Gallery walls, like hardwood floors or marble accents, are timeless and will never go out of style. But pulling a gallery wall of your own together might feel a little daunting at first. Art can be expensive, and curating personal items/photos can take a decent amount of time. But here at EHD we’ve got the gallery wall formula pretty dialed in. We pull them together for projects all the time, and several of us have them in our own homes. So how do we pull together a gallery wall?
Guess what? I just wrote a post all about it, AND IT’S THIS POST. So, keep reading. I’m going to walk you through all the elements of a successful gallery wall, PLUS sprinkle in a few round-ups to help you on your way.
For those of you who want to skip the novel and dive straight into the recipe, here you go. This is our foolproof, step-by-step, gallery wall formula:
But now, if you want to sit back, drink your coffee, and chat a little more in-depth about the gallery wall process, come with me…
FIRST, DON’T GET ALL HOLE-Y – LAY OUT YOUR GALLERY WALL BEFORE YOU HANG IT
Before we jump into the “whats” of a gallery wall, let me just give you a really quick “how” – How not to smash a bunch of holes in your wall.
- Measure out the amount of space you want your gallery wall to fill
- Tape off a box that size on your floor (or, if you have access to it, a few strips of that wide kid’s art paper that comes in the rolls, taped together)
- Lay out all your pieces within that area. Then you can play around with all the art placement for as long as you like, moving things around with no fear of wall damage. And you can make sure your art all looks good together.
Hot Tip
Try and keep the space between all your pieces around 3 inches apart. That way things don’t get crowded.
CREATE A COHESIVE COLOR PALETTE FOR A PULLED TOGETHER LOOK
This isn’t a hard and fast rule, and if you prefer to just keep things personal and fun don’t worry about it. But if you’d like it to look a little more curated then sticking to a color palette can help. Try and keep your pieces feeling similar in tone and intensity. For example, in that vintage painting gallery wall above the colors were neutrals, blues, and hits of gold.
Once you’ve got your “floor layout” locked down, snap a phone photo for reference and start transferring pieces up to your wall. You can do this by measuring if you’re dedicated, or you can just wing it like an impatient person *cough me cough*. And if you’re able to score that giant paper template, you can just tape that up directly on the wall, pencil in where the nails go, and nail directly into the paper. It’ll easily tear apart around the nails once you have them all in!
Ok, now here are the nitty-gritty details on how to make your gallery wall look professionally put together…
GO BIG – START WITH SOMETHING LARGE AND IN CHARGE TO ANCHOR THE WHOLE COLLECTION
Start by placing your biggest pieces first, and build around them. I usually like to place my biggest piece in one of the four outer corners of a gallery wall if it’s a smaller collection, or just off-center, but towards the middle, if it’s a larger collection. This will be your jumping point for placing all your other pieces. Why off-center? So your eye travels around the gallery wall, rather than slamming straight to the middle of it.
1. Weekend II Print | 2. Sepia Wilderness Paper Banner | 3. Cesarea Terme II” Art Print | 4. “Roast Chicken” Print | 4. “Santa Cesarea Terme II” Art Print | 5. Monique Muse Flying High Art Print | 6. Dark Fields Framed Canvas
IF YOUR BIGGEST PIECE IS #1, THEN YOUR NEXT BIGGEST PIECE IS #2
Try placing your second biggest piece diagonally from your biggest piece – whether that’s right next door or on the opposite side of the wall. Now you just need to fill in a little bit of empty space between and around them. YOU’RE PRACTICALLY DONE.
MIX YOUR HORIZONTALS & VERTICALS (AND GIVE PAIRS A TRY)
To keep your gallery wall feeling interesting you’re going to want to have a good mix of vertical and horizontal pieces. If your largest pieces are horizontal, try placing a smaller vertical piece next to it (centered or bottom aligned), and vice versa. This is a good way to start moving inwards from your larger pieces.
Creating grids within your gallery wall by putting a mini collection of 2, 3, or 4 pieces together is like gallery wall inception. It’s also pretty cool and can look very pulled together.
1. Alain | 2. The Baobab Tree Print | 3. Collage Bouquet Wall Art | 4. Within the Lines | 5. Petite Study No. II Unframed Print | 6. Red Plums on Linen Tablecloth | 7. Highland Prairie Framed Wall Art | 8. Nude On Orange With Blue Buttocks Print | 9. Cover
WHILE WE’RE AT IT, DON’T FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO STICK TO ONE TYPE OF FRAME – MIX IT UP
The larger the space, and the more pieces you have, the more frame styles you can mix in. If you’re worried about your gallery wall getting too chaotic or eclectic then I suggest starting with three frame styles and seeing how you feel. You could go with a nice clean option – white frames, black frames, and a wood option. Or start with two modern frames (like a simple black or white and a simple dark or light wood), and then bring in one more ornate frame style. Maybe a pop of gold, for example.
1. Walking Along | 2. The Baobab Tree Print | 3. Collage Bouquet Wall Art | 4. Within the Lines | 5. Petite Study No. II Unframed Print | 6. Red Plums on Linen Tablecloth | 7.