Foyer Hang Ups

I have been working on my foyer for so long now and I'm beginning to believe that it may never be completed :) Our game room is decked out in Razorbacks, so our foyer will carry over with that theme. The problem is, to not get too "Razorbacky" that it looks trashy lol With that being said, we decided to bring out some of the AR colors and keep it family friendly. I saw a link on Pinterest that was similar to what I actually did in our foyer. Only difference was mine was under $10 --the life of a teacher's budget, right???

I wanted a space where the kids could come in from school and put their backpacks/coats/lunchboxes without it just being thrown in the floor. Hobby Lobby has the unfinished wood items that I purchased-both for the hooks and for the pics of the boys. Painted the hook frames white and then painted the plaques for their pics in black.  My intent was to not have hooks, but rather I loved the vintage look of old doorknobs. Do you know how difficult it is to find the knobs without them costing over my budget?? So, after much deliberating, I settled for going to Walmart for hooks. I was browsing them and having no luck on finding anything I liked. Several weeks later I was in the hardware section and came across these silver hooks that are actually bathrobe hooks for the bathroom-perfect for what I need as well as being a space saver!! I actually screwed the hooks in to the wood and the wall at the same time. Viola!!

Last step was placing the pictures up on the black plaques. I had the boys pics printed in black and white-it would go much better in the room than a colored picture. I had them printed in 5x7 size and then still had to trim them a little to fit on the plaques, but the 4x6 was too small. I applied Modge Podge all over the plaques, put the pics on the plaques and then left them alone to dry. After 2 hours, I applied a coat of Shellac to the plaques and let them dry. I know I have seen where some people just apply another layer of Modge Podge on top of the pics instead of using the Shellac. I have even done this before and it hasn't been a problem. However, I have also done this before and it smeared my picture. I believe the back coat of MP wasn't completely dry before applying the top coat and that is why it smeared...but, seeing as how I am not certain of that, I didn't want to take any chances.

The final step is putting the plaques and hooks up on the wall. I used command strips to put the pic plaques up - easy fix and no screws in the way to mess up my pictures. Although the final outcome wasn't what I originally intended, I am very pleased with it and think it looks just perfect in our foyer :) Woo Pig!!