New look with the same old stuff

Since we moved into our apartment in August 2010, the wall over our bed has looked like this:

I love the art (a Target find from summer 2010)--they were the basis for the room's color scheme--but it just wasn't doing it for me. Since we don't have a headboard (we want to wait until we find something we really love), the wall needed a more substantial presence in the room. More weight. I wanted to LOVE that wall just as much as I love our new hallway gallery wall. So I did what any girl in need of inspiration would do...headed to Pinterest, of course!

Now, we all know Pinteresting can be a major time-waster, so I set out constraints for myself. I was on a quest for an idea that only involved materials I already had. Running out to Michael's or Goodwill was not an option (since I can spend HOURS and way too much moolah in both places).

Well, I found it. In about one minute. On my home page. A friend had pinned this photo and I knew it was it:

I loved the grouping of art, the mirror, and the typography--even better was the fact that I already owned the mirror and had struggled to find a spot where it looked good! For the past week, it's been living here, near my new paint chip wall art.

It looked alright, yet I wasn't totally loving it. And then soon after I hung the art & mirror, we purchased what I like to call the Kitty Mansion for our cat, and they both looked silly by it. Not to mention that I couldn't get close enough to the mirror to use it:

So they both needed a new home. I pulled them for the new bed wall project.

Both had black frames, so I headed to our mini black frame gallery wall to steal another frame for the new grouping. I went with the framed maps of Missouri & Montana (our two homes) because they didn't really fit in with their existing grouping--all the other frames housed photographs.

After rearranging the old frames...



...I grabbed a few last items: a framed painting, "Springtime" by Pierre-Auguste Cot, and to echo the typographical portion of the inspiration pic, a few letters from my alphabet collection: B, R, and V (our initials).

I hung up the framed pieces and the mirror first, using the inspiration photo as my basis. I also switched the maps so the frame could be hung horizontally rather than vertically--this way it and the art print were more symmetrical with the paint chip art on the other side of the mirror. (The framed maps were also Pinterest inspired!)

To hang the zinc letters, I made paper templates, marked the nail holes, taped the templates to the wall, and hammered right through them. Easy peasy.

Here's the finished wall:

I love it so much more now. The zinc letters tie in well with the grays in the paint chip art, the Cot painting now has a home on the wall rather than its previous perch on our dresser, and the bed wall carries the appropriate weight.

We moved the two paintings over next to the window. I was worried that having them there might be too busy with the new grouping, but I think it looks good:

And all is right in the apartment.

(Until I find something else on Pinterest and just have to recreate it!)

P.S. Belle says Hi. She decided she was clearly the focus of my photo shoot.

Linking up to Our Humble A{bowe}d, Maillardville Manor, and Russet Street Reno's One Percent Pinspiration (artwork edition) partay!