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11.17.2011

NAT NESTS: THE PHOTO WALL


i had all of these amazing plans for the back wall of the kitchen. something sort of like these:


but as we were unpacking, i pulled out my tiny collection of polaroids and instas  
and haphazardly stuck them to the wall with photo tape so they wouldn't get damaged, 
and it gave me a crazy idea...



here it is, finished:



it's about 70% instagram, 10% polaroid/pentax mini, 19% regular-sized photos, and 1% huck ultrasounds.

then i hung lawrence of arabia up as overseer of the kitchen. he takes his job pretty seriously. the other day he was all, "you're really making microwave mac&cheese for dinner?" and i was all, "shush, larry."

if you're interested in making a photo wall, here are some tips:
  • i know there are websites out there that let you print instagrams and that seems like a great idea, but their prices are ridiculous. i just loaded up a thumb drive with my favorites and took it to the closest duane reade that had a photo machine.
  • if you deselect "crop photos" in the edit mode of those photo machines you'll get your square shapes back. at least that's how the duane machines worked. when you get home you'll just have to trim the sides.
  • i used photo tape. probably it doesn't matter what you use so long as it doesn't damage the wall. i still have copies of most of these photos on my hard drive so i wasn't overly concerned with protecting the photos themselves.
  • i started in the middle and worked my way out to avoid too much of a grid feeling. in the corners and under the cabinets i specially cut some photos to size, trying to keep the bulk of the photo subject in the crop but not worrying about it too much. corners, am i right?
here it is in action:


a lovely, unexpected little side effect of this wall is that every time i'm in the kitchen i'm reminded of how beautiful our life together has been. something about all those photos of us looking so happy, and seeing huck when he was so small next to huck as he is now, it's just really nice. i love playing "who's that?" with huck in the mornings in our pajamas while the oatmeal boils. it's really rather sweet. better than some random roll of wallpaper any day. ;)

btw: there are 235 photos on that wall, and printing them all plus tape came to just under $35. BAM.

43 comments:

  1. Brilliant! Genius I say! Love the boy's pose too. Classic.

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  2. this looks great! and yes, way more personal then some generic wallpaper. Hopefully huck doesn't decide to pull them off because they look lovely!

    "shush Larry" hahah...

    Lindsay

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  3. Amazing. Are you planning on changing some out at Huck grows and your life keeps on getting more fabulous?

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  4. i love your wall so much! i love how pictures are reminders of all your happy times.

    how did you get your instagram picture files off the app?

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  5. I am thinking thoughts that involve photo wallpaper in the toyroom.

    Also, I love your little Huck and I love how he is the same size and cute of my little Smitty baby, except that he is not quite a one-year-old and we have been having talks about how he does NOT want to be one but he is ignoring me, I think.

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  6. Totally insane, totally awesome!! Love it.

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  7. I love that! But my one year old would probably tear off the pictures towards the bottom. Does Huck not do that?

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  8. i love it! what a fun way to add a little happy-spice to your living space!
    Smoking Crayolas Blogspot

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  9. i think that looks waaaay better than any of your original ideas!

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  10. doh! wish i'd thought of that; i spent like $8 for 20 instagram prints earlier this week. womp womp.

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  11. I love everything about that! Especially the part that reminds you of your beautiful life. That's what pictures are for after all :)

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  12. I dig it! I just printed out a bunch of instagrams and have a buttload of photos sitting in my cupboards, just waiting.

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  13. I love that. I used to have a wall similar to that in my bedroom. Didn't look that fun though and I think Lawrence really adds something special to the look.

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  14. inspires me to actually print photos again. Maybe for Christmas I'll ask for a polaroid to satisfy my instant gratification needs. thanks!

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  15. this is awesome! and a great way to display the pictures that i have stored in a billion folders on my computer.

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  16. this is beyond awesome! I may steal it for when we move again! You can only frame so many pictures.

    http://2anchor.blogspot.com

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  17. Has Huck started pulling them down yet? :)

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  18. so great - its like having pictures on the fridge times a million. love it

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  19. LOVE THIS! I would just stand at it and stare while things burnt on the stove!

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  20. Oh my god, Natalie, I love this!

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  21. That is really cute.

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  22. Love this!! So sharp and fresh looking and I LOVE the sentimental-ness of it all.... now how can I incorporate this into my own house... hmmm...

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  23. i like this very much that i might just copy to cover up our cinderblock wall. :)

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  24. When oh when is the trend of decorating with faux taxidermy going to end? Just because it's trendy doesn't mean it's either attractive or in good taste. Yes, decorating with real taxidermy was even in the October Martha Stewart issue, but it was the Halloween issue, and even Martha has made mistakes before (prison?). If I had faux taxidermy adorning my walls, I'm certain I'd look back at photos in ten years and feel the same way I feel about seeing myself in elementary school pictures wearing outfits from Units. Ug.

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  25. yep yep, you & my friend sarah inspired me to start creating my own photo wall. loves it!! : )

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  26. So creative, and I'm surprised at how economical it was. Love it!

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  27. this is awesome. definitely will use this someday.

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  28. How do you keep the little one from pulling them off? Did you seal it?

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  29. this looks amazing! are you ever worried about splashing food on the ones nearest to the countertop? maybe I'm just super messy but I don't know how I'd avoid that. or maybe glossy photos are ok if you wipe them immediately. hmm.

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  30. Really great. And I love the zebra, even if it is trendy. It adds a touch of humor?

    Could we get a fancy, all-in-focus, diy-blog type picture of the kitchen one of these days? I have a hideous kitchen, and so am constantly looking for inspiration for the day that I finally can remodel mine. The counters and finishes in there look pretty slick, possibly.

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  31. I love this idea. I'm going to send my sister a ton of photos for Christmas so that she can decorate her new room in Germany and think of us :)

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  32. This is AMAZING times a billion.

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  33. I love your photo wall! it really is a great reminder of all the people and moments that you love. I kinda sneaked a peek in the pics you had of Mindy, I was hoping you would make a post about it : )

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  34. i don't know where you can get it, but i've heard of having your pictures actually printed on wall paper. my aunt wanted to do it with black & white photos, but never had it finished. anyway, i love your simple idea! so pretty!

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  35. DANG GINA. you are one impressive lady! that looks phenomenal!

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  36. I've started one too! It includes many concert posters too! Thanks for the heads up about photo tape, I didn't even know that existed. Oh my goodness, he's at the "who's that" age! You two are going to have so much fun these next couple of years.

    dearzooey.wordpress.com

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  37. I love love love this idea and I love what you said about the "side effect". I was just telling my husband today that I wish we had one more wall for more photos...as a photographer (and instagram and instax addict) you can imagine the crazy number of prints I have. this is so clever. I adore it. we also play that game in the morning...who's that?! and she loves it! I can only imagine if we had this many pictures.

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  38. looks great! It's kind of like my memory of my mom's fridge covered in photos from growing up. :)

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  39. ...so beautiful.

    i wish i can be this creative.

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  40. how did you do it where the pictures did not fall off?

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