a complete collage wall in the boys’ room, plus a solution for those oddly sized ikea mats!

I won’t be getting any awards for quickness or efficiency when it comes to my decorating. It’s more of a molasses drip in the wintertime. It sort of just fades in the background and it not being done becomes normal. This wall in the boys’ room is complete now (though, I think I might swap out the top left picture for something else, and maybe do something slightly different with those ultrasound pictures (like this!! Obsessed with this shop!), but in Bridget-world, this is done! A+! One hundred percent! Probably, let’s be serious, won’t touch this wall again till the boys turn 18!). I was going to go a few different directions with it–wallpaper the back? Paint it an accent color? I ended up going the safest and most predictable route… that is, keeping it the same color as the room. Choosing what pictures to frame is no easy task, especially when you take as many pictures as I do. I had folders on two different computers labeled “To Frame” and I’d drop different shots in there as I considered which few to actually print and frame. Slowly whiddled them down to what you see here, plus a few prints from some shops. These frames are from Ikea, Target, and Pottery Barn. I like the mix of black and white. Also, is it time to take the Christmas ornaments off our little Christmas tree? Replace with some Easter eggs or pom-poms or something more seasonally appropriate?So, Ikea Ribba frames. This deserves mention because I felt like I’d stumbled upon a treasure chest when I discovered this site. No doubt you own some Ribba frames because they’re! so! cheap! But then you bring them home and discover that the mat size is not standard U.S. pictures sizing. Are you enthusiastically nodding your head yes and hanging on my every word to get to the golden ticket at the end of this? Well, for like… years I’ve been annoyed by this (plus the creaminess of their mats… I prefer a bright white mat.). I even brought the frames to a local framing place only to discover that mats are really expensive, so I went home with my tail between my legs and continued cursing the Ribba frame. Until! I discovered this mat site where I bought new pure white mats (they have various colors) with a beveled edge and everything to fit the 8×10 pictures for my frames.The picture of me holding Anders to the bottom right (the one that’s slightly off-kilter which is now driving me crazy) and then the Boston print to the top left are both Ribba frames with the new mat. I ordered the color “smooth white” and it’s a bright, true white. To actually build the wall, I just sort of start in the center and move my way out. I wish I could give you a more precise method than that, but I mostly just wing it. If you look closely (edit: even a quick glance will tell you), you can tell that the spacing isn’t perfect. And, were you to actually remove everything from the wall itself, you’d see more like 30+ holes for… 15 things actually hanging.{Source details: Child of God print: Sugarfresh / Fox and campfire nightlight: c/o Land of Nod / Boston art: Minted / all photography printed from the one and only Mpix / and my slippers, which I get questions about every time they’re visible in a picture (us ladies love our slippers!): Nordstrom}

Questions about anything else, just comment below!