Deck progress drags on, so we’ll be back with more details for you on Monday (wish we had more full days to devote to it, but it’ll probably be a weekly update situation like our first house’s bathroom reno and our kitchen redo since it’s such a big undertaking). But I just couldn’t resist sharing this in-progress picture of John and his dad telling the auger who’s boss:
Oh but the time it’s taking us to build this deck isn’t what I meant by the title of “half a decade” (at least we hope it won’t take us five years to get ‘er done). That has to do with our five year wedding anniversary, which is coming up on July 7th. How crazy is that? We can’t even grasp that it has been half of a decade since our little backyard wedding. And it means that seven years ago we shared our first kiss (we picked 7/7/07 as our wedding day because 7/7/05 was when we started dating – yes we kissed on the first date, haha).
There are some parts of our wedding that we remember so vividly it easily could have been a month ago. So funny how time flies. And as some of you know, it has been a little tradition to take a picture of our family on July 7th in honor of our wedding day, like this:
This was last year’s picture, with just one wiggly kid…
… and with both of them…
We like to frame each year’s picture in small differently shaped capiz frames that we’ve found over time (from Target, thrift stores, Hobby Lobby, etc). But our sink was getting cluttered with four full frames and the latest empty one that we snagged from Target a few weeks back in anticipation of our fifth photo. So we decided to tackle a little photo-hanging project to get them off the sink and enjoy them in a nice little grouping on the wall next to it.
For some reason hanging frames seems to be something we get asked about the most, so we thought we’d break down the process for getting these guys on the wall without any oops holes. Either folks are just plain intimidated to hammer a nail into a pristine hole-less wall or they’re not sure how to settle on “the right” arrangement. The good news is there are probably always at least ten arrangements that would look good, so we just like to put the frames on the floor and play around until we have a little grouping that we like. Like this:
The next step is to make little paper templates for each frame, so you can map out where you want to place them (and only make one hole in the correct spot for each frame instead of ten bad ones). We just laid the frame on top of white printer paper, traced the outline, cut them out, and taped them to the wall, shifting things around until we liked what we saw:
We had also taken a second to mark where the nail hole needed to be on each one by holding it up against the back of the frame before taping it up and pushing a nail through to rest on the hook on the back of the frame. So when we taped them up they already had these nail guide holes to completely take the guesswork out of things.
Some of our frames didn’t come with hooks for hanging them on the wall (since they’re meant to be tabletop frames) so we just picked up a pack of picture hanging hardware at JoAnn for 99 cents (for four of them). Then I crazy glued them to the back of the frame and pulled off the little flap that you use to stand them on the counter (since the flap would make them sit away from the wall more than we wanted them to).
Next we just hammered through the pre-made hole in the paper template where we knew the nail should go for each one.
Which looked a little something like this:
Then we left the nails in the wall and pulled the paper templates off. Less then a minute later we had everything hanging. And then I ran outside to grab some flowers, because I’m girly like that.
It’s sweet to see four anniversary photos all together on the wall, with that blank fifth one just waiting for our latest family pic in a few weeks.
Think Clara and Burger are going to cooperate this year? Nah, me either. But that’s half the fun.
Oh and we thought this could also double as a budget blooms post since we’re woefully overdue for one of those. See all these flowers I mentioned running outside for? Yup, they’re all free from the yard! They’re clippings from the hydrangea bushes out by the patio, and a giant man-eating (not really, but it’s huge) butterfly bush in the back yard.
I just stuck a little glass vase full of water in the middle of this giant ceramic planter (from HomeGoods a while back) on top of a cardboard box to lift it up so the stems of everything didn’t have to be impossibly long.
I love the little pointy butterfly bush clippings mixed in with the lace-like balls o’ hydrangea. I wonder if they’ll live long enough to see us put our next picture in the empty five-year-anniversary frame?
Probably not, but they sure are pretty for now.
I especially love how you can appreciate all the different types of capiz frames since they’re not all jumbled in front of each other on the counter anymore.
And come to think of it, hydrangeas are pretty fitting for that vase beneath them since they were in my little homemade wedding bouquet.
Oh my gosh, was that really five years ago? I’m in denial. Haha. Anyone else have any anniversary traditions or frame groupings you’ve been hanging up? Do you use paper templates to simplify things? Or do you have another easy hanging method? Share and share alike!
Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winner, so click here to see if it’s you.
Becky@OrganizingMadeFun says
Have you guys thought about using the picture hanging strips? They SUPER easy and if you mess up, you just pull off the picture and plop it back on since it’s velcro. You also don’t have to have any hooks or anything. I just did a post today about them in my newly decorated office:
http://bit.ly/LLBpYn
I’m telling you, they are fantastic!
