HOW TO CREATE A GALLERY WALL IN 5 SIMPLE STEPS

I’ve always been a huge fan of gallery walls, but never attempted it until now. They’re an easy way to update your interiors and elevate a boring white wall. It’s also perfect if you have a bunch of random pictures and paintings lying around that need a home. It might be a bit intimidating at first, but is really quite simple.

Today I’m sharing the process I went about, what materials I used, and all the steps I took in creating our new gallery wall. So let’s go…

1. GET INSPIRED

If you aren’t sure where to begin, I suggest turning to Pinterest to get some inspiration. See what other people have created and pinpoint what jumps out to you. It can help you tremendously later on when you begin to collect your pieces and choose a layout. Decide if you want to focus on a theme (I guess I went the more abstract route) or color palette. Figure out what speaks to you and begin to brainstorm on what kind of gallery wall you want to create.

2. COLLECT, COLLECT, COLLECT

Now that you’ve begun to collect your thoughts and ideas, you need to choose your pieces. You can start this process by creating a collection of all things you love. Whether it’s a photograph, an original piece of art, something your child created, a dried flower or leaf you found outside, a coaster, postcard, page in a magazine, or piece of wrapping paper. Pull together what inspires you and look for inspiration online, through social media, in magazines (do people still read these?!) and outside in nature. Lastly, if you are looking for artwork, Etsy has a lot of affordable options.

3. SELECT YOUR FRAMES

You have to decide if you want everything to match in your gallery wall or if you want to make it a mix of different materials. If you are interested in the matching route, there are a lot of gallery wall sets out there. I bought this one from Target and decided to create my own layout from it. I also love this one and this one.

If you are interested in more of a mix, begin to collect frames with different textures, colors, materials, and even shapes. You can use frames already in your home or you can buy inexpensive ones at Target, TJ Maxx or Dollar Stores. I even bought my own canvases (this set and this set) and created a few of my own art pieces through inspiration I found online. I love the raw undone look of the canvas and it gives it a more homemade vibe.

4. LAY IT ALL OUT

Before you take the jump and make the commitment, I suggest laying everything out on the floor. You can measure your wall to get the correct proportions and try to make sure everything is spaced out evenly.

What kind of lay out do you even want? Do you want evenly spaced rows or more of an organic feel? Once you decide this, you want to make sure that you group pieces that flow together whether it be the theme, color pallet, or vibe. Stand back and even take a picture to see if it all comes together.

For my layout, I kind of did it organically. I started with my largest piece and put it in the center. Then I mixed and matched pieces of varying sizes all around. I basically worked outwards and plan on even expanding this gallery wall with more pieces once I either create more or find something that fits.

5. HANG IT UP

Now that everything is organized, it’s time to hang. I personally prefer these command strips so that I didn’t have to actually nail anything into my wall. I’m obsessed with them and have them in various shapes and sizes. I use them all around my house to hang lighter weight paintings just so I have an easy option to rearrange and replace if I want to.

For my gallery wall, all my picture frames and canvases were light enough in weight to use these command strips. If something is on the heavier side, I recommend using a nail.