Easier said than done

I've received the message loud and clear.  Everyone wants pictures of the new house.  I'm not ready yet.  I forgot to take before pictures and now that the house is in a state of flux I'm not ready to share as much as you'd like to see; however, I do have one of our first projects for you.

For some background, one of the hardest parts about transitioning from a home in Virginia to a home in Florida has been the lack of a basement.  When Beau was house hunting we frequently conferred over where each potential home could satisfy the need of a "man cave."  Without a basement there didn't seem to be a room where I could politely tuck all of his sports paraphernalia and memorabilia away.

If my boyfriend had his choice he'd live in a sports bar, literally!  He would have a autographed jersey or photo on every wall not already occupied by a television (which trust me wouldn't be many).  There would be a fully stocked bar and kegerator in every room.  When recently shopping for a new great room couch, he tried to persuade me to get a sectional that came with "built-in" snack storage.  You know, the reclining sofas that have a lift up console probably designed to hide remotes and such. Yeah.

Eventually, we took the stance of "we'll figure it out when we get the house."  And, we did.

Our new home has a large Great Room off the kitchen.  With big vaulted ceilings and a sliding glass door out to the lanai, it's the perfect place to recap the day while he watches SportsCenter and I cook dinner.  In addition, there is a formal living/dining room space separate from the Great Room and kitchen.  With a defined place to entertain and decorate to my heart's content, we came to the collective decision that the Great Room could become our "game room."

The game room is already home to the largest television we own and we picked out and purchased a new sectional, which should arrive Friday, to provide plenty of seating to watch a movie or football game.

Ours has 2 armless chairs as opposed to the bumper but you get the picture.

With the bare necessities (couch and television) established it was time to make the room more personal.  I unpacked the numerous sports pictures from Virginia and began to scheme where to place them.  After lusting over several gallery walls on pinterest (see here, here, and here) I thought this would be the best way to display the collection.

There are plenty of tutorials and layouts on pinterest as well; however, they only work if pictures in the specified sizes.  Not very practical when you're working with what you've already got.

I began by laying out ALL of the pictures on the floor.  I took measurements of height and width and set off to use Excel as my guide.  (Side Note:  If you've met me there's a 97% chance you know I'm an Excel nerd and use it to organize almost all of my thoughts and plans.)  I cut and paste over and over again trying to find the right combination.  When I thought I had one that might work, I printed it and ran downstairs to test it out in reality.  I shuffled the pictures on the floor and was unsatisfied.  I picked up the pictures, leaned them against a wall, and began to tackle a new task.  I had spent 1/2 of my holiday with no avail.

When Beau came home and saw the newly unpacked pictures, it was like he was discovering the treasures of home all over again.  He and I began to tackle the task all over again.  It was much easier with him there.  He identified the pictures that were most important to him, the pictures that didn't NEED to be hung at all, and shared his vision.

Again, we went to the floor to determine the layout.  When we finally settled on placement, I went back to measuring and calculating.  This time it wasn't the height and width but where each nail needed to be placed in order to display the pictures appropriately.  The next time a 7th grade girl asks a math teacher when she will ever have to use complex algebra, the teacher should respond "Someday you will grow up to be an anal retentive adult that would like your gallery wall pictures hung just so.  Then you will be thankful for all I taught you." Okay, okay - maybe it's just me.

We spent nearly 2 hours hanging and leveling the photos but are happy with the end result.  So without further ado, your first picture:

 We did learn that like many other projects, measure twice nail once. Additionally, we're hoping to get some of the 3m strips or picture tack to keep the pictures from tilting and having to level them every time we shut a door.

Sorry for the picture quality, taken on my iPhone

I'll be sure to get some better photos of the room once the new couch arrives this Friday.  Just keep in mind, gallery walls are easier said than done, but I have at least 2 more in mind.