Gallery wall and Reading nook reveal!

Sorry for my delay, folks!  My reading nook arrangement was finished last week, but the gallery wall behind it was just taking shape.  I really wanted the whole kit and caboodle finished before I shared it with all of you.  *Disclaimer* My camera is TERRIBLE.  The pictures were also taken at night (double no no!), thus resulting in not so spectacular pics.  Also, my house is a mess, I'll continue to keep it real up in here if you continue to understand =) 

So I started the layout for the gallery wall on my floor (had to lock Ted outdoors, he like to step on my picture frames... weirdo!), and initially it looked like this:

See my shoe in the top left and my miscellaneous papers on the bottom left?  Keepin' it real.  I liked this arrangement, but didn't love it...  So, after adding another piece to the collage, and about 400 million arrangements later (none of which looked REMOTELY nice enough to photograph) I came up with this:

So you can't tell very well from the photo, but the frames on the bottom right and top left are stainless steel from Ikea (BUY LOADS OF FRAMES HERE!),  and I have a few frames and accessories to place on the Pottery Barn crown molding shelves. 

From here, I started cutting newsprint to fit the shape of each shelf/frame so I could get the placing on the wall exactly right...

This is the ONLY thing junk mail is good for.... this and paper mache(<- I am completely aware that this is spelled incorrectly, but I don't really care enough to find out the correct way.  Yep). 

Then I hung the pieces of paper on the wall (did I mention each piece had a sharpie mark on it to show where to hammer the nail? Cuz they did...  Wow, I am AWESOME at tutorials!), in the same arrangement as above.  This allowed me to see how everything looked on the wall, and how it was oriented next to my window and above my lamp (please forgive my TERRIBLE camera!).

 

Stupid flash!  =(  But you get the idea (also, forget about the cranberry red curtain and the TINY curtain rod...  it's all changing!).  After a few adjustments and a LOT of tape, I started hammering the nails, and pulling down the paper.  And in the end it looks like this:

What do you think?  Not too bad, eh?  I need a little silver trinket or something to accompany the shell frame on it's shelf.  Also I need to add the sea-scape pictures to the remainder of the frames.  Here's how the reading nook looks now:

 

I'm SO not completely satisfied, but it looks better than when there was nothing there =)  I want a big leafy plant for the corner to give the space near the floor some dimension.  Also, a different and more substantial curtain rod will be moving up almost to the top of the wall when the popcorn ceilings come down (2 months and counting!), and the crown molding goes up!  All of this along with new curtains is gonna be legen-(wait for it....)-DARY!  Maybe I'll take a few more pictures of the space in good lighting, but probably not until I can make some tweaks to the space.  You know how it goes...  I can't keep anything the same for long. 

And here is the aftermath...

Dog bones, flip flops, hammers, levels, and all!

So the best part about this whole reading nook overhaul?  It went from EMPTY (there was nothing here 3 months ago!), to what you see now for only $130, and that includes EVERYTHING - furniture, frames, stool, lamp... everything.  I hope to be able to show you the whole sitting room soon (this is just a corner of it; there's a chaise lounge opposite these chairs, and this whole space is adjacent to my eat in kitchen), but I want everything to look somewhat presentable first. 

Let me know if you have any suggestions for how to improve the space.  It's such a random little corner, and since our house is so small, it really needs to be used for some type of seating.  But if you all have an brilliant tips, please keep them coming!!  Hope you enjoyed my blurry and poorly photographed reveal...  Happy Wednesday, friends!