From Gangly Gallery Wall to Superb Shelving

My first attempt to display some photos was a fail. It ended up looking mismatched in all the wrong ways and never felt finished to me.

So one night I was so sick of looking at it that I took most of the frames off the wall before I even had a plan. I was a girl on a mission! First stop.. find inspiration!

So I came across two different sources...

This first picture is from here and I came across it awhile back but just love how it anchors the wall. Also what a great way to showcase some items you love!

Now my second source of inspiration is a little weird for a living room because its obviously a kitchen...

This kitchen is from Young House Love which Sherry and John completely DIYed themselves! If you haven't been over to YHL to check it out seriously put it on the to do list! They are DIY heros! 

Still both of these examples capture what I was looking for most.... the ability to display not only pictures, but cute trinkets and flowers too! 

So off I went to Hobby Lobby to take another look at some shelves that I had been eyeing for about a zillion months! With a gift card in hand I walked out of Hobby Lobby with a huge smile on my face and four new tin shelves!

Now the dilemma was how to hang them so that they made sense. I already had picked out the wall behind the couch because it looked like one massive stripe of couch and one blaring blank white wall. 

My jumping off point was to hang a mirror directly in the center of the wall. 

Then I employed Trey's help with hanging the shelves. Since we weren't positive where the studs were in the wall, we used plastic anchors to get a more stable hold and found a few studs along the way! 

After two hours of measuring, eyeballing, drilling, and a dinner break we finally had the shelves up! This is my first round of styling them. They look a little different now and yes that is a halo of light at the top of the wall... a boy creation if I ever saw one :) Our living room and kitchen are horribly lit and this was Trey and his brothers solution... ohh boys! haha 

Here are some close up shots of the shelves. 

Ignore all the dates in the photos, I'm still learning on how to use my camera and sometimes the date pops up and sometimes it doesn't! Ah! Mysterious camera settings! 

Well I hope you guys like! I know I'm smitten! 

Anyone try their hand at open shelving? Or find another cool way to display the things you love? What about finally figuring out your camera settings? Anyone have a cannon power shot ELPH 310 HS? Tell me about your Monday!