How to Create the Perfect Gallery Wall

Photos: gemmalouise.co.uk

They have become very popular over the last few years, providing an easy way to update your interiors, transform bland walls, create a focal point in your home, and bring some character and personality to your living space. Instead of using paint or wallpaper for a feature wall, you can do so with a gallery wall, and it can be placed anywhere in your home, although popular areas are often in the hallway, up the staircase or in the living room.

There’s no right or wrong way to create a gallery wall. Clashing prints and frames can look incredible. However, we advise trying to stick to one type of frame/colour. If your gallery wall is large, don’t buy six black frames and one gold one, buy five black frames and a couple of gold ones to mix in between the black ones. In terms of prints, choosing a couple of different styles works well, or just sticking to one style, but again, clashing ones look great too. A mixture of photographs and illustrations, or just a gallery wall that’s made up of all abstract/illustrative prints is a good starting point. You could pick a few different types of artwork but it works better to choose a couple from each style as it’s easier to create a layout with them.

Arranging the layout is the most important thing. Whether you have an assortment of completely different prints and frames, or they all tie in together perfectly, they won’t work well if the layout isn’t on point.

Find the harmony between posters and frames. If you have different styles and colours on your poster motifs, it is recommended to focus on uniform frames to create a harmonious impression. If you have motifs in one style, such as only black and white posters, you may want to mix frames of different varieties. For example, it looks great to combine black and white wooden frames.

Top tips for layout arrangement

• Mix up the sizes, don’t put prints that are the same size all next to each other, shuffle them around and put smaller ones in between them, above and below them, etc. If you have an assortment of prints and frames, try and mix up the frames and colours so that it looks more shuffled.
• Decide how big you want the gaps to be whilst your gallery wall is laid out on the floor. It’s absolutely vital to have an equal gap between all prints regardless of what kind of gallery wall you’re putting up.
• When you’re ready for your gallery wall to go up, there’s a couple of tips and tricks that will work wonders for getting it accurate. Some heavier frames do require a screw, but try to work with nails where possible they’re so much easier to easily adjust. You can move them over an inch or so fairly easily.