A gallery wall is a display of beloved photos and/or artwork that have been collected over time, and typically tell a story. I have always been a gallery wall girl. I love the idea of many pieces of artwork collectively making one grand piece.

A gallery wall that is well thought out should tell a story and draw you in. A statement piece like this, as with all of our decor, should reflect who we are, what is important to us, and who/what we love. All you need are special art pieces like paintings or photos, a few frames and a wall. The best part about gallery walls, though, is there is not one right way to do it, so you are free to be creative!

Below are some of the guidelines I like to follow when I design my own gallery walls. I have found them to be pretty reliable over the last 14 years.

1} Your gallery wall frames don’t have to all match

In fact, please don’t. Gallery walls are a collection of special-to-you pieces that hold some sort of value, and that are typically collected over time. My advice: choose two to three colors tops to use in your frames. As long as you stick with those colors, the frