Colorful Gallery Wall in the Family Room

**Don’t miss the giveaway at the end**

Today is a very special day, not only because I am going to share my colorful gallery wall with you, but because on Saturday, Sweet Parrish Place turned two years old! Yep! Two years ago, on October 25, 2012, I took the plunge, wrote my very first post, and hit publish. When I look back at those first posts I wrote, I can see just how far this blogging journey has taken me. And I can also see how Sweet Parrish Place has grown, and that makes me so excited for the future! I have learned so much, discovered my passion, and been such a happier person over these past two years.

And I just have to say thank you, to every single one of you who keep coming back to this blog every day, to those of you who are brand new and may have clicked over for the first time today, and to every single person who has ever read my blog. I probably would not still be chugging along if it weren’t for the people who read Sweet Parrish Place. The fact that my stats keep growing, slowly but surely, is why I keep doing this, and the reason I stay inspired. I am filled with gratitude to my readers for being interested in my little tiny corner of the blogging world. And I want to thank you, so I have teamed up with Minted.com today to give one lucky reader a $150 credit to order whatever you want! This is my very first giveaway on the blog, and I am so thankful to Minted that when I asked them to partner with me to celebrate my blogiversary, they said yes! So don’t forget to scroll down to the bottom of this post and sign up for your chance to win!

I have been planning a gallery wall for our family room for several months, and on Saturday, I finally got around to hanging it. This room is the kid’s hangout room. It is where they go to when they have friends over, it is where they play Wii, and it is a great place to take a nap, because the sofa is quite possibly the most comfortable sofa ever. Some of the artwork, I already had, and some I purchased just for this wall. And I plan on adding a couple more small things to it, as soon as I find them.

Since this room is not our main living space, I thought it would be OK to go a little more bold with color, and I love the result! Originally, I just had the large colorful canvas hanging all alone over the sofa, so I just left it centered, and added everything else around it. The tapestry on the far right is a Sedish horse called a Dala. It is a traditional carved, painted wooden horse statuette originating in the Swedish province Dalarna. It was given to us by Our Swedish Daughter’s parents when they visited us last spring. They brought us another tapestry as well. You can see it hanging in our entrway.

The large canvas was purchased at Pier One 5-6 years ago. The starfish on the wall was purchased in Destin, Florida.

Both of these art prints were purchased at Minted.com. Have you ever checked out the artwork they have? They have several independent artists who sell their art on Minted, and you can order the prints framed or not framed. I ordered mine framed. They have a fabulous selection of frames to accent your artwork however you want.

I was very happy when I received these prints in the mail. They do not disappoint! I loved both the artwork and the frames. Each piece of art comes with a certificate of authenticity.

This is called Afternoon in San Francisco. I bought it because LC loves San Francisco. His brother used to live there and he just fell in love with the city after visiting several times. This is a nice reminder of the many treasured memories he has of his brother. The frame I chose is called Distressed Cottage White, and I love the way it looks with the print.

This next one is called Leaf Study. It comes in five different colors, and the color I chose is called Sky. It is a very subtle color, and I had a hard time photographing it. But it is more noticeable in person. The frame I chose is called Distressed Indigo Stain.

LC bought me this painting of a small girl on the beach when we were in Ocean City a few years ago. It used to hang in the bathroom of our old house, and it has been hanging alone on another wall of this family room since we moved to this house. But I thought taking some of the things I had hanging alone and making a gallery wall would be much more interesting and make a bigger impact. The Live Laugh Love canvas is something that I found in my daughter’s room after she moved to college, and she never even took it out of the packaging, so I swiped it because I thought the colors matched.

This art print was purchased by LC on a trip he took to Tokyo, Japan. I framed it in this white frame that I happened to have in my stash.

In case you are wondering, my process for hanging the gallery wall was to take everything and lay it out on the floor and play with it until I liked the arrangement. After I had it arranged the way I liked it, I started by hanging the largest art print back on the same nail where it was hanging originally. And then I just started arranging it by adding one piece at a time. I just eyeballed it all. I could have gotten more technical and measured things, or hung papers up that were the same size as the art, but I didn’t and thankfully it worked out.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my new gallery wall today! I have made some more changes to our family room, but for today I just wanted to share my gallery wall, and my new art from Minted. You should definitely check out their artwork, they have a very large selection, and you are sure to find something that you will love in your own home! And don’t forget to enter the giveaway! One lucky reader is going to win $150 to Minted.com, and you can use it to order an awesome piece of art, or anything else you love from their website! So. Much. Cuteness.

Now on to my very first giveaway! Please take a few seconds to register, and you might find yourself with $150 worth of awesomeness from Minted! And please share the giveaway with all of your friends so they can sign up too!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is where I party:

Monday: