I first published this post in 2017 in our previous home. I loved the project so much that I did it a second time! Today, I wanted to share how I expanded the project in our new home.

I used the frames and photos from our previous project, which was made before we became parents. Our gallery wall is mainly older family photos mixed with current photos from our season of life now.

These first two images are in our new (current home) and the gallery wall is about double the size of our first project.

Below you’ll be able to see the instructions and video I made in 2017, which still applies today. I used the same frames, same printer and same method to create this gallery wall.

This post is in collaboration with Canon USA. I used my PIXMA TS9521C printer to print family memories in black and white. The printer produces really strong black and white images and I always choose the Canon Luster paper for these type of photos.

I resized all my photos to 8″ x 8″ to fit these matching frames. I used 24 frames in four rows of six. I think the things that make this gallery wall really pop is that all the frames are the same size and all the photos are in black and white.

The gallery wall is a mixture of family memories from my parents’ childhood, recent photos, and photos of Jeremy and I when we were kids.

You know I love a good before and after moment …

This is the original before and after. When we first moved in, the hallways (and almost every room) were covered in blue carpet. It’s hard to tell in these photos, but the walls were powder blue as well.

We lived in an l-shape ranch, and the hallway curved around and has every bedroom in the house (as well as a couple bathrooms and the laundry room) down this long hallway.

These photos have completely transformed the feel of our hallway. I tend to shy away from big family photos in the home. We barely even have any wedding photos out, and just a few snapshots in frames.

I think a lot of people are this way because, well, it feels extremely awkward to hang a bunch of photos of yourself up on your own walls! Haha!

But doing this project was extremely meaningful and comforting to me! Yes, it has a couple wedding photos, but it also has dozens of other memories. And when they are all combined together, it’s just magic.

If this post inspires just one of you to go dig out your box of old family photos and make a similar wall, I will be SO HAPPY. This is one of the most meaningful DIY projects I have ever done. I just keep pausing to look at all our memories and feeling so, SO happy.

Bottom line: While I talk a lot about how we need to get our photos off our phones, we also need to find ways to use those boxes of old photos hiding in the attic. They are full of the best, most special memories.

Here’s another idea for a black and white gallery wall and an ombre gallery wall. Thanks for reading! Elsie