How I created a cute artwork display

Have you ever taken on a room makeover that felt like it was never going to end? I've definitely been feeling that way about our daughter's bedroom, it feels like about a year ago that we first started renovating in here. But we completed our final project over the weekend, so I think we can finally call the room done - yahoo! Today I wanted to share the cute little artwork display that we created, as a way to spruce up a bare wall and create the perfect spot to hang baby girl's latest masterpieces!

I'll be doing a full reveal of our daughter's bedroom makeover on next week's episode of The Organised You TV, so today is just a little glimpse at what we've been doing on the walls these past few weeks. First up, we created a gallery wall for one side of the room. We had a selection of frames from our daughter's nursery that we wanted to re-hang, and these 3D butterflies woven in with the existing butterfly picture worked perfectly. 

This beautiful painting of my daughter is by my Mum - isn't she so talented! It just captures our little girl so perfectly :)

The other side of the room was a completely blank slate, which I was keen to use as an artwork display, seeing as we didn't have anything in place to show off her paintings and drawings. My son has a cork-board artwork display in his room that is still working well.

This picture from A Girl and A Glue Gun was my inspiration for the whole project. Handyman hubby purchased some Tasmanian oak architrave, which he cut down to size and applied 2 clear, oil-based gloss coats to. The oak is the same as what we used on our son's new bed (full makeover of that room coming soon too!), and we just love the beautiful colour.

Here's a quick visual of the process of attaching the wood to the wall:

1. Partially insert 3 screws into the wood, and use a spirit level to get everything straight

2. Push the ends of the screws lightly into the wall with the spirit level still sitting on top. This will make small holes in the wall which show you exactly where to drill

3. Drill the holes

4. Push in plaster plugs, and then drill the piece of wood directly to the wall.

And voila! Here she is in all her glory, awaiting some creative love...

I wish I could take even partial credit for this process, but I'm really just standing behind taking the photos, haha. The next creative part was all me though! To hold the artwork, I wanted to use mini-pegs rather than ordinary pegs, really just because I love how cute they are. I stole some from my laundry-room tray that I had already covered in decorative paper.

Bowl of mini-pegs 

I attached some blu-tack to the back of the pegs....

And then tested out the spacing of the pegs on the board, using a piece of my daughter's artwork and measuring tape. I settled on 6 inches/15cm apart, which fit 9 pegs across. 

I haven't used my hot glue-fun in forever, so it was nice to get it out again, and the kids were fascinated with watching it work. I aimed for an even coverage on each peg...

And affixed each one to the wood, using a small piece of blu-tack as a marker for exactly where to place it.

Looking good! I like the subtle colours in this display,  as the rest of the room is pretty colourful.

Loving that wood colour!

Decorative mini-pegs attached to a simple piece of wood is the perfect way to display child's artwork

I pegged up a few of baby girl's recent artwork, including some of the larger pieces, and was pleased with how many I'll be able to fit across, with some even comfortably overlapping. I'm a little bit worried about how the mini-pegs will hold up as they're not super-sturdy, but not a big drama to replace with larger pegs or clips if need be.

I bought this felt-ball garland nearly 2 months ago, but couldn't work out where to place it in the room. The blank space directly above the artwork display seemed pretty perfect as it was looking a little empty.

My little princess was pretty thrilled with her new artwork display and the 'dragon' above it. Bless her!

How do you display your child's artwork? Do you display it in their room, or somewhere more central?
I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below!