of the most beautiful travel destinations in the world.
To get my wanderlust gallery wall started, I used several photographs that I took myself (you may recognize the images from my trips to Ireland, California, and Oregon). I also purchased a couple on Etsy. Ultimately, I’d like to fill the entire wall with my own photography. I’m hoping that will be possible with some of this year’s travel plans.
I’m all about creating artwork that is personal. Using my photography is a great way to create inexpensive artwork that is meaningful.
I use Photoshop Lightroom to edit all of my photos here on IBC. It’s a less -expensive and less-complicated version of Photoshop. I played around with the colors, brightness, and saturation to make my pictures look a bit more artistic and colorful. I also tried to choose pictures that would complement my current decor.
In the photo above the image on the left is the altered image. As you can see there is more color in the sky, the wood in the dock is more visible, the sky is more colorful near the horizon, and the image is sharper.
Once I had my photos printed (I used Walmart), I laid them out on the floor to get an idea of where I wanted them on the wall.
After that, I loaded up the frames, and in no time my gallery wall was complete.
I took a picture as I was making progress with filling my frames. Remember last time I mentioned I ordered bright white mats instead of the off-white ones included with the frame? Can you see the difference? I prefer the bright white mats so much better. It works better with the room and makes the photographs pop!
Now, for the finished wall!
What do you think?
I was a little bit nervous about using my own photography. However, once it’s matted and put behind a frame, it’s amazing how professional it looks.
What I particularly love about this gallery wall is that I can change it whenever I’d like. While I’m certainly pleased with the gallery wall as is, when I travel to new destinations, I can add new pictures to keep the wall feeling fresh and inspired.
Speaking of new destinations, as I was checking out the Carnival site, one of the places I’m most excited to visit is Belize (located in Central America off the Caribbean Sea). My friends and I were recently talking about planning a vacation, and Belize was one of our top choices. However, getting there is a little more complicated when you’re not arriving on a cruise ship. So, visiting with Carnival is going to be ah-mazing. Belize, puh-lease!
How are you loving my wanderlust gallery wall? If you could hop on a cruise ship, what places would you want to visit?
This post was created as part of my collaboration with Carnival. As always, all of the opinions, thoughts, and ideas in this post are my own.
FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT THIS SPACE, CHECK OUT THE LINKS BELOW:
A New Couch – Sectional
Rug and Blinds
Hanging Rattan Chair
Coffee Table Styling
Paint Colors
Other Living Room Sources
Where are the yellow square seated poofs from? Love the pillows too 🙂
Thanks! The poufs were from Target.
xo Michael
thank you for the colorful pics. love them. you’ve inspired me to do the same for family pictures. God bless you.
Love the Photo choices. I would suggest reframing when you get a chance to non-glare glass; since you are putting these beauties by a window.
i stumbled upon your lovely gallery while searching photo gallery!
can you share what is the size of your frame and the picture? i love how you used 9 but it doesn’t look busy at all but pleasant!
thanks!
Looks beautiful. Just curious, where did you get the frames from.
Thank you,
IS
Okay, so I have to ask… where did you get your coffee table and side table? AND where did you get your bookshelf? Love your place and your style!
The coffee table is from Wayfair.com
The side table is from Westelm.com
The bookshelf is from CB2.com
Hope that helps. 🙂
xo Michael
I love it – there’s nothing better than photos from trips. I have an almost identical wall gallery in my foyer with pictures from trips to Paris and the Virgin Islands (with a few of my dogs thrown in for good measure). 🙂
I love this! I would like to know where you got your couch? I have been looking for eons for a sectional couch like that can can’t find one I like.
Thanks!
Thanks Gillian! It’s from West Elm.
xo Michael
I can’t look and lust over these pictures any longer. Start design services I will be your first client! Love Love love.
Love your gallery. I do this as well, and just changed out a couple of them this morning!
I used to shoot RAW and edit in LR, now I shoot JPEG (fine) and edit with Snapseed on my Ipad. So much easier, and offers HDR effect and Drama effect….among others! You may want to give it a try.
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Hi Michael!
Wow! These look fabulous! Thank you so much for featuring my work! I love the dark wood frames and white mats, so elegant. Your photographs are lovely – I think your talent in the design arena has served you justice when taking photographs.
Cheers, and Thanks!
Annie Bailey
Love your gallery wall! I have been on at least 10 cruises, almost all of them with Carnival. My last one was in February this year, and Belize was one of the ports. Beautiful! Since I have experienced the Caribbean several times, I would really like to explore Alaska or Hawaii. I highly recommend cruising and can’t wait for my next one!
I love your gallery wall. I have one of pics I took at places I visited all over the USA. I just call my wall “See the USA”. But now I want to redo mine! Thanks for the ideas!
I love it! I’m currently building up a similar gallery of my favorite dishes I want to master in my kitchen
Michael, Your transformation of this space is amazing! What was once a fun place to shop is now a fabulous space for relaxing and visiting with friends. It’s a testament to your vision and talent.
Love it – where are the frames from? I want to do a wall with all my photography…
Thanks Beth! They are from Target. You can read more about theme here: https://inspiredbycharm.com/2014/07/a-new-gallery-wall.html
xo Michael
Lookin’ good! I love Annie Bailey. I have three of her photos! And she’s so lovely 🙂
I really need to start working on some art above my bed!
A few things:
I have been following your blog for about a year but have never commented! But I love this one and was wondering where you got that Ferris Wheel print? I looked in Annie Bailey’s shop and could not find it–I am a bit obsessed with Ferris Wheels 🙂 Also secondly, I have taken the Carnival Cruise to Brazil and if you get the chance to go, I did the cave tubing excursion and it was definitely worth it–a great chance to drive through Brazil on a bus there and also to raft through the waterways and caves–one of my most favorite excursions to date 🙂 Enjoy!
Laura,
All of the prints are mine, expect for the train and barn (Which are from Annie Bailey’s shop). The ferris wheel is a photo I took at the Santa Monica pier during my trip to California this past spring.
Thanks you so much! 🙂
xo Michael
looks great! I love the white mats. much better choice.
the third to last picture is a little seen angle. Love it put the layout of your home in perspective since we could see into the office and front hall.