Recently I was thrilled to become a member of the Home Expert programme with Wayfair and this month they asked a few of us to create a gallery wall using some pieces from The Art Group.
The themes were entirely our choice and I enjoyed looking for inspiration that would lead me to the the tropical theme I eventually decided on.
I’ve always loved the idea of gallery walls and mixing and matching prints and designs. We used to have a gallery wall of family photos going up the stairs in our old house and I liked that I could just add them as we pleased.
Unfortunately we don’t have stairs where we live now, but I think that the hallway will become a similar place for me to collect all the photos in one place.
The most obvious place in our house, that was crying out for something to fill it, was our hallway area. It’s nice and spaceous and just one of those areas that isn’t used for anything but we’re always in and out (naturally). We needed a focal point for when you walk in the front door.
When it comes to putting up prints, I’m never sure what works best with regards to postitioning them. I like the idea of just randomly placing them but I also rather like having things in some kind of order!
I really struggle with that one, but gradually I’m finding places that work better than others and to just be a little more relaxed with how things can be put up. This time, I opted for symmetry.
At the moment, I’m loving greenery and I want to fill my home with all kinds of plants, always in the hope that I won’t kill the poor things. My eyes were immediately drawn to the Palm Leaves canvas when I first had a look at the artwork available and I knew straight away that I wanted the prints to match together well, so that I could incorporate other designs around them.
It didn’t take me long to come across the Monstera Leaves canvas, as I have been wanting an actual ‘Swiss cheese plant’ for quite some time. I still haven’t manage to to track one down yet in the shops…
I then wondered what would go well between the two and found this Banana Leaves print in a frame, which made the perfect centre piece to the pair.
To accompany my love of all things tropical, I wanted to add elements of gold to compliment the green. Again all tropical themed but I found gold prints were harder to come by.
This is where I decided to add my own simple designs to work around the art prints. We’ve had a foil laminator for a little while now and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get it out and whip up some gold foil prints in the style I had in mind.
If you fancy foiling yourself, then you will need a laminator that heats up fairly hot, some foil designed to be used with them and an inkjet printer. Inkjet printers use black toner ink and this is important to enable the foil to adhere to the design when placed through the laminator. Laser printers simply won’t work.
My husband designed the pineapple, flamingo and monstera leaf and I printed them out and then foiled them. It’s a really great way of making images look really effective and add a slightly different dimension to them.
The finished result
I’m really happy with the finished result but I still reckon there is room to expand with plants and accessorising the unit, not to mention adding more gold at some point too. The shelves are quite often bare, simply to deter my daughter from clearing them out! I can see a large Swiss cheese plant to one side and a nice comfy armchair to the other 🙂
This is so pretty Hannah! I love the tropical plants, pineapples, styling, photography.. basically everything! Great job x
Thank you so much Pia! I really enjoyed putting it together x
I love the colour theme you picked. The little gold accents really pop next to those gorgeous green prints. I also like your little succulents on the top of your unit.
Thanks Jo, I love any excuse to add gold but I think it works quite well here x
This looks great, and I can definitely see a Swiss cheese plant to one side!
Is that pot from Sainsbury’s? I think I saw this but didn’t like the plant that was in it & bought a turquoisey coloured one . I like your plant though!
It’s crying out for it isn’t it! Yes it’s from Sainsburys, well spotted. Luckily the plant was nice to go with the pot. They also had a biggish succulent but I didn’t like the colour of the pot – didn’t have time to spray it gold x
Looks gorgeous. I am loving the tropical look that is around and keep thinking where I can include in our home. Those prints are perfect and really dress that space so well.
Oh there is always somewhere to include something tropical. I would love it in our bedroom but we’re limited with our options due to the wallpaper behind our bed (which I totally wouldn’t have chosen). xx
Erm, wow! Love the prints, but the foiling idea is fab! I didn’t even know you could do something like that at home. I’m going to need to get some tips off you.
And buy a laminator……!
Ah thanks Kate! Now I do love the foiler but it’s not always an easy process getting the prints looking as you want them. We sold some we made a while back, but unfortunately they became too tricky to make and expensive in the process to get them right!
These work so well together I just love that palm print the colours are amazing, x
I love the prints you chose. I am wondering if they would be the right shade to use in my bathroom. I’d love a real cheese plant but they’re poisonous to cats and dogs so a great print would be a wonderful compromise #bloggershomes
I absolutely love what you have done with your hallway, it looks so fresh and modern. Great idea for creating your own foil prints too! I have nearly finished decorating my daughter’s room which has a jungle feel to it so when I have the prints up on her walls I shall be sure to share with you.
This looks fab – we need something to fill a blank wall in our kitchen but I’ve been struggling for inspiration… I think I might have just found it 🙂
This looks lovely. Not sure my boys would ever not fill a shelf with stuff! #bloggershomes