DIY Vintage Art Gallery Wall

This DIY Vintage Art Gallery Wall is something I've been collecting "pretties" for for well over a year. It finally came together over the weekend after a morning of junkin' and funkin'. I'm really in love with this sweet little space. 

I think I've mentioned this before, but I like to be surrounded with stuff I love to look at: old, new...whatevs. If it brings me warm fuzzies and smiles {and costs me next to nothing}, it's comin' in the house. This little wall has some fun little stories with it. And most of the items hanging here were about a dollar {some a bit more...some free}.

The before was fine. But, it was something I kind of threw together to go with the skull/antlers/dead animal thingy. That dead animal actually means a great deal to us. My husband has a very sweet story that goes with how he found it on a week-long, fairly- intense, men's spiritual retreat out on a desolate ranch. When we went to pick him up from said retreat, he pulled it off the bus to show us proudly...my first thought? "Can I spray paint it gold?" {Sometimes I don't know when to keep quiet, y'all...it was a knee-jerk reaction...I see antlers, I think metallic paint}. After hearing its special story, my gold statement seemed a bit trite...and I'm kind of okay with it as is now. Kind of. 
I printed the BLISS on my vinyl machine and then dug an old family photo out of a closet. I honestly hate my hair in this picture. And my outfit. And I was 35 pounds heavier. While I know that none of these things are really what a family photo is all about...I just got annoyed with looking at myself 24/7 in such an unflattering-to-me manner. Ridiculously vain on my part. But it had to go back in the closet. For now anyway.

So, the past year, after the skull entered our life, I've been looking for things to go with it. I'm naturally drawn to vintage-y type of stuff. My only rule was that I pay no more than $10 per item...ish. Like I said...most were around a buck. I acquired many of these pieces at Goodwill, junk stores, flea markets, or my parents' storage building {it's a gold mine...if I weren't deathly afraid of the snakes my brother tells me lurk in it, I'd probably venture deeper in}.

Everyone seems to gravitate towards the arrow first. I found it in Waco at a fun, little vintage store. I needed other non-framed-art-pieces to balance the area since the skull would be a part of it. It seemed weird to me to have a skull/antlers and everything else be framed art. So, the arrow and plates serve that purpose for me. I think mixing all the different shapes gives it more interest, too.

While the chair and table are probably the only non-vintage things, I still really love the chair. The table...notsomuch. Would love a tree stump table here...wouldn't that be fun? 

I also scored the vintage brass floor lamp at Goodwill a year ago for $7.99. Several IG friends voted to paint it...but I'm glad I left it alone now (it was a close call...it was almost teal). It's probably the heaviest lamp ever, too. 

The pillow used to sit on the guest bed in my parents' home for like evahhhhh. It was my late aunt's pillow from her living room. When my parents downsized 10 years ago, I lost track of the pillow in their move. Last week, my mom asked me to go through a closet and start taking stuff home {because she was in a "tired of so much stuff" phase that day...that doesn't happen to me as much as it should}. Lo and behold, the cute little pom-pom fringed pillow turned up! And home with Kristi it went.

The little plate in the middle is one of my faves. It came from a vintage shop in Burnet, Texas call "Finds of All Kinds". For the longest time, it sat in my bathroom with my perfumes on it. I couldn't hide it away while I waited for a wall to hang it on. It was a pretty cute little bathroom plate, too...I almost wanted to leave it there. 
The two little children's portraits were from a Goodwill in Austin {their prices are always lower than our Goodwills}...these were $1 each. The farm painting and the embroidered piece {lower right corner} are from the Scott & White Thrift Store in Belton, Texas {great place for plates, too}. I definitely make the thrift store rounds, y'all...if you're ever in central Texas or the hill country, I can recommend some of my faves!

There is a set of four pieces in this grouping that are actually reproductions from Currier and Ives...they are depicting the four seasons on early American homesteads. I got them at the local first Baptist church's late spring garage sale last year {they've sat in my own garage this whole time}. I arrived at the sale right before it ended...which worked out to my benefit. I paid a flat $5 for an empty cardboard box that I could fill to my heart's content with everything left at the sale that I wanted. These pieces {along with loads of other stuff} were from that little jaunt. 

This was one of my last pieces that almost ended up at my junkin' buddy's home. Truth be told, it went slightly over my $10 limit, but I really like this little girl...it is such a sweet little piece.

I think the square floral is another fave of mine. I love thinking about the home{s} it must have hung in prior to my own. It probably has some stories of its own, no?

But my favorite thing in this corner is always my youngest kiddo...he loves reading over here. And now he has a fancy wall to look at, too.

ARE YOU A COLLECTOR? WHAT DO YOU ENJOY LOOKING FOR AT SALES?

Neglect your chores like me and don't miss a thing:

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Follow on Pinterest | Follow on Google+ | Follow on Instagram

{i linky-party here}