I invited a friend over to my last apartment, who upon entering my bedroom, took a look at the gallery wall hanging above my makeup vanity and said “I think every girl in Boston has one of those.” And then carried on about how the nails were not good for the walls. I wondered.. has this person ever heard of spackle??
For those aesthetically inclined, gallery walls are a great way to bring a variety of decor elements together. Even in a space that is classic and sophisticated, a gallery wall can make a strong statement with square, framed pictures mostly the same size. Gallery walls feed off the energy in the space.
However, even though they are seemingly in every magazine and Pinterest board, assembling them may feel daunting. How does one have the vision to see a gallery wall through, and even more, how does one hang all of these pictures?
I spent a Sunday afternoon (under one hour) hanging mine. Prior to hanging, it’s helpful to have the following:
Command Strips
Hammer
Variety of nails
Tape measure
Laser level (this one is a bonus!)
Pencil with eraser
Stool to stand on
Multiple pieces of art with a similar color theme - can be pictures or objects (see anchor below)
Measure your gallery wall area (this might be the total distance of the wall from side to side, or maybe it’s a portion of the wall where you want the gallery wall to hang). This helps to center the pictures so they look better in the space. Once you have the measurements, measure your pictures and eyeball how they would fit on the wall. Use your pencil to lightly mark your wall where the pictures would be centered.
Once this is complete, lay the pictures out on the floor as you want them to hang on the wall. This will help make sure that you like the layout prior to hanging. You can even cut out pieces of paper that mirror the frames to test the arrangement on the wall. I like to keep some symmetry in my gallery walls, whether that be having similar frames or symmetric total shape of the pictures.
Start hanging the pictures on the wall. This is where marking the center is important because you will orient your pictures around the center. For beginners, it might also be helpful to use the pencil for all pictures before hanging (you can even trace each of the pictures’ shapes first, and then once all of them are traced, you can more easily know where to hang them).
If you live in an apartment, I recommend using command strips where possible to save yourself the work when you move out! Sometimes, however, the picture/item is just too heavy and you need to use nails. Cue the spackle!
If you just can't imagine thinking of your own gallery wall arrangement, this one has a template and frames all ready to go!
Once your gallery wall is up you will have a variety of art to admire and plenty of compliments :) I've included a couple of examples below:
Have you attempted a gallery wall? I'd love to hear about your experience!
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