Huge Blank Wall = Amazing Photo Backdrop

Then, my ‘real’ work began. I had envisioned a wall full of photos. With the ledge, it was going to be a great place to do something like this as no one would ‘bump’ into the wall and knock things off or out of whack.
I scoured the house for every photo and collage I had of the kids, family, etc. I found over 28 things to hang, including 3 shelves. I also got out the old photo albums to get some of the older family pics out on display and ended up purchasing another 6 collage frames that would hold another 36+ photos. All in all, I spent about 1/2 a day collecting and making the new collages with the help of my awesome hubby.
Then, I started out by creating the arrangement as I saw it in my mind, on the floor of the living room. It was huge! I spent another 2 hours arranging and re-arranging. I measured the wall space and realized I could spread out a bit more, so I re-arranged yet again!
Finally, I found the arrangement that would work and called in another painter who had scaffolding and all the tools to do the hanging work for us – again, this could be done by anyone, but we thought it would be smartest if we had help. Please know, if you don’t have a potential 20 foot fall, this would be a lot easier!

So, our fabulous painter friend showed up with his scaffolding and tools and set up quite a contraption in the hallway. He had expandable straight ladders and used the bottom planks of 2 of his HUGE old pallets to make the catwalk.

The hanging process lasted a full 8 hours, including set-up, measuring, adding picture back hangers to some of the ‘less perfect’ old frames, etc. We placed the smaller, non-hanging pictures on the shelves. It worked well.

He started by hanging all the 8″x10″ frames across the top and then worked his way down the center. He centered the biggest collage -a gift from my daughter and moved on from there.

He worked his way out to the wall and then back into the center and bottom.

We added in our initials (C and J) and the scaffolding was gone. Voila.
It was an amazing transformation. The light may now be too low, but I still have the problem of needing to be able to change the light bulb so it is going to stay in place for now!

I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. Yes, we paid some money for help, but given the difficulty of the task, I’d do it again, all day!!
I know you get cannot up close and personal to all the pics, but the wall SHOWS you our fabulous family and I can feel the love pouring out of each and every grouping of photos – so in my mind, the feel overcomes the lack of being able to see all the pics close up!
Thanks for taking your time to view and read. I’d love any feedback you have!