Your home is a reflection of you and your personal taste. One of the easiest ways to bring personalization to any room in your house is to add a gallery wall. Adding a Gallery wall is such an inexpensive way to add a statement to any space. I wanted to share some tips and shortcuts to make your life a little easier, so that you can add a gallery wall to any room.
Step 1: Decide the type of Gallery Wall that you want to add to a room?
The most important step before you even get started is to decide what kind of a gallery wall you would want to add in a particular space.
Do you want to add a gallery wall that is more creative with mixtures of colour, vintage patterns and textures? Or do you have a more sleek, sophisticated, minimalist taste? .
A gallery wall can not only be tailored to match your individual taste but can also complement a room. Make sure the wall goes with the vibe you want the room to have. Save some inspiration photos on Pinterest if needed.
We decided to add a sleek and minimal statement wall in our living room behind the couch instead of a wall with family photos.
Step 2: Measure the Area for the gallery wall & Select frames
Measure the area of the wall that you would want the gallery wall to be on. If you want all the frames to be of one size? or want to mix different size frames and get a layered look as we did here?
We decided to go for different size frames layered together. More details on that later.
You can find so much inspiration from Desenio for different examples of gallery walls. Check it out here. This is not a sponsored post.
There are tons of ideas on Pinterest for the family photos templates. For family photos, I personally do recommend going with the 16×20 frames with the 11×14 mattes for family wall photos. Black and White family photos does look very chic.
Disclaimer: Picture credit @pinterest
Tips:
- You would want to take a painter’s tape and tape the exact place where you want the frames to be, to get a better idea of the final product.
- Another thing I found really helpful was to draw a picture on a piece of paper to get better visualization, before you order the frames.
- One very important consideration in selecting the frames is to decide if you would want to fill the frames with full-length photos or would want to keep the matte in between the frame and the picture.
- If you are planning for a gallery wall with your family photos, then I would suggest keeping a matte space between the frame and the photo. There are tons of frames available on the market that come with the matte layout. Some of my favorite places to shop for frames are: Ikea, Desenio, Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, Hobby Lobby
- Select Frames that are high quality because that will make all the difference.
Step 3: Buy the Artwork or Print family photos
We wanted a gallery wall with some modern minimal art pieces instead of our family photos for the vibe we were going for in the living room. Therefore, we got the art pieces from Desenio (linked below).
If you are planning a gallery wall with your own photos, I would suggest using any photo editing software to crop the images to the size you like. Turn the images black and white if you are going for that vibe. I like to use Walmart for printing black and whites. The quality is really good.
If you are planning a gallery wall like us, linked below are the exact details with the exact items.
Linked below are the exact pieces from our Gallery Wall:
Number of Frames : total 9
Sizes:
4 of 19×27 inches (50cmx70cm)
5 of 11×15 inches (30cmx40cm)
- Girl in Window (19×27 inches)
- London Pink Door (11×15 inches)
- There’s Beauty (19×27 inches)
- Lady in White (19×27 inches)
- Woman in Blue Dress (11×15 inches)
- Makes You Happy (11×15 inches)
- Pink Fire Escape (11×15 inches)
- Dusty Rose (11×15 inches)
- Figuratone (19×27 inches)
Shop this Living Room below:
Disclaimer: Some links are Affiliate links.
Step 4: Start the Gallery Wall Installation Process
Once you buy the frames and print the pics, it’s time to finally install the gallery wall.
All frames come with a pre-filled paper photo insert of a cute couple or family photo. Don’t throw the paper inserts away because you can use these to lay out the gallery wall with scotch tape and get an idea of how the final finished gallery wall will look like with the frames.
Begin by figuring out where you want the top center of your middle top frame to begin. If it helps, you can begin by roughly laying out all of the frame papers to get you in the zone. If you decide to lay out all the frame papers first to get a visualization, keep in mind that you will need to account for a 1/2″-1″ difference between the paper and the actual end of the lip of the frame (the paper insert is only glass measurement). Place your first paper insert where the center of the paper is the center of the wall.
Step 5: Keep an even distance between the two frames
You need to keep in mind the rows in between the frames (both on side and top and bottom) should be the exact same width so everything is balanced and cohesive. For this gallery wall, we decided a width between the papers should be 3 3/4″.
A little tip that really helped us: We created a cardboard square of approximately 3 3/4″ size to hold up in between the two frames while hanging the frames. By creating a cardboard square, you can hold up in between the sides, top and bottom to make sure that you are perfectly aligned and adjust accordingly.
Step 6: Always use a Level
It is always a good idea, to check the width and the lines with the level to keep everything cohesive.
Step 7: Begin Nailing and hanging the frames
If you are trying to install a gallery wall with different frame sizes, start with the top middle frame first and then move on to the edges. As you start hanging the frames you will sometimes have to tweak a few things here and there, therefore it is always better to start from the middle.
You will want to make sure that your frames are flush against the wall and won’t move.
There you have it.
It’s as simple as that. I know it sounds much more complicated than it really is.
The best tip I can give you is to have accurate measurements and an idea of how you want the final completed wall to look. Decide on the wall templates and have a visual drawing on paper, this would help a lot.
If you have a blank wall in space, this is the easiest way to create a beautiful statement wall. Another great way is to create an accent wall, just like we did. You can read all about it here.
You can also grab your free guide on my home decor essentials below:
