In the middle of May, I moved out of my college apartment and I now live in a beautiful 2BR apartment close to Eden Park in Cincinnati, OH. I am less than half a mile away from Mirror Lake and a 5 minute drive to Downtown Cincinnati. Before I moved into my new apartment I started looking at ideas on Pinterest of how to decorate my new apartment. I have always loved wall collages but was unsure where to purchase the wall decor to complete my living room. Pinterest gave me a lot of inspiration, but I wanted both mirrors and framed pictures in my collage. A lot of the wall collages I came across were either of various sized frames or mirrors. I didn't see a mixture of the two very often.
This led me to design my own wall collage! I visited multiple stores such as Target, Hobby Lobby, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Homegoods just trying to find the perfect decor. If you have ever been inside Hobby Lobby or Homegoods, you know how overwhelming those stores are. It's like walking into Forever 21 and not knowing where to begin because stuff is scattered EVERYWHERE! However, I found that for the price and style, Hobby Lobby is the place for home decor. They often have 50% off on select items each week and if what you're looking for isn't 50% off this week, wait until the next ad starts and it'll most likely be on sale the following week. They also have a 40% off one item coupon on their website, but it is only valid on regular priced items.
So, without further ado here is my completed wall collage complimented by my beautiful Target Style throw pillows and blanket!
Now, let's get down to the details of purchasing the home decor. Since Hobby Lobby is so overwhelming to walk through in person, I started browsing their items online and adding everything to my cart that I wanted for my wall collage. To my surprise, my boyfriend went online and logged into my Hobby Lobby account and ordered my "wishlist" of home decor items for my birthday! The starburst mirror (HERE), fold framed star mirror (HERE), 7 3/4" Gold Metal Wall Burst Ball (HERE), gold arrow (HERE), paper mache Amperstand symbol (HERE), and Framed heart string art (HERE) were all purchased from Hobby Lobby at at least 40% but mostly 50%! In order to add some pops of color, I painted the Ampersand symbol hot pink with acrylic paint. All of these items were hung up on the wall with a simple nail. My apartment allows me to put regular nail holes in the wall, but some landlords do not allow holes in the dry wall so I would double check if you are renting your apartment.
Since I try to be frugal and like to re-create things for "cheaper than you can buy it," a few of the items on my wall collage were essentially free! I had two 8.5" x 11" frames sitting around my apartment so I went to Pinterest and found free printable wall art (Flamingos and Pineapple) to add pops of color to my collage. In addition to the free wall art, I hand-painted the canvas in the bottom right was inspired by a painting I saw on Pinterest HERE. Click HERE fo the full tutorial on this hand-painted canvas!
Now that you know where and how to gather your decor for your collage, it's time to decide how to layout your collage. I highly recommend laying out the items on the floor and having a friend help you decide. I rearranged the collage on the floor at least 5 times until a few of my friends helped me out! Once you're ready to hang up the decor, work your what from the middle outwards. You're going to need a measuring tape, a pencil to lightly mark spots for the nail, a hammer, a few nails, and a friend to help you figure out if the items are straight or not. Hanging the decor up might be the most painful part of the process because you want to measure carefully to ensure the collage is balanced and nothing is crooked. Once you're done hanging everything up, that's it! You simply step back and admire your hard work.
If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to comment below and I will answer the best I can! Also, if you were curious, my throw pillows and blanket are all from Target! You can purchase them here: Aztec Pillow//Embroidered Striped Pillow//Tassel Pillow//Boho Throw Blanket.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed my DIY: Wall Collage tutorial.
-- KraftyKellzster
