Have you ever dreamed of creating an inspiring gallery wall that fills you with joy and motivates you to conquer all of your goals? Read on!
This inspiring gallery wall was in the works for a long time. Remember this post, where I shared 25 amazing gallery walls that inspired me? And how I said I was about to create one of my own? That was in October. Of 2014. So yeah…
Shortly after the craziness of the 2014 holidays, Mr. Enchantment and I made the decision to move from our apartment at the time, to a new one, closer to the beach. We had a hunch that we would really love the area, but decided to rent for one more year until we were positive that this is where we wanted to put down roots. We moved into our current place early last winter of 2015 and knew within just a few weeks that this was the place for us! Fast forward to one year later, and we are in the process of building our dream home! All of that, to say that I wasn’t too keen on putting the work into creating a gallery wall that I knew wouldn’t be up for very long.
I finally just got too sick of looking at a blank wall, and at the start of this year (2016), decided there were a few things that I really wanted to make sure I was reminded of every day: my exercise schedule, my “word” of the year, and my 2016 goals. I used those three key pieces as my starting point and then added additional elements that are important to me, to fill the remainder of the space.
Since we are renting, I definitely did not want to put holes in the walls, so I depended on Command Strips to hold everything up. As many of the DIY blogging sites suggested, I laid out all of my pieces on the floor, traced each frame onto a piece of craft paper, trimmed them out and then used those as a giant template.
I’m usually not this resourceful, but I didn’t go out and buy anything new for this wall. Everything you see, I already owned, or designed myself. Curating the wall was really fun, and almost felt therapeutic. I focused on including quotes that inspired me, photos of people who bring me joy, a reminder of where I’ve been, and where I want to go. Here’s a break down of each piece, and their significance:
- Top left: my favorite all time quote, from Walt Disney: “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” This was one of the very first printables I shared on my blog, and I had it displayed (in a different color) in my office in our old house in Connecticut.
- Top row, second from the left: another favorite quote, from Thomas Jefferson: “I am a great believer in luck and I find that the harder I work, the more luck I have.” I shared this as a Motivation Monday design a couple years ago, and loved it so much that I had it printed on a canvas.
- Top row, third from the left: a photo of a charming street in France. Traveling to Europe, and France specifically is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. Just a little reminder of what I’m working toward.
- Top right: Keep Calm and Carry On. An oldie, but a goodie. My family and friends might laugh at the fact that I have this up, because I already have an incredibly calm demeanor, but I just love the sentiment and the reminder to forge forward whenever I hit a bump in the road. And it gets extra points for being British.
- Middle row, far left: an “All you need is love” canvas. This one isn’t particularly special to me, but the alternative of leaving that space blank was driving me nuts. 🙂
- Middle row, second from the left: a photo of me and my sisters, taken on my sister Allison’s wedding day. It’s my favorite photo of us of all time, and I think it’s likely to remain that way.
- Middle row, third from the left: probably the most important feature on the wall, in terms of my business— my 2016 goals (more on those below).
- Middle row, far right: an illustration of Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, with “cat” on her shoulder. It may be totally cliche to look up to Audrey, but I don’t care. She’s the epitome of grace, and the retro vibe of the illustration is just my style. Plus, I’m a crazy cat lady, so I needed a kitty somewhere on my wall.
- Bottom left: a photo of me and Mr. Enchantment on “our beach.”
- Bottom row, second from the left: my “word” of the year, “Be Fearless!”
- Bottom row, third from the left: my workout calendar.
- Bottom row, far right, my favorite bible verse: “Be still and know…”
Here’s a closer look at those three essentials that I knew I’d need a constant reminder of. This printable calendar was created at the end of last year for Today’s Creative Life, and I used it to create a little exercise schedule for myself. My goal is not to become some super athlete or to lost 20 pounds. It’s just to be active. Since I don’t have any special gold star stickers, I’ve been using washi tape to mark off my workouts as I’ve completed them. So far, so good!
This year, the word I’ve chosen to focus on is “Fearless”. This word goes against everything that comes naturally to me (basically, I’m a scaredy cat), so it was very important that I have a visual reminder of this commitment looking me in the eye, as I work. You can read more about my word and plan for the year in this post.
And lastly, my 2016 goals are displayed as a reminder to concentrate on the project at hand, before moving on to the next area of focus. This year, I’ve chosen to break my goals into four quarters, and have assigned a list of tasks for each project. I shared an exclusive free printable version of these goals with my subscribers this past weekend, but I don’t feel like I can show you this printable and not give you a link to download your own. If you are reading this, I want you to totally crush your goals this year, and I think every bit of encouragement will help. You can find your freebie at the bottom of the post.
Even though this gallery wall will only get to hang for a few months, I am going to enjoy every moment of it, and hopefully will get the opportunity to create an adapted version when we move into our new home. If you’ve been wanting to create a gallery wall of your own, I encourage you to go for it (and don’t wait as long as I did).
Here are the ingredients for a gallery wall that’s sure to inspire:
- Favorite motivational quote
- Favorite bible verse or song lyric (you can even include a piece of sheet music)
- Photos of your loved ones
- Photos or Artwork of a place that makes you smile, or a place you’d love to visit
- An initial or monogram (maybe some cool marquee lights!)
- A piece that reminds you of an accomplishment you should be proud of, like a diploma, or an award
- Your word of intention for the year
- A calendar with important dates and goals you’d like to achieve
- A piece of art that you created yourself
Like me, you can cultivate your own gallery wall using pieces of artwork and frames that you already have around the house. If you’d like to add some additional pieces to your collection, do some searches on Pinterest for free printables, and scour stores like Target or Walmart, your local craft store, thrift and second hand stores, and of course Etsy for truly unique and one of a kind finds.
Here are downloads for:
{ Your goal planning sheet with a breakdown by quarter of the year (like mine)
{ Your goal planning sheet without defined dates, so you can assign your own
The PDFs have forms that can be typed in, using Adobe Reader (free download if you don’t have it: https://get.adobe.com/reader/). Please save to your computer before typing anything in, otherwise it won’t save your text. You can always write in by hand as well!
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