Gallery Wall on a Budget

After a little too long of a hiatus, my One Room Challenge is back and I'm making progress! Last weekend, I finally figured out how to make my antique vanity fit in with my decor...a gallery wall! Since budget was one of the things slowing me down,  my goal was to create a gallery wall for less than $200. 

Success!

So how did I create this eclectic and relatively large gallery wall for under $200?

I did my research.

I found some great inspiration that took a decorative piece and tied it into a room by surrounding it with a gallery wall. So, I had an idea (and sketch) of what frame shapes and sizes I was looking for when I went shopping.

 I found affordable frames that I could buy in Manhattan. 

A few months ago when I was helping my sister design her nursery we bought a bunch of frames at Home Goods for less than $10 each. So I trekked to the Upper West Side and purchased the majority of the frames there (who knew they have a Manhattan location?!) for around $4-$9 a frame, and a few at Michaels  that happened to be having a buy 1 get 1 free sale! 

I got crafty with art.

 Turns out there is a reason to keep design magazines, shopping bags and pictures on hand. I found this pattern in an ad in an Elle Decor I had lying around promoting New York based designer, Madeline Weinrib's textiles.

I also used a small patterned draw string bag I had from a boutique necklace purchase to fill a frame.

The whole wall is a mix of some art I already had in my room, magazine ads, birthday cards and stationary, pictures and crafts. 

Here's the before. I was using a really large canvas on the wall as an interim solution. 

And the after. The room flows much better now and the vanity actually feels like a piece of the design. I also added a shelf as a part of the gallery wall since there isn't room to have a bedside table on both sides of the bed.

Starting a gallery wall of your own? 

Check back tomorrow to enter to win a piece of art to start your wall!