How to Create a Gallery Wall

A gallery wall can be a great, affordable way to fill up a space with art that you love, but it can be daunting to figure out where to begin when creating one of your own. Luckily, we have compiled a few tips and tricks to help you on your way.

Where to Start

The first thing to do is establish what kind of look you are going for. This will determine the layout and consequent feel of your wall. One way to get the ball rolling is to select one or two favourite artworks that complement the space you have chosen. These artworks can act as the base on which you build the rest of your gallery wall. 

The easiest way to build a gallery wall is to stick to some cohesive element throughout the works, and make sure there is visual balance. There are various ways to do this!

Using the same frame style is a simple way to bring unity to your wall:

 

Using the same frames can bring unrelated artworks together.

 

Another method is to keep one common element amongst the images. This can be anything from a unified theme:

 

There is a clear rustic theme to this gallery wall. 

 

..to a unified colour scheme:

 

A muted palette of beige, charcoal and brown dominates this gallery wall.

 

An easy way to balance a gallery wall is to create a grid of artworks. To achieve this look, make sure that the top, bottom and sides are equally aligned:

 

This works particularly well when framing a number of images from a series.

 

With multiple artworks of vastly varying size, it’s easiest to start with your largest or favourite image and work other images around it:

 

For this wall, the turquoise painting was the base image that the other works were built up around.

 

Of course, there is nothing wrong with being as eclectic as you like with your image choices! If you prefer a wide variety of works, you can avoid your wall becoming too confused by picking colour schemes and styles that are reflected throughout the entire room. This method takes a bit more planning, but has a striking result:

 

This room works despite the varied artwork because some defining element of each piece complements the room as a whole. 

 

Rectangle or square frames are the easiest frame types to balance, though you can use round frames or other wall art to add visual interest:

 

     

These are, of course, only a few ways to design your gallery wall. For more layout ideas, head to our Gallery Wall Pinterest board!

 

Visualise before Committing

It can help to do a test run of your collection before hammering in any nails!

To help visualise your wall better, lay out your artworks on the floor to try and get an idea of how the images work together. This allows you to rearrange the artworks until you find a layout that you love. 

Once you have decided on a layout, it’s time to take it to the wall. Trace templates and stick them on the wall to check how they will look in their real location. Try to make a mark showing where the centre of the wire hanger is (you may need to stretch the wire to be accurate) and position the template on the wall accordingly. This allows your layout planning to be as close to how the images will actually hang as possible.

You can take this opportunity to do some final tweaking to the layout. Be sure to periodically take a step back to get a better idea of how it looks as a whole!

 

Hang it up!

Once you are happy with the layout, hammer a nail into the hanger mark indicated on the template and remove these from the wall. You can now put up the real deal!

The outcome of your gallery wall will depend on many factors, from your available wall space to personal taste. The most important thing is choosing art that you love! 

(All images in this article found on Pinterest.)

 

For inspiration on some artworks for creating a gallery wall, why not take a look at some of our collections?