Mirror Gallery Wall from Thrifted Frames

A couple of tricks for hanging the perfect mirror gallery wall plus ideas for a traditional meets modern eclectic dining room.

This has been one of those projects that I was so intimidated to attempt it just sat in storage until I could muster up the gumption to make it happen.

If you peeked at my messy house tour in my Instagram Stories oh… two months ago, you might have seen my big collection of antique mirrors I’d been hoarding since September.

Aren’t they beauts?!

(Some affiliate links are provided in this post.)

A couple came from eBay, a few came from the thrift store, and a couple were brand new just because I discovered they fit in perfectly with the old ones. (These pictured above are just some of the old ones though.)

I pulled this one out just in time for Trash to Treasure Transformation Tuesday. (You can see my thrifty blogger friends’ before and afters at the end of this post.)

After I gave our secondhand dining table a makeover in the fall, the rest of this room sat with nothing on the walls until now. I envisioned a big beautiful gallery wall of ornate antique mirrors, but I couldn’t really wrap my head around this one for the longest time to figure out the best way to hang them up.

Eclectic gallery walls are fickle things. They have to be symmetrical but not look too intentional. They have to look collected but not too polished. They have to have lots of pieces without looking too chaotic.

So I pulled out my usual gallery wall creating trick. Even though it’s always kind of a pain, cutting out all of the frames on shipping paper and taping them to the wall is totally worth it. I always mark exactly where the nail holes are on the paper too so I can just drive a nail or screw right through the paper to eliminate any accidental holes in the wall.

 

My mom came over for a girls’ hang out day for this one and we pondered over this thing for a couple of hours before getting it right, untaping and moving around all of those paper pieces in different positions. And she reminded me of a trick that I totally forgot about.

Whenever you feel stumped, take a picture of your space and look at the photo. Whatever seems “off” in the room always jumps right out at you when you look at it in the photo. Never fails.

Now, our dining room looks much more polished, but in an eclectic sort of way.

It’s soooo dramatic against those charcoal walls.

(I never would have thought my style would transform into this based on the farmhousey vibe of our last house. It’s just further proof to me that letting our homes “speak” to us is always a chance to discover more about ourselves.)

Right now, I have a console table underneath the mirrors that I found in a consignment shop a couple of years ago and painted to look like wood. I can’t decide if I need a longer table there or not.

And even though the chandelier looks nice in photos, in person, the beads are dirty and a bit cheap looking. It just doesn’t make my heart sing. So next step will be the chandelier.

We might eventually add molding below the chair rail too.

As for the other side of the room, I found the perfect piece of abstract landscape art that ties together all of the shades in the room. (I shared some of my favorite abstract acrylic art the other day, if you’ve been on the hunt.)

It reminds me of summertime with that soft blue sky, which I am just desperate for right now. This Carolina girl can only take so much cold, gray winter weather.

This dining room has come SUCH a long way since last spring.

Here is the budget breakdown so far along with sources:

• Wall paint: Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal – $48
• Trim paint: Benjamin Moore Simply White – $48
• Dining Table – $100 (Facebook marketplace find)
• Slipcovered Dining Chairs – $284.80 for 4 (bought on sale for 20% off)
• Rattan Dining Chairs – $276 for 2 (bought on sale for 40% off)
• Bleached Jute Rug 6×9 – $136 (bought on sale)
• Abstract Landscape Painting – $179
• Console Table – $160 (Consignment shop find)
• Curtains – $50 for 2 pairs
• Curtain Rods– $52 for 2
• Wide antique mirror – $115 (eBay)
• Tall rectangular mirror- $75 (thrift store)
• Large oval mirror – $98
• Medium antique oval mirror – $60 (eBay)
• Small iron oval mirror – $150
• Extra small scroll oval mirror – $16 (thrift store)
• Etched rectangular vintage mirror – $40 (thrift store)
• Small rectangular mirror – $10 (thrift store)

Total: $1,613

Considering that accounts for all of the furniture, that’s not too shabby.

I’m SO excited that we actually get to have Easter dinner in here in another month-ish and that it’s no longer an empty room where we just dumped all of our moving boxes.

Progress makes perfect. Scratch that. This house will never really be perfect. But I don’t really want it to be. That’s what makes the journey so fun.