How to Create the Perfect Gallery Wall

Gallery walls can be a fun way of showcasing your personal style in your home. Whether you want to flaunt your quirky, eclectic style or showcase your favorite family photos – a curated gallery wall is a perfect solution.

Gallery walls are a way to mix in a range of media, from photography to drawings, with personal mementos from children’s artwork to travel souvenirs. Arranging your collection can be intimidating and when done incorrectly it can appear to be a haphazard jumble on your wall. So we’ve put together a quick guide on how to create the perfect gallery wall.

Pick your style

First, think about the existing style of the space. Gallery walls are a great way to mix classic and traditional artwork with edgy pieces. The best gallery walls are curated collections of a wide variety of different types of images. Don’t rush into creating your gallery wall, take joy in acquiring each piece.

Gallery walls tend to fall into two categories: a grid (an orderly linear arrangement) or a salon (an eclectic grouping of images and objects). A grid arrangement tends to give off a more formal feeling and is great for replacing a larger piece of artwork. A salon-style gallery wall tends to be more informal, playful, and relaxed.

Find the right space

Gallery walls are a great way to fill a large empty space however you don’t need to live in a large house to install a gallery wall. A gallery wall is just as great in a small apartment and adds depth and interest without cluttering or taking up crucial space.

If you don’t have one large wall, gallery walls can be hung around fireplaces, windows, and doors.

Lay it out

Time and planning are crucial to creating a cohesive and balanced gallery wall.

Aim to have a ratio of one extra large piece, two large pieces, two medium pieces, and three small pieces. Another trick for maintaining balance and proportion is to mix up your frame styles.

Start by laying out your biggest or centerpiece artwork and then build out around it. Try to space out items so that you don’t have all similar items clumped together. If you are having a hard time deciding on your composition try this easy trick: Arrange your artwork on the floor, once you have a composition you like, take a picture on your phone. Then continue to make more arrangements, taking a picture each time you have come to something that you like. Then flip through your images and decide which one you like best.

Mock it up

Now that you have your composition planned out it’s time to make sure it looks good on the wall. Before you start hanging up your pieces, trace each frame onto a piece of kraft paper, trim to size, and tape to the wall. When placing each piece of kraft paper on the wall make sure that you keep a uniform spacing between each piece. We recommend about two inches of space between each piece for grid and linear gallery walls. This is also a good rule of thumb for salon walls but they can be less precise.

Preplanning helps to maintain consistency and create a sense of cohesiveness and balance. Plus, it helps eliminate unnecessary nail holes and helps to ensure that your gallery wall fits your space comfortably and fills the space appropriately.

Hang it up

Once you have everything mapped out, level, and planned exactly how you want it, it’s time to grab the hammer and nails!