The White Wall Blues

I've got lots and lots of white wall space to decorate.  Since I'm in an apartment painting isn't really an option.  I present you Exhibits A & B...blah and blah-er:

These pictures were taken before we moved our furniture in...but you can see the large amounts of white walls I have to work with...in combination with the white carpet and vertical blinds (ick)...it's a lot of white!

We have all of our old pictures and artwork that we can still use and I want to get a few pictures up from our honeymoon.  I've decided to do to a collage using shelves.  I looked around for different examples.

Holman Picture Ledge
$29-$49
Image Source: Pottery Barn

West Elm Deep Wood Picture Ledge
$35-$55
Image Source: West Elm

Image Source: Apartment Therapy

Image Source: Two Twenty One

The Apartment Therapy example is my favorite because of the large images and how each photo still stands on its own even though it's grouped with so many others.  I included a couple of options for the picture ledges...but at $29 for the cheapest and also shortest shelf it's a bit out of my price range for the amount of space I need to cover.  A quick google search turned up a really inexpensive option from IKEA:

IKEA Ribba Picture Ledge
$9.99-$14.99
Image Source: Ikea

Image Source: Ikea

Since I can't paint the walls, I'm thinking about painting the shelves instead.  I'm putting a mix of different frames and other small items so the paint would be very subtle maybe a grey or soft blue.  Anyone else ever put together a picture collage?