Wanna come sit in a sunny room with me?

I painted the living room last week!  We painted everything neutral when we moved in, but I've learned that khaki really feels dark to me to be in all the time.

It wasn't a very dark khaki, but the lack of color felt dark to me... not just in a lighting way, but in a dark, depressing, lack of life way.  For this color, happy, sunshine loving girl, it wasn't working!  So I asked Robert if we could do a light blue in hopes of a breezy, airy feel and am so pleased with the result!  Robert and I both love it.

We've had some decorations, but nothing personal and I was tiring of feeling like TJ Maxx lived here.  :)  I have years of photos and was overwhelmed at the thought of choosing which ones to print. Then I didn't really have matching frames; some are black, some are different shades of brown and there were a few white ones in there too.  I was trying to lighten the living room because it's been sooooo dark in this north-facing, almost no direct sunlight room, so dark frames weren't really going to help my cause!

I was on a blog the other night and saw the (probably obvious to anyone but me) idea of spray painting what I had. Why didn't I think of that? So the next day I got my spray paint and got busy! 

This is what I had to start with. (I have quite a bit more, but didn't want to paint all that I had until I was sure I had a place for it and I was pleased with how it all turned out.)

An hour later, I had a bunch of matching stuff!

I looked through about 7 years of digital photos and chose my favorites. I also pulled out some favorite professional ones from past years (that never got hung) and used them too.  Here's my gallery wall!  (If you click on it you can see it larger and see the individual photos if you'd like to.)  I need to use some putty for a few of the cheap frames that won't stay level, but I love it otherwise!  I'm going to add one more section on the right side, but I have to get those frames so it will be a bit.

I love the little splashes of green and am looking for a fabric with white, blue and green in it for my kitchen valances.  I didn't realize until it was all hung that every photo except one had green in it. 
We have a family portrait on canvas on order (a Groupon I had) that I'm so excited to put over the mantel when it gets here!  And here's my other favorite spot with those beautiful faces to look at.

I LOVE having these pictures up!  I had to pay for the prints, but the other stuff for all of this cost me less than $20 - one frame half off, the mirror on clearance and the Family thing for $2.50.  I have more frames I'm going to paint and put in my hallways... after I paint the kitchen tomorrow.  :)  I love the blue and white so I'm continuing that in there to tie it all together.  And the one last project I'm requesting for my birthday... overhead recessed lighting in the living room.  The perfect gift to celebrate 35 years of life, don't you think?