A gallery wall of old windows

Posted on by Jennifer Allwood

gallery wall of old windows

We’ve been working slowly, slowly to put our house back together after:

  • putting it up for sale when the wall looked like the pic below
  • making it “vanilla” to appeal to the masses (so we took the wall down)
  • taking it off the market because the house we wanted sold (drats!  There was weeping and gnashing of teeth)
  • changing our color scheme from golds ———> gray
  • And now….. trying to make the house ours again.

It’s been a ride for sure!

Last year at this time our living room gallery wall looked like this:

 

gallery wall

Ok, so perhaps it was “a little much”, but I LOVED it.   I love gallery walls. I like wanna marry them I love them so much.

But now that we have new furniture and a new color scheme,  I wanted another gallery wall, just “toned” down a bit.

So, I decided to put to good use some of the 1,716 old windows that I have in the basement (anyone else have a window obsession?).

 

 

gallery wall planning

First we laid them out on the floor in an attempt at a pseudo plan for the gallery wall.  I wanted frame colors that weren’t identical but blended.

 

 

gallery wall installation

And we started with the largest in the middle first and worked our way out from there to design the gallery wall.  In the middle of the first window, my friend Jen swung by the house and I put her to work cuz’ when you show up at the Allwood house, you may end up on social media. Ha! She is such a good sport!

 

 

gallery wall drilling windows

Yes, Mr Magic literally drilled long screws right into the frames of the windows and right into the wall. We couldn’t have the windows falling off onto the couch and hurting someone!

 

 

gallery wall of windows

And there it is.  My new gallery wall of windows.  With a pop of color on the wreath.

Yes, I know that one window IS covering the cold air return vent and according to a few people on my Facebook page….. that’s a big deal???  So, I am planning on taking that top frame down ONLY to knock out the glass and hang it right back up.  Unless you are well versed in all things vent related and can convince me that the glass doesn’t need to come out?  And in that case we will leave it as it!

 

 

gallery wall of old windows

So there you go.  My new and improved gallery wall.  Waaaaaaaaaay calmed down compared to the old one.  But I love it equally as well.

I’d love to hear from you… which gallery wall of mine do YOU prefer?  Or are you anti-gallery?  (And if so, we’re breaking up. Lol.).

 

Love ya,

Jen

PS…. I have a whole Pinterest board devoted to gallery walls HERE.  Told you I’m obsessed.

If you want to read more about my house transformation from browns and golds to grays, I have some fun posts to check out! I changed my wall paint colors,  my kitchen with new gray cabinets, and new Silestone countertops and a fun arabaesque backsplash, AND  I updated my stairs with a new gorgeous gray patterned carpet.

 

Pin it: How to make a gallery wall of old windows

 

16 comments
  1. Antonia
    Antonia
    July 7, 2015 at 1:52 am

    I luv both but the 2nd one is calmer

  2. Kaleigh
    Kaleigh
    July 7, 2015 at 2:52 pm

    Question for you! I bought some beautiful old windows and the hubby made me test them for lead paint, and of course they tested positive. The one I have is pretty chippy so we were worried about kiddo’s and puppies in our home. Is there a way you go about removing the lead paint and making them safe for the home?

    Thanks! P.S. Love the window gallery wall!

  3. K.Humenuk
    K.Humenuk
    July 10, 2015 at 2:32 am

    The precautions you need to take for lead pain are many. Full body and face covering. Send them to a furniture refinisher. Its pretty cheap and well worth the $$.

  4. Kaleigh
    Kaleigh
    July 10, 2015 at 2:31 pm

    Thank you for the tip! I’ll for sure give some local furniture restoration companies a call! I didn’t even think of that.

  5. Chris
    Chris
    August 8, 2015 at 1:05 am

    Definately window gallery is my fav! You can change it up a bit for the seasons! The first one was just tooooo busy for my tastes!

  6. Mary
    Mary
    January 19, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    Love the window frame wall I have several stashed in my basement…..you are inspiring!

  7. Debbie
    Debbie
    March 18, 2016 at 1:15 am

    What is the wall color? Currently trying to find good gray wall colors.

  8. Over 20 Ways to Repurpose Old Windows -
    May 25, 2016 at 2:29 am

    […] using an old window  16. Make window wall art  17. Create a window weekly calendar  18. Make a window frame gallery wall  19. Create a magnet board from an old window  20. Use old windows as seasonal decor  21. […]

  9. Mary
    Mary
    May 29, 2016 at 10:14 pm

    Yup, love windows but doors a bit more. I’m santing to do something like this above my cabinets. big space between upper cabinets and the vaulted ceiling. Oh oh! now you got my wheels turning lol. Your progress on putting back together looks fabulous

  13. Susan
    Susan
    February 13, 2017 at 1:32 pm

    I have been collecting windows to do this same look in my master bedroom. Tell me, please, what size screws did Mr. Magic use when screwing the windows to the wall?

  15. 105 Genius Repurposing Ideas Teach Us How To Turn Junk Into Treasure - wonderful home decorations
    September 14, 2017 at 1:04 pm

    […] Ever heard of a design strategy where empty frames are used as decorations on walls? If you like the idea then maybe you’d like to repurpose some old windows in a  similar way. You can use frames of different sizes and shapes to create a gallery wall. It could look nice in the living room but also in a bedroom or office. {found on themagicbrushinc. […]

  16. Tissue Paper Faux Finish 101: A Tutorial
    January 12, 2018 at 7:55 am

    […] also have a fun blog post about how to design a gallery wall of old windows. It creates a visually-interesting feature wall of textures […]

Leave a Reply