Attempting gallery walls can be tricky. There are so many gorgeous examples online, but how do you take those ideas and replicate them on your own walls? And how do you make them look just as divine as the inspirational pictures?
Decide on a Theme
Every gallery wall should have a theme. The theme might be feminine fashion. It might be minimal chic. It might be inspirational/motivational. It could even be a watercolour story.
Don’t get stressed about defining what your theme is (you don’t have to name it), but it is worth having all of the artworks in your gallery speak to one another in some way. They can speak through shapes, style or through colour.
Though they should speak to one another, it’s best to still enjoy variety. For example, you don’t want a six-piece gallery wall to feature six beach photos.
Develop a Colour Story
The artworks should all be grouped with a colour palette in mind. It’s the easiest way to ensure the gallery wall you create doesn’t look too visually chaotic.
Gallery walls where there are endless colour combinations often get a little overwhelming. Don’t go beyond four tones and you’ll keep it feeling on-point.
If you’re struggling with the colour story you want to tell on your gallery wall, examine the look of your room. Take cues from colours in furniture like chairs or look to tones in decor like rugs or cushions and replicate those on the wall.
Mix Your Art Mediums
This will come down to personal preference and will depend on the theme you’re executing on your gallery wall. But when I do gallery walls for my clients, I like to mix my mediums.
What I mean by this is that the one gallery wall will be made up of different types of art. Think of a piece of quote art, an illustration, some photography, perhaps some numbers in a piece. It makes the gallery wall feel visually rich, as opposed to replicating six or seven quote artworks side-by-side.
Keep Frame Styles Consistent
My preference, one that is easier to get right, is to keep the frame styles fairly consistent.
For example, don’t mix a really thick black frame with a really thin gold frame. Don’t mix an elaborate gilded frame with a modern oak frame. It creates a complicated combination and feels too muddled and confused.
Keeping the frame style (and colour) consistent makes the gallery wall feel more contemporary, which is a good approach with interiors. If you really want to, you can mix colours (like gold and black, or black and white), but it tends to look better if you keep it similar.
Embrace Different Sized Frames
Creating a perfect nine-grid gallery wall where all the frames are the same size is an approach I tend to reserve for family photos, not artworks. When it comes to creating a gallery wall of frames, mixing the sizes is one of my top recommendations.
If you had 10 framed pieces of art on your gallery wall, I would vary the frame sizes, so you have four of one size, three of another size, and three of another. You don’t want every single frame to be a different size or it can look a bit thrown together.
Space Them Out Correctly
This one is a little ‘choose your own adventure’ because every wall is different, and every gallery wall look is quite personal. But there are a few guidelines I like to follow when I’m trying to figure out exactly where each piece of art will go.
The biggest mistake one can make is placing the art too close together on a gallery wall. It’s nice to leave about 10 to 15cm between each piece. You want to give them room to breathe. You want to appreciate each individual artwork but get that they’re part of an ensemble.
I also prefer a sense of random placement when hanging art in a gallery wall formation. It makes the space feel more approachable, but it’s also much easier to do on your own. Trying to perfectly line up 10 frames with a hammer, hook and spirit level can be tricky, so I suggest you embrace the random placement and make life a lot easier!
Lay Them Out Before You Hang
I do this all the time with my clients when creating gallery walls of art. I also do it when installing photos as well.
Before you bring out the hammer and hook, take all of your artworks and put them on the floor. This is where you’ll start to play with where each piece works best. Move them around a lot and a configuration will start to take shape.
Consider the Paint Colour Behind the Art
I recommend you try painting a feature wall behind your gallery of artworks.
That’s not to say that your artworks won’t look good on a crisp white wall, because they will. However, moody paint colours on the walls make the artworks shine even more.
Plus, it also allows you to develop a colour story within the art pieces if you draw inspiration from the paint colour you’ve used on the wall.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our tips! Over to you, what are some of your favourite ways to decorate a wall in your home or office? Do let us know in the comments below.