Becky B.
http://www.organizingmadefun.com
Organizing Made Fun
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we use them sometimes! Actually to hang frames on our wall of penny tile in the kitchen they have been great since there’s no need to make holes!
xo,
s
Kate says
I just love capiz, and I love this arrangement on your wall!
7/7/07 is our engagementaversary, and this year we’ll spend it at the wedding of some sweet friends in Sonoma! Can’t wait!
YoungHouseLove says
Have fun!
xo,
s
Stacy Weiland says
I love, love, love the tip for hanging pictures. It is so simple yet so brilliant! They look beautiful. :)
Lauren@FilingJointly says
I’ve only been married about 18 months (though together for ten years this last January) and my husband had the flu on our first anniversary (let’s hope THAT is not a tradition) so we don’t have any little rituals as of yet. Here’s hoping next year everyone is in perfect health and not laying on the bathroom floor shouting for Gatorade.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, hope you’re both healthy and have lots of fun!
xo,
s
Kat says
I love the anniversary picture idea! I think its really cute.
Jillian {Her Split Ends} says
Yeah!! happy almost anniversary! I love the idea of the pics…i’m married 4 years now…so maybe i need to go back and HOPE i have pics from the last years…but starting now…its gonna happen! And great picture hanging tips!!
Cheers
~ Jillian
http://www.hersplitends.com
Katie says
Totally thought this was a baby announcement post! Due to the lack of recent Sherry pictures over the past few weeks I have been on pins and needles waiting!!
YoungHouseLove says
So sorry guy, we’re not even trying yet!
xo,
s
Jessica says
Love that the flower arrangement matches your outfits in the photos….too cute!
Sunni says
My husband and I got married at a winery in Colorado, so every year wherever we are we make it a point to find a local winery to visit to do some tastings and take a picture :-) We thought it would be hard to find wineries when we moved to Texas, but surprisingly (to us at least) we find at least one new one to try every year!
Congratulations on 5 years! They fly by so fast!
YoungHouseLove says
Cute tradition!
xo
s
Brittany says
I love the anniversary photo idea and my favorite flowers are hydrangeas, too bad they don’t grow in FL :(. It’s my 5th wedding anniversary this weekend too (June 17th), I wish we had started a tradition like that, but maybe we’ll start this year!
Cheryl B says
Happy 5th Anniversary to you both. My parents Anniversary is also July 7th, but this year they will be celebrating their 50th!I am sure you two will make it that far. I hope you are doing something great!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that’s amazing! Congrats to your parents!
xo,
s
Kendra says
Happy up-coming anniversary! We arranged our collage on the floor before we hung it up, but I like your idea!
http://goodlifeblog.org/hanging-a-collage/
YoungHouseLove says
LOVE it!
xo,
s
Loren says
This is great. I love your photos!
Next week is our 4 year anniversary. (It is just a ‘date-aversary’ though, we aren’t married yet.) Still I had to count back I go ‘OMG have we been together FOUR YEARS!?
Congrats, I’m sure you guys will enjoy a lot more half decades. :)
Tracy says
Aww, that’s so cute! I think you’re missing a photo though – you need to have one of you two on your wedding day in the collection as well! We’re celebrating our 6th anniversary on July 22nd. Happy early anniversary!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s true! We’ll have to add that when the collection grows! We have some wedding pics in our hallway frame wall, though!
xo,
s
Kerri says
I love the frame montage you created! I have been wanting to do this, but didn’t really know how to go about. So, thanks for the tips.
Congrats on five years and here is to many more!
Nancy says
I must be your oldest reader, and enjoy your blog and reading about your sweet family. My husband and I celebrated our 42nd anniversary on 6/6. We like to take short trips to celebrate. This year we went to Durango, CO and took a white water rafting trip.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s amazing! Go Nancy!
xo,
s
heather says
I knew the second I read “with our one wiggly baby” people were going to eek out about another baby. You know I’m cracking up laughing over here.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I know right- especially after our convo yesterday!
xo,
s
Lauren says
We have a tradition of doing a trip or special outing for our anniversary, and then buying a print or taking an artsy picture and hanging it on our master bathroom wall. I wrote a post about it a few years ago, starting with the print we bought on our honeymoon. It’s a great reminder of the exciting trips we took (before kids–the last two years have been rather laid back, but that’s okay :) )
http://laurenm83.blogspot.com/2009/07/bringing-it-back-home.html
YoungHouseLove says
So cute! I love that.
xo
s
claire says
Happy anniversary! For a second, I thought you were announcing a pregnancy! My heart skipped a beat!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so funny! I had no intention of teasing you guys like that! We’re not even trying or anything so that announcement is a ways off!
xo,
s
Allyn says
Oh yay! Such a sweet tradition. Our one year is coming up in August, and I love the thought of starting something like that.
Lisa says
Shortly after my husband and I met, he took me to a friends’ wedding (our first trip together). On our drive home we stopped at an apple orchard and took a photo of us together… our first photo as a couple. By sheer coincidence we were married exactly 5 years later to the day, so that became our second photo. And exactly 5 years later to the day we had another photo taken, with our 2 week old son. This year we are planning to hire a professional photographer to take the 4th photo in our series!
YoungHouseLove says
Cute!
xo,
s
Sara says
Aww. I love this! We are celebrating our 2 year anniversary in about a week. I wish we had taken a cute picture together last year! Plus I was hugely pregnant at the time, would have been awesome, haha.
Never too late to start though, right? :D
You guys are too adorable.
Blair says
Add me to the list of those that thought the “just one wiggly kid” line meant another was on the way.
Megan says
Aww! I love that your first date and wedding were 7/7. Our date is 8/11. We starting dating on that date in ’00, got engaged that day in ’06 and married on that day in ’07. Can’t believe it’s nearly our 5, 6 and 12th anniversary! Separately, I wish we had a picture-taking tradition for our anniversary. It seems we never have enough pictures of us together.
Paula M. says
Congrats on the anniversary!
Aren’t you totally Amazed sometimes when you think back on all you’ve experienced in just the past 5 years??? Clara, 2 houses, all the remodeling and DIY projects and tutorials ranging all the way up to the big kitchen remodel (and on and on), the blog itself, the book deal, the speaking engagements, and so on?? Seriously, it blows the mind!
Beyond that, I sometimes wonder if you two have tips for couples who live and work together and how to not have all that togetherness turn from sweet to crazy-making, but at the same time, enough of your personalities (patience, a sense of humor, etc.) come through in your posts that I think I know the answer to that question!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, it’s so crazy to see where life has taken us these past five years. Completely unexpected and amazing and dizzying – haha! As for our tips for couples who live and work together, we just try to have our own lives so we have something to talk about. We divide and conquer a lot, so later we can “reconnect” and tell each other what we did all day and just zone out in front of the TV together or do a project together after Clara’s in bed!
xo,
s
Katie says
Happy (almost) 5th anniversary! We’re celebrating our 10th anniversary on July 6. It’s very hard to for me to think our wedding day was a decade ago. It seems like it was just yesterday!
I love the idea of having family pictures taken to remember the day. I’ll start doing that this year (and see if I can scrounge up any pictures from years past). Love your blog. I have stolen many ideas – it’s the best “how the heck can I improve this in my house” resource!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- ten years! Congrats Katie!
xo,
s
Krys72599 says
Nope, no anniversary traditions or frame groupings or paper templates or easy hanging methods… But I feel comfortable telling you that if hubby and I ever split up, it will be over hanging pictures! I drive him crazy with my “Just a little to the left, no, not that far left!” I know a designer who once told me a woman can hang things on a wall without measuring; women have an eye and their frames will always be level, or their curtains will always be even… But a man has to measure to get it right. I laid out 9 frames (one of which is a long combo frame that holds 8 individual photos in 8 attached frames) on our bed, rearranged them until I liked the grouping, then took a photo of it with my phone because I knew we weren’t going to get to the hanging any time soon… So they’re stacked up in the spare room, but next week will be D-Day (D-week?) – I’m going to insist we hang our gallery in the hallway! Will post some photos when it’s finally done!
YoungHouseLove says
Yay! Good luck- would love to see pics!
xo,
s
Grace says
great post! now I can’t wait to hang some frames on my wall :) btw, where did you get that mirror? i need one in my life!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s from Lowe’s! We just painted it white (it was black).
xo,
s
Jan C. says
Your annual picture-taking tradition is such a great idea. I wish we’d thought of that–we’d be taking our 29th annual photo this year, if we had, and it would be fun to see the changes over time. We have a family photo wall in our dining room, right across from my seat at the table. I like to be surrounded by the people I love most in the world when I eat, I guess. I tried to choose the same no. of photos of each child. In the center is a scissors-art piece with the “our family is a circle of strength” poem on it. I used all different shapes and types of wooden frames for the arrangement and laid them out on a huge paper template first, outlining each frame and marking the spot where the nail should go. We taped that to the wall and then pounded the nails right through the paper, pulling the template off when we were done and then putting the frames on the wall right in place. Worked perfectly!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s amazing! 29 years of photos would have been so much fun to see! And your family photo wall sounds so sweet!
xo,
s
Ginny @ goofymonkeys says
I love the little photo arrangement you made – it’s really lovely :)
We’re coming up on our 8th at the end of July. We don’t really have any traditions other than trying to do some sort of date night. We don’t go out alone much, so going out together for a night either with friends or just the 2 of us for some grown-up time is a nice treat. Usually we’re on vacation too, so we get to enjoy some Jersey Shore night life LOL :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, sounds like fun!
xo,
s
Rebecca says
Happy almost-Anniversary to you! Ours is 7/3 (July is an awesome month to get married, no?), and this one will be our 8th wedding anniversary. We tend to take on home-improvment projects for our anniversary (nothing says wedded bliss like staining a fence, amiright?) and I’m sure this year will be no different. It’s a little harder with 2 1/2 kids (one’s not done baking yet), but we still enjoy working together. It’s so nice to see your enthusiasm for doing stuff together as spouses.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so sweet! I love it.
xo,
s
gemma@thesweetestdigs says
Love your traditions! My hubby and I are about to celebrate our first anniversary this August, so I want to start something similar!
We just hung a gallery of frames too (around a TV) in our bedroom using the same techniques. You can check it out here: http://thesweetestdigs.com/2012/05/23/a-tv-gallery-wall/
YoungHouseLove says
Looks great!
xo,
s
Heather @ What Does She Do All Day? says
What a cute tradition. I wish we’d have done that! I don’t think starting on our 9 year anniversary will have quite the same effect. I suppose we can just wait until next year and take a picture every 10 years!
For hanging pictures I’ve become a huge fan of the 3M picture hanging strips! No holes in the wall!! And if you’re a little crooked the first time you can just adjust it!
Jill says
Addressing the first pic – WAHOOWA! :-) Have a great weekend.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, thanks Jill.
-John “Wahoowa” Petersik
Leigh says
Happy almost Anniversary! My hubby and I have been together 9 years and will be married 5 years October 6th. Where does the time go???
I wish we had started taking pictures of us on our anniversary. My husband is one who hides from the camera. Well he did until our son was born last June and now the hubs will ham it up for the camera as long as our little boy is in the picture too.
Michelle DuPuis says
My husband and I just celebrated our 5 year anniversary, and coincidentally, we were also married on the anniversary of our first kiss! (Although we started dating 9 years before we finally got married!) Our wedding photographers were kind enough to let me post some of our favorite photos from the day (http://rustsunshine.blogspot.com/2012/05/our-wedding.html) to celebrate our anniversary. The first 5 years sure go by fast! Congrats! :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Such cute pictures! And I love the name of your blog!
xo,
s
Barb says
I do love those frames..so classy and sweet. I am one who needed that instruction. Just hung a picture today with lots of oops holes on the wall. Thankfully the frame covered them all. Someday I will need to fill them.
Happy 5th with the promise of many, many more. Why….you two are just getting started!!!
Can’t wait to see your new deck. Who knows, you may be celebrating on it with a romantic candle-lit dinner for just the two of you. Enjoy your special day. It is so important!
B.
Aron says
Happy early anniversary!
PS I saw your bedroom rug today in the Shades of Light catalog.
YoungHouseLove says
No way – that’s too funny!
xo,
s
Amy says
We’ve been married for four years, and have never celebrated our anniversary. I suppose we are perfect for each other, because neither of us remembers until we missed it. You would think since it is around the spring equinox (and 3/21), we could remember. We never did get a honeymoon, being poor college students at the time, so maybe next year’s anniversary we’ll go some where. That is, if we don’t forget it. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, that’s so funny- I love that you both forget. You’re perfect together!
xo,
s
Michelle says
Happy almost anniversary! Our 11th is on 7/7 as well. I wish we had thought of the wonderful picture idea. So sweet and special! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Happy anniversary Michelle!
xo,
s
Leah says
i am fairly new to your site & absolutely addicted!! i also have gotten several of my friends & family members following you guys! i just want to say CONGRATS on your success & on your half a decade anniversary!! :)
i have a passion (obsession) for everything diy/design/decorating/art/etc..however over the past few years i have been battling a debilatating illness. i am in bed most days and cannot use my hands!! you can imagine how much that would really piss off a DIYer!! i am finally with a team of dr at a nationally known teaching hospital& on the right path to getting better! my husband & i had/will have in the back of our minds that my sickness can progress into ALS (so scary to hear the word ‘terminal’ when your kiddos areSO YOUNG!!) it will be a rough road but im hoping one day to be healthy again!
