16 Jan 2016 Funky Frugal: Creating our hall of fame

by Tanner Cangelosi

In our new home, we have a long hallway in between our kids’ bedrooms. It can be seen over the balcony to our living room below. I wanted it to be kid-friendly but also coordinate with my colors in my living room. 

To begin, I spent about a month gathering pictures, art and interesting pieces that would go well together. There was a large frame, metal whale, birds and a few other items that weren’t the right color at all. With a can of light blue spray paint, I transformed those hodge-podge items into complementing accessories. I spent about $3 on the items and another $3 on the paint. Spray paint is my friend. 

Many of the other items I just found around my house in other places. After I had a good pile of trinkets, I started hanging the items by using painter’s tape. I taped off an area in the middle of the walls that I knew I wanted to paint the verse Psalm 127: 3-4:

“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. 

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior

are children born in one’s youth.”

We wanted our children to wake up every day and walk down the hall and be reminded that they are a blessing and not a burden. So this verse seemed very appropriate. 

I hung each trying to use a Tetris mindset and spacing each item about three inches apart, but still using the painter’s tape as my baseline. After I hung all the children’s art and photos, I used a deeper blue to paint out the verse from Psalms that we wanted to seep into our children’s hearts. You could freehand this, or use a stencil. I actually love paint brushes used for stenciling the best. They are a great brush, with crisp bristles, at a great price.

Finally, I wanted each child to be represented by their own arrow, just like in the verse. So I used a melon color for my girls and a grayish navy for the two boys. No arrow is alike — just like my kids.

Although our six kids, who are 6 and younger, don’t really notice this wall now, one day they will. In such a big, crazy and chaotic family, I feel like it would be easy to get lost in the mix, so this is my way to put one more guard on their hearts and remind them that their lives bless us. This is also a stress relief for me. Time spent painting and decorating is always refreshing to me. 

This project took more time in gathering than money. The total cost of this project was around $20, thanks to yard sales. Yard sales are my best friend. Well, yard sales and spray paint.