Gallery in Living Room

My living room feels a little more like home today....

Recently, I added a brass floor lamp (my latest garage sale find) to the room, and in the process I hung some art on the wall above one of the end tables.  After looking at the new arrangement for a few days, I decided to add more art on the wall.  I've been wanting to create another gallery wall (using all these frames) ever since I finished my my son's bedroom wall and the living room was the perfect spot!

Before I show more of the new gallery, I'll back up for those of you who just joined us.... here's how the living room wall first looked when we purchased the house ....

Then the walls were painted, here and here, then we moved in and I decorated...

The brass floor lamp and picture frames above the trunk were eventually added on the right-hand side of the couch.  And now.... a wall with more art and frames...

First, I hung empty frames.  Then the kids and I sat down with large sheets of paper, paint brushes and a few bottles of paint to create artwork that would fit inside the frames.  I chose the paint colors (metallic gold, green, blue and pink) and let the kids go at it.

There was a lot of paint brush shaking and splattering to get all those swirls.  I think my kitchen was covered in more paint than the kids, but I love having their artwork displayed (they love it too).  The kids especially love to initial their work... they take real pride in their creations.

Once the art work was added, I thought the left side of the couch needed some type of end table.  I've been trying to sell a stack of four blonde-colored, TV folding tables on Craigslist with no luck, but now I'm glad.... I grabbed one table and placed it next to the couch (perfect fit!), then I painted the table legs black, threw a scrap ticking stripe fabric on top, frayed the edges, placed a few things on top of the table... and.... the new look...

Here's a few extras of the gallery...

Here's one last close-up of the gallery (what we see looking into the living room from the kitchen)...

That's the living room progress as of today.  By the way, anyone interested in three folding TV trays?

Linking up to House of Hepworths, Paisley Passions, Remodelaholic, It's A Hodge Podge Life and Skip To My Lou.