How to create the perfect gallery wall

Creating your own gallery wall is a great way to give some visual impact to a bare wall – it’s the perfect place to showcase your favourite memories and artwork in a way that is both fashionable and classic. Curating your gallery wall is a fun challenge to tackle, and we’re here to help you along the way!

We’ll go through how to curate and arrange a visually striking gallery wall, from various gallery wall layouts to frame styles and artwork arrangements, as well as offer our top tips on selecting and grouping art pieces that complement each other.

Where do I start with creating a gallery wall?

If you’ve been a little unsure about how to get started, we’re going to give you everything you should need to help you jump right into creating a gallery wall – we’ve gathered our top redecoration hints and tips to help you along the way with your redecoration projects.

Gallery wall ideas

First up, you might be wondering whether you want to do a gallery wall of photographs, artwork, or a mix of both. The only answer to that question is which of these options would you love to see? It can also depend on which room in your home you’ll be putting this gallery wall – if it’s your living room, then you might want something a little more curated for your guests, but if it’s in your bedroom then you could make it more intimate with family portraits and holiday pics. So, identify your subject matter first:

A country you visited
A special holiday
A special event like a wedding or birthday
Your kid’s artwork
A favourite artist’s work
A favourite photographer’s work

The options are endless!

Gallery wall designs

Then, once you have the key idea in mind, you can start searching for images that fit your theme, as well as picture frames for them to go in – you may even decide not to opt for frames if you choose mounted artwork instead. Here are some picture frame design ideas you could try:

Matching colours and mixed sizes
Matching colours and all in one size
Mixed metallics, like gold and silver
Mixing a metallic with either black, white, or both.
Matching shades of wooden frames
An eclectic mix of all of the above for a shabby chic interior style.

Gallery wall layouts

Next, you’ve got the layout. Proper planning is key here because you want your gallery wall placement to look intentional and full, rather than sparse. Here are some pattern ideas and layouts you could try:

An organic look with random placements
Linear patterns like a grid
Larger prints in the middle with smaller ones around the edges
Centring prints around a feature piece like an ornate mirror
Using shelves to give the gallery wall some more texture
Symmetrical looks with an even number of pictures across the wall

Now that you have a more concrete idea in your head, we can get practical and begin to plan out how you’ll hang your gallery wall.

How to hang a gallery wall

You will need:

Hammer
Nails
Blu Tack or other removable putty adhesive
Pencil
A large sheet of paper (such as wrapping paper)
Wall anchors for heavy items

Here’s the process to follow for a perfect gallery wall every time:

There’s no need to rely on guesswork for imagining how your gallery wall will look – trace the outline of all your frames onto the paper with a pencil and cut them out. Mark on your paper copies exactly where your nail will have to go to fit onto the hook on the back of all your frames.
Using Blu Tack, place your paper copies onto the wall where you want your gallery wall to go in the layout that you like best.
Next, hammer your nails into the wall in exactly the spots marked on your paper copies. Then take the paper copies off the wall, with the nails left intact.
Now you can hang your gallery wall easily, with all the hooks exactly placed where your paintings will look best.

Tapi Top Tip – Keep the distances between your frames and items even all around the gallery wall – it won’t matter if things are different sizes or shapes, this consistency will help keep your gallery wall looking cohesive and professional.

How to create a gallery wall on your stairs

Gallery walls aren’t just restricted to standard walls – gallery walls on your staircase or uneven walls can add a lot of visual interest to an area that might not otherwise get a lot of decoration. Here are some key points to remember when you’re hanging a gallery wall on the stairs:

Find the centre of the height of the wall and follow the line of this centre down the entire staircase with painter’s tape – this is your guide.
Use multiple nails to keep your picture straight – it’s more likely that your pictures could end up crooked with people walking past your gallery wall, so keep them straight by using multiple nails.
It’s good to take a pause and see how your gallery wall looks from a distance to give you a little perspective on whether you can experiment more with size or frame placement.

Here at Tapi, we understand the importance of design in creating a cohesive and stylish interior. Not only do we have amazing interior design ideas, but we have gorgeous flooring you can buy to suit your style too. Our wide range of carpet, laminate, vinyl, luxury vinyl, and engineered wood flooring options can help you achieve the ideal styled space where your gallery wall can take centre stage. Pop into your local Tapi store if you’d like to find out more, and if you’d like to try something new with your interiors, why not check out the rest of our Style Inspiration guides?

Post author

Jeremy Garrish Buyer Jeremy has 35 years of carpet industry knowledge

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