Keys, Keys, Keys

Go on a little journey with me for a minute...

Almost a year ago exactly I went to a local street market with my friend Laurie.  It was so fun.  There were crafts, antiques, jewelry, food, and some junk.  I bought a few things that day.  One of the things I bought was a skeleton key.  I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I knew I liked it and wanted to start collecting similar keys to make some sort of display.

Side note... going to that street market and buying items to refurbish (which I've yet to do), things to decorate with, and unique little finds actually is what prompted me to start the blog in the first place.  I was inspired and ready to share all my craftiness.  Aren't you glad I went? :)

Shortly after I found that key is when the Pottery Barn keys went on sale.  I fell in love and wanted them!

You may remember that they were on my Christmas wish list.  Well, my dear cousin Erica bought them for me!  Isn't she sweet!  They make me oh so happy.

The only problem was, that I thought we were going to be moving.  Our house was on the market at the time and I was envisioning them in some office with a framed map that Michael loves.  Or maybe in some pseudo library.  Then... we took the house off the market... and the keys sat, waiting patiently for their day to shine.

Well, the day has come my friends.... the day has come!  (and no, we didn't move into a house with an office or library).

Remember from the "house tour" posts that I didn't really like those flower paintings above my entertainment center?

I sat on the couch one day thinking about what I could do up there instead.  I was trying to imagine what kind of painting or art piece would work.  I was racking my brain and then all of the sudden it hit me... THE KEYS!!!!!  In my mind I was thinking of an office or whatever, but then I thought--we are going to be here for a while longer.  I am sick of them sitting in storage waiting on "someday".  The space is as good a spot as any, so that's what I did.

The problem that I ran into was that the Pottery Barn set had seven keys.  I had one (smaller) key from the street market.  That made 8.  I started buying frames and laying  it out on my living room floor and decided I definitely needed 9 keys.  I searched high and low for a key.  I looked at craft stores, home stores, Amazon, etsy, and ebay.  I even bought one off ebay that ended up being waaaaay too small.  I was getting a little worried.  Here I had nine frames laying on my living room floor for weeks and I couldn't find a key.  I didn't want to hang them up without the key because I wanted to make sure they were laid out in an aesthetically pleasing way (i.e. colors and shapes varied).  I knew I would be going to the same local street market this year and was holding out hope that I might find one there.  Guess what?!?!  I DID!  OH HAPPY DAY!  Not only did I find one, but I found two.  So I ended up not even using the first key I bought, but that's ok.

Here's how it turned out.

(I forgot to take a picture of it all laid out on my living room floor.  Sorry.  That was step one.)

I started with the bottom middle first and worked my way up from there.

Yes, the frames are a little crooked.  I kept knocking them every time I went to hang another frame, so I just left them until the end.  They are all only hanging on one nail, so they move easily.

Then I did the two long ones on the side.

This was a little tricky, because the frames are noticeably not the same size.  I'm OK with that.  I wanted a variety of frames, and I didn't want it to look all uniform and perfect.  It does throw off the eye a little though when it gets to the big picture.  Again, that was sort of the idea-to have it be a modge podge turned art piece.  It's all the in the eye of the beholder I guess. 

After that I just added the four corners and here's the result

Do you like?  I love!

I rearranged the entire entertainment center too.

(More on some of the projects on the entertainment center later.)