The gallery wall is one of my favorite design decisions. Mostly because I love art and I have too much of it–the woes of being an artist. But with a gallery wall, you get the chance to put more on display while also have the freedom to switch out art during different times of the year or simply because you’ve become bored with your home decor. While there are no real rules to creating a gallery wall, there are few ways to go about building it.
The Grid Wall
This seems to be the most common and well-loved gallery wall. The Grid. It’s clean and simple and adds a sort of elegance to any room. For minimalist design lovers it feels tidy. I often like to have some element that’s all the same with a grid wall which is usually the size, shape, and color of the frame. In the photo below you’ll see that the same frame is used for the entire wall which makes the paintings stand out on their own. This type of gallery wall makes changing out art really easy.
The image above is an actual gallery wall from an art gallery. This was on display at the Denver Art Museum featuring the work of Fashion Illustrator, Jim Howard. You’ll see that this is a grid format creating both columns and rows but two of the frames are a different size, which creates a bit of visual diversity and makes this display look extra special. I would also like to note that while the frames are all the same size and color, the artwork is actually all different sizes with different sized mats. This also adds to the visual interest of this wall.
In our home, we’ve created a gallery wall in the living room by displaying a wall of records. While this doesn’t even begin to touch all our record collection I chose a few of our favorites as well as ones with fun art on the cover. These are just shelves to prop up the records so if we want to list to the album it’s easy to take down and we can also swap out records for framed art too.
The one thing to be weary about when choosing this style of gallery wall is that you do need to measure, a lot! If your frames aren’t level and are spaced incorrectly, it’s very noticeable. So keep your measuring tape and level handy while you’re hanging to ensure that everything gets nailed in properly.
The Random Wall
This is the gallery style I often use because it allows you to add a lot of variety in the piece of art you have. I start by laying out everything on the floor into a design I like and then figuring out how to add it to the walls. I’ve seen people cut out paper the same size as all the art their hanging to tape to the wall to make sure everything goes where it’s supposed to, but I’ve never actually been patient enough to do that.
When it comes a random gallery wall any really goes. There are two common ways to do this. The first is to hang the art in columns which I often do to create a sense of rhythm and ease. The second version of the random gallery wall is to make sure nothing lines up, which in itself is a different kind of organization. This tactic usually works best if you have a lot of art in a variety of sizes to display on a large wall. In either version I start with the largest pieces first and add around it. The big pieces will ground the display and become the focal points of your wall, while the smaller pieces become eye candy for your eyes to wonder over.
Creating Your Own Gallery
There are no true rules to creating your gallery wall. Find the art and frames you want to display and have at it. Mix and match so nothing aligns, align everything in columns (vertical lines) and/or rows (horizontal lines). However you go about it, you’ll create something that’s special to your home because nobody will have the same art as you.