Staircase gallery wall with black frames

June 16, 2014

I’ve shown you the gallery wall on our staircase wall numerous times over the years. 

It’s an oddly shaped wall that I made work by hanging photos of the kids. It’s always been one of my very favorite parts of my house. 

Here’s an old (and dark) photo of the stairs:

mice on stairs Halloween

I loved that saying on the wall (the best things in life aren’t things), but when we had half the house repainted years ago that vinyl had to come down. I’ve had an empty spot where that was and finally got around to filling it.

Those frames are from Michael’s and are called floating frames. The photo goes between two pieces of glass so there’s no mat – the color of your wall shows through:

floating frames

Last week they were 40 percent off so I picked up one more 8x10 and a square 14x14. 

I used the square one in the middle and just printed out a quote I found online:

children quote

All of these photos are in black and white and I print them right off our home printer onto regular paper. Our printer was low on ink when I printed the quote so it didn’t come out perfectly, but I actually kind of liked the effect so I’m leaving it. I may print it again on nicer paper eventually. Or not. :)

This wall has always had photos of my son and stepdaughter, but now that the grandson is here it is time to add him to the wall of love as well:

I’m running out of space so the kids just need to stop being so cute. 

The one other small change was painting the railing black. It’s been a brown color for years but I have been craving a classic black for awhile now. And the railing on the upper part of the stairs was never painted (that to do item that I finally got to), so now they match, three years later!:

black stair rail

I have big and little plans for the stairs in the future – the big stuff may not happen this year but there are a few details I want to fix on the molding and I’ve been planning to restain the stair treads for years now. You can see here how red they look compared to the hardwoods:

gallery on stair wall

I can’t wait to get that done! But it’s obviously not a huge deal to me or it would have been done two years ago. :)

I totally dig the black railing with the black frames – I think every room needs some black in it. It’s classic:

gallery wall on stairway

Here’s another look at the darker version years ago:

Halloween mice on stairs

And how it looks now. Buh bye pink walls!:

white risers stained treads stairs

Do you have a gallery wall in your home? I love them down a long hallway, but as I mentioned last week we have none – so this is my “hallway.” :)

To see how I made the DIY starburst mirrors go here. To see how I added the trim along the stair wall go here. And for more on how I tore the carpet off my stairs and finished them, go here. This transformation is one of my favorites and cheapest!

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Comments

  1. Hi Sarah! I totally remember when you were first working on your stairs years ago. I lived vicariously through you at that time because I didn't have a home where I could do this. Now I do and plan to rip up the carpet on my steps in the next few months. I can't wait! Thanks for all your inspiration!

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  2. I love the floating frames!! I have been trying to figure out what to do with the odd wall space in my staircase and this is PERFECT. Thank you for the great inspiration!!!

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  3. Great transformation Sarah! Loving that wall color!
    xo
    Alison

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  4. We have several galleries in our upstairs hallway. I would love to create something on our huge blank wall leading up our front staircase, but we already have so many photos that are visible upstairs. I am leaning toward several framed favorite quotes and some objects instead. Just need something to start with.

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  5. Looks great! You crack me up about how long it takes you to finish projects. I'm there with you. I bought a chair to reupholster last year. I believe it's been a full year and there it still sits, much to my hubby's dismay. It will be my first attempt and I think that's part of it, the intimidation factor. Regardless, you still get a lot done so go easy on yourself. I have a couple gallery walls. My fav is black frames around the t.v. so the t.v. alone isn't the main attraction.

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  6. in one pic. it looks like the stairs are black. have you thought about making the stairs black?

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    1. Angela, I have thought of a dark stain, but not black. It would look amazing though!! I'll have to think about it some more.

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  7. Looks awesome, and love the black railing! It's like eyeliner (not that I wear that 95% of the time ;-)). We have a gallery wall of sorts heading up our staircase, as well -- it's cast pictures from almost every show my husband and I have done with our community theater. :-) So fun to look at all that drama and know that our day-to-day life isn't very drama-filled at all. *happy sigh*

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  8. Love the gallery wall with the picture of your kids. The black frames and the black railing look great. I am doing a gallery wall on my staircase using photos my daughter took, she is a buddy photographer. I too have been working on my stairs for a while, okay, months, but I know it will get done eventually.

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  9. Paint can bring such a dramatic change - your black and white color scheme turned out very nicely. I do love gallery walls - I used to have one in my old house with all my kid's graduation pictures. But since I have 15 kids (who are now grown and gone) I only have a grandkids wall, going up my stairs like yours. I think I am too much in love with photos - I have them everywhere!

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  10. What is the wall color? I love it!

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    1. It's called Analytical Gray from Sherwin Williams, I love it too!

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  11. I have a couple of gallery walls in different places. This looks great. I have unused stair wall space. Maybe I'll put something up there!
    -Ash
    www.stylizedwannabe.blogspot.com

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  12. Hi I'm new to your blog and wanted to know what color are your walls? I love them!

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    1. They are called Analytical Gray from Sherwin Williams. :)

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  13. Great gallery wall, love the photos, the kids all look so cute and funny on some of them. The frames are very nice, haven't really paid that much attention to frames at Michaels so guess I'd better take a good look next time I'm in there. Love that look with the glass.
    We have a small gallery wall, decided to do one after we painted living room. Not much room in our l/r on walls but really like wall I did, went with shabby chic/beachy/cottage in room. I made all the art with what I had in house, was on pretty strict budget after buying the paint and new curtains for l/r. It's worked out great and very happy with it, combined family photos with beachy stuff mostly. Painted frames light and one shade darker aqua. Your gallery wall is great on that section of your stair way. love your blog and posts. Happy summer days

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  14. This looks SO great! Love it!

    Your floating frames look really awesome on that wall. The whole area is clean and inviting!

    BTW, I have an 11x14 floating frame for my a painting my son did years ago in school (so great for accommodating odd-sized pieces!), hung it horizontally, and the darn frame bowed at the top from the weight.

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  15. Stacey do you mean on the railing? I did a very, very light sanding and cleaned them well. I just use an eggshell finish because it's what I have but glossy would work well too. Sand lightly between coats and I just use a brush to apply. :)

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THANKS so much for reading!