Office Picture Wall

Finally finished the office picture wall and wanted to share some pictures of the progress. It took much longer than I thought it would! This wall is one of the first things you see when you enter the front door, so lots of planning went into what pictures we used and where they went. We knew we wanted to focus on Brian's Navy pictures, and I added some new Navy items to bring in some color. (Really, is it too much to ask our military to add a little color to their certificates or submarines? )

Here is what the wall originally looked like bare, with the collection of photographs, awards and other Navy memorabilia along the floor.

Close up of some of the new Navy artwork I gathered for the wall - including old vintage WWII propaganda posters about joining the submarine fleet, patches from Brian's old submarines and a quote from Skip Duffy that we hope to remember each day and try to live by this motto.

First step: Create a paper template the size of the office wall. We rolled it out on the dining room floor and taped it down to start positioning the frames where we wanted them. Of course, the cats helped too!

Second step: After much moving around and readjusting frames, we decided on the final pattern. Then we traced each frame with a pencil and wrote what frame went where, so we wouldn't forget.

Third step: After all the frames were traced, we hung the template on the office wall so we could start figuring out where each hook or nail needed to place. This was Brian's job, as he is MUCH better at figuring this out than I am.

Last step: Brian measured each frame to figure out where the nail needed to be placed. Then we hung the photos on top of the template to see what the photo wall would look like so we could make any last minute adjustments. When completed, we removed the pictures and carefully removed the template so the nails and picture hooks wouldn't pop out. 

Here's the final product! We love it! 

 Close up of the pictures on the right side....

And the left side!