I am sooo totally in love with gallery walls!
I have two in my home already – and I love them so much, that I’m considering adding a third! (But if I do decide to add a third gallery wall, it will definitely be a symmetrical one!)
I love them so much because they offer endless creative possibilities! They also provide countless ways to express your style and personality within your home…
I also love the fact that they are more like a “living, breathing” thing – you can change them, move items around or swop out prints or images, as often as you like!
And there almost isn’t a room in which they can’t work…Well, except maybe in a kitchen? But maybe you could even pull it off in there…just thinking about it – an arrangement of recipes in frames might look great! Just a thought!
But – I’m getting side-tracked, so back to the topic at hand!
What are gallery walls?
A gallery wall is a collection of frames. But even that isn’t a hard and fast rule! Gallery walls don’t have to only be framed images! Your collection could be attached to the wall with clipboards, or art hangers, or even just good old washi tape! A gallery wall is used to display photos, artwork, favourite quotes, fabrics, keepsakes, etc. You really have a blank canvas when deciding what to include in your gallery wall…
A gallery wall can be a symmetrical or assymetrical arrangement depending on what your style preference is.
You can choose to display images in colour or black and white, have similar or totally different frames – intersperse your monochrome frames with pops of colour – it’s entirely up to you!
Styling gallery walls
I personally like breaking up my gallery wall frames with small object/s. For my gallery wall in my family room, I have used keys – as they are something that I really love! It could be anything that is significant or meaningful to you. Of course this would only apply to a more random gallery wall arrangement – symmetry or grid style gallery walls do just fine on their own without any help from the extras! 😉
Before starting – consider the space where you want to put your gallery wall. You can choose to either fill the space, or only fill a section of the space. In some cases, less is definitely more – a few frames on a wall by a striking lamp, or by a big pot plant can be just as effective as a whole wall full of frames behind a single couch. It all just depends on your space and what it is that you want to achieve with your gallery wall.
Always remember when choosing a style for your gallery wall that it needs to add something to your space – it must enhance the room as well as complement your colour scheme and furniture, not just make it look more cluttered.
The first rule with gallery walls is to decide what images you would like to display, and whether your arrangement will be symmetrical or asymmetrical.
If you are grouping a lot of prints together and the sizes are similar – then a symmetrical arrangement would work wonderfully, but if you have prints or images of different sizes, then asymmetrical works best.
I’m not the best with more “random” arrangements – but I really wanted mine to look asymmetrical – so I headed to Pinterest for some inspiration and to see how other people had grouped there’s together, (there are great examples around!) and came up with a good design.
Once you have decided on the style, images and frames that you are using, you can start working on the placement of your gallery wall. The absolute best method is to trace the outlines of your frames (and make a mark where the hooks are too!) onto paper and cut them out. This has a dual purpose – firstly, you can arrange it on your wall and play around with layout until you are one hundred percent happy with it before needing to drill holes. And secondly you can see exactly where you need to drill your holes. 😊
Another awesome idea which involves far less planning and drilling, is to arrange a few frames on a floating shelf or ledge. This also makes an amazing statement piece – sort of like a ‘mini’ gallery wall…
Another trend which I’ve seen recently is placing smaller frames overlapping other frames – this also looks amazing, and creates a greater sense of depth on your wall – definitely a good option to consider!
A quick tip…
One other really useful tip a friend of mine gave me is if your gallery wall is a combination of coloured frames, but somehow just seems to be lacking that extra little something – add in a pop of black! Try it! – it really just makes everything come together perfectly!
Where to find images for your gallery wall
Some ideas for images to use for your gallery walls:
- Images from your Instagram feed (idea from Style me Pretty)
- Photos of objects around your home that you love
- Photos of your kids favourite toys for the kids room or playroom (via Chris loves Julia)
- Photographs of pretty flowers/buildings/door/handles/leaves/windows
- Beautiful scrapbook paper
- Maps
- Images from books that you love
Where to purchase prints for your gallery wall
Some places to purchase stunning prints:
- 527 Photo (purchase here or here)
- Little Valley Studio (purchase here)
- Annawithlove (fabulous travel prints)
- Minted (exquisite prints but currently not available to us here in South Africa 😢 … somebody has got to change that, right?)
- Georgianna Lane (also fabulous travel prints and flora – available to purchase here and here)
- Elizabeth Mayville (purchase here)
- thewheatfield
- Coastalstyleprints
- Printsproject
- Laura Amiss (stunning bright city skyline art)
(Of course there are many other places to get fabulous prints – so if there are any that you think should be added to my list, please leave me a comment below!)
Good luck – I’d love to see and hear about your gallery walls!
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