Ok, not the whole world, but a good selection of it. If you watched our house tour video yesterday, you probably noticed a shot of these prints in action — eight freshly framed city illustrations we hung in the hallway above the board & batten. Here are some close-ups and a rundown of how we did it.
This was an easy, inexpensive project. After the new year we found a calendar at Anthropologie on sale for $13. We weren’t planning to use it as a calendar — we make a quirky homemade calendar each year — but we loved the illustrations of different cities and thought they would look great grouped in frames.
At first we considered hanging all 12 images in a grid in the guest room, but we wanted something larger for the big blank wall above the chairs. Then, after finishing the board & batten hallway, it struck us that the prints would be sweet spaced out down the hall.
They looked great, and installation was straightforward. To keep all the frames perfectly level, we ran a laser level down the hall and marked two dots for each frame. The two hanging points were 5″ apart, and we left 10″ between each frame.
We hammered nails into the marked spots — two nails per frame — which made the frames sturdy and eliminated the need to frequently re-straighten them. With two nails you can also slide the frame slightly left or right to fine-tune spacing, which is handy even when you’ve pre-measured with a laser level.
When you hang a frame on the two nails, it sits securely and evenly on the wall.
We used Ikea Ribba frames, which are affordable. They were $9 each, and since we already had four, we bought four more to complete the set of eight. The whole hallway display cost $49 total — $36 for the frames and $13 for the calendar.
Not bad to transform that space in about a month.
We walk that hallway many times a day, and even though we’ve only been to one of the eight cities — New York (can we count living there for a while?) — John’s already calling it our travel bucket list. Here’s hoping we make it to Rome, Paris, Istanbul, Sydney, London, Amsterdam, and Rio de Janeiro someday.
A small confession: three of my favorite spots in the house aren’t traditional rooms. They are:
- the frame hallway that leads to the living room, kitchen, and our bedroom
- this hallway that leads to the other three bedrooms
- Clara’s big girl room, which I love now that it’s transformed
What are your favorite areas in your home? Do you favor unusual spots like a closet, a bathroom, or a cozy nook, or do you prefer traditional rooms like the living room, sunroom, or bedroom? I’d love to hear what makes your house feel like home.