i was a personal trainer and a preschool co-director before. i have three precious little boys. your website has helped keep me sane during times of being stuck in bed & have no energy to even stand up, much less decorate! i suffer from insomnia as well. those long nights when i feel that im the only one in the world awake, i can also count on YOUNG HOUSE LOVE to keep me company :) i have done some of your projects that i can work on in bed when my hands arent in too much pain & BOY, thanks to you two, i have a list a mile long of projects i can’t wait to get my hands on, once i am better!!!
anyway, i apologize for my lengthly comment! just want to say how inspiring it is to see a young married couple doing what they love and actually turning it into a successful business/way to make a living! (esp. in this economy!) thank you both for documenting every step of the way for us at home! sherry, i LOVE your silly sense of humor, same type of sense of humor my girlfriends and i have! (but we devour blue bell chocalate sundae ice cream instead of oreos!) i literally laugh at loud when i read your posts! john, you are funny too, in a different way and such a go-getter! i think it is awesome how you just jump in head first to figure out how to do something new!!
Thank you both for the inspiration! Good luck in all you do! The sky is the limit!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw Leah, you’re so inspiring and sweet and I just love you. Thanks for the awesome comment. I hope you’re feeling great today and even better tomorrow!
xoxo,
Sherry (& the fam)
Meena @ Little Dinos says
Thats quite a journey.. The picture hanging trick is awesome- just so simple and elegant. Takes the guess work out and perhaps a little bit of fun too.. LOL.. :P.
Sammy says
I cannot believe how much I love this idea!! I think it’s so cute to have a reminder of each year you’ve been married in the same place. And the frames look wonderful together. Plus, I’m a sucker for lovey dovey things =D
Lynn @ SafeBeauty says
My eyes got big as saucers before I realized you were talking about Burger as the 2nd child. Nice psych out. Can you believe how many of us are on baby #2 watch (like we have Gerber on call waiting to release the balloons and confetti or something)? Congrats on your upcoming 5th! June 30th is our 8th and I still can’t believe it. We still smile at each other like it’s our honeymoon no matter how many people we make gag. ;o) Hanging art and pictures is the thorn in my flesh currently. Our walls are so large that I am finding it very hard how to place anything. When we do tackle this soon I will probably be enlisting this hanging method too so thank ya.
My best, Lynn
Melissa says
I love that you got married on your anniversary. My husband and I got married on 6/5/2010… which was the three-year anniversary of our first date (and first kiss haha!).
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, cute!
xo,
s
Stephanie says
Those look great!
Also, random question but frame related, back to your post about Maui you showed a picture of the map you bought and then I asked where you got it….fast forward to a few weeks ago and I went with my family and found a similar map. Where did you guys end up putting that and in what kind of frame? We are struggling to find a cool frame for ours :)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, we owe you guys pictures! We hung it in our frame gallery in a frame we already had from Target with a mat. It’s 17 x 13″ around the frame and the mat opening is 8 x 9.5 – perfect! Total accident. Haha.
xo,
s
Stephanie says
ooh great place for it! I was thinking white… We got two in the 16×20 size so I am thinking I will make them into a big focal point on a blank wall we have and they will look good in white frames!
Thanks for the reply! :) You guys are awesome!
Rita Butters says
Nothing to do with this post but I know your “thing” for bees and thought these would be so cute to do with Clara for your “new” kitchen http://www.creativecarissa.com/2012/04/footprint-towels.html
YoungHouseLove says
Cute!!
xo,
s
Shaunda Harris says
So cute! Is it just my eyes playing tricks on me or is John wearing a blue shirt in all of those pictures?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, he totally is!
xo,
s
Kim @ Yellow Brick Home says
Love your annual photo tradition. Every year, we try to go visit someplace we’ve never been – year four is coming up this fall, and we’re touring the great Northwest! Can’t wait for that!
I found a GREAT tip on Pinterest a long time ago when it comes to hanging photo frames, mirrors, etc. It has saved us SO much heartache!
http://www.yellowbrickhome.com/2011/09/08/reflecting-change/
You guys have a great system, too, but this could work as well!
YoungHouseLove says
Great tips!
xo,
s
Sara says
My husband and I got married in October of last year, and we’ve already decided that we’ll be taking a “kissing picture” by the Mississippi every year. We have one from when we were dating that I used when I designed our wedding invitations, and we got almost the exact same shot (different spot on the river, though) at our actual wedding. We also have a family photo from our wedding (the two of us and his then-three year-old son), so we’ll probably continue the “family photo by the river” tradition each year as well.
Sara says
Haha…Just realized that my picture when I comment is one of our wedding pictures. So you can see the start of our tradition!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, funny!
xo,
s
YoungHouseLove says
Such a cute tradition!
xo,
s