Sometimes I feel like my taste is in a constant battle with itself. I’m absolutely drawn to things that are classic. Audrey Hepburn. Stripes. Clean lines. I really love these things.

But I also really like quirky. Like, a lot. A little pop of color, a little sparkle, a little razzmatazz to catch your attention, possibly confuse you a little, and infuse a bit of fun.

Sometimes these two loves don’t get along. In fact, sometimes they clash pretty hardcore. But then there are the times when classic and quirky meet and the skies clear and angels sing at their perfect marriage. Those are the things I try to hold out for. It doesn’t always work, but it’s fun to try!

I scoured Etsy trying to find a nice mix of classic and quirky holiday decor that works without seeming too clashy. At least I think so. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong in the comments. 😉

I’m not a Halloween person (#sorrynotsorry, sister). I might be able to throw together a pretty fantastic spooky wreath (if I do say so myself), but that was pretty much the extent of my Halloween decorating this year.

BUT (but!) I’m kind of obsessed with all of the pretty pictures I’m seeing of post-Halloween fall pumpkin decor. Gone are the ghosts and ghouls and goblins and the whole creepy factor. In its place is it’s sleek, delightfully grown-up cousin. It really is as if the pumpkin grew up from its awkward experimental stage and suddenly found its footing as a perfectly polished lady.

I’m particularly crazy about anything with a sort of modern twist. I’m talking whites and golds and polka dots.

Let me just stop talking and show you what has me drooling…

I am Queen of the Big Idea. I get them regularly and plan them out in my head before I get distracted by something shiny that makes me start planning the next Big Idea. As you can imagine, this results in endless half-started projects that are like little mines sprinkled throughout my house.

“What’s that?” my husband will ask pointing to a pile that looks like a heap of garbage.

“Oh, that’s just my stack of supplies for the mini-replica of the Eiffel Tower I want to build for Sam’s room.”

[insert eye roll and snarky retort here]

My DIY gallery wall Idea has been in the works for months now (I don’t even think it would be stretching it to say a year). I was sick of our living room set up and hating (seriously hating) this hat rack thing we had near our front door.

Here’s what the wall in question looked like:

I decided I wanted to move my husband’s beloved off-center print to the wall that the stupid hat rack was on (not pictured). The print just seemed completely lost above the love seat, don’t you think? I thought it would be way better to fill the wall with family photos and other fun little things.

So, of course, I had to collect frames for my cute little DIY gallery wall project. And what else would I do with the frames but stack them up in piles around my bedroom? I mean, really. Do you want me to forget about them???

I’ve had teetering towers of frames strategically placed around my bedroom for months at this point. I’m cheap, so I don’t want to spend money on frames all at once. But I struck gold when I finally got around to cleaning out Ellie’s closet. There were a bunch of frames we used at our wedding just sitting there collecting dust. Perfection! I went to the dollar store and picked up a few more.

So once you collect all of your supplies for your Big Idea, what the hell do you do? I usually don’t get this far.

I decided to use paper to figure out the layout I wanted for my DIY gallery wall (it sounds way fancier when you call it that). I totally saw this idea on Pinterest somewhere.

I taped paper up on the wall to see how big I wanted this thing to be. My first attempt left too much empty space (my naked helper in the bottom corner agreed).

My second attempt made it way more substantial, which is what I was going for. My helper, however, was a little unhappy with my sloppiness.

Next (and I’m not going to lie, this was weeks later–which means the rolled up paper was just chilling behind the TV in my bedroom all that time), I laid out my frames. First I did it with empty frames so I could get a better idea of a layout I liked without being constrained by how many pictures were vertical and horizontal and what sizes they were.

Once I was settled on the layout, I started picking photos that fit what I needed. Then I laid them all out again to make sure I liked what it looked like when everything was framed and ready to go. I took a couple of pictures of it, so that I could refer to the photos when it was time to hang the frames on the wall.

When that was all set, I took a Sharpie and marked the paper where I needed nails to hang each of the frames. From there, I re-taped my paper to the wall and started putting nails where each of my little black dots were drawn. Once all the nails were in, I tore the paper down and got my trusty old camera to help me remember which frames went where. Here is the finished product:

It’s admittedly imperfect. But, you know what? So is life. And perfectly spaced and placed photos just wouldn’t suit us.

I used a mix of frames in different colors and finishes because I wanted an eclectic look. I also added the DIY word art I made awhile back (it’s the yellow rectangle that you can’t read), a couple of Sam’s masterpieces and CD covers to albums my husband and I like.

I’m happy with how mine turned out, but if you’re a stickler for clean corners and symmetry, try drawing a square or rectangle on your paper and making sure that the edges of each of your frames is in the same spot. If you’rereally anal, you could also measure the spaces between your frames to make sure they’re all the same.

Have you ever done a DIY gallery wall like this? I want to see it! And if you have any tips, share away!

I’m linking up with A Glimpse Inside this week. Check it out for lots of other fun DIY ideas!

Let me tell you a little love story. It’s the unlikely story of a girl and her can of spray paint. Seriously. I’m in love. I’ve been holding onto this can of Krylon chrome spray paint for awhile now, unsure of what to do with it. When the calendar changed to September I immediately started hunting for DIY fall decor ideas. This is where our love story got started.

I was wandering around the dollar store looking for compasses to make a necklace that I saw over on Henry Happened. Compasses and cotton candy for Samantha (to her, the dollar store is synonymous with cotton candy). While we wandered, I saw a few sort of cheesy looking pumpkins and a little light went off inside my head. Why not use the spray paint on them?

Here’s all you need to do for some fab DIY fall decor:

Be still, my cheap little heart. I’m in love. This would also look good in gold (which is a little more autumnal, I guess). But I’m happy with how mine came out. I broke out the roll of burlap I purchased from the Michaels floral section a while back and put it underneath. I sprinkled a couple of the leaves I had removed around the pumpkins and put votives and pine cones (not pictured) on the ends.

I love my little fall vignette and now I want to spray paint everything! You can bet there will be more spray paint DIYs in the very near future.

As a side note, you know this cheap girl did not just leave it at that when there was extra foliage left over. Oh no. I don’t care how much I spent. I took those flowers and turned them into a little clip for my ladies (check out this post if you want to see how. It’s the same principle, you just swap out the headband for clips).

Here’s my monster baby decked out in it. Can you tell why I had such a hard time getting pictures for this post? She’s totally standing on the table that’s under our window trying to destroy my cheapo decor. This is why we don’t have nice things.

Have you found or made any fall decor yet?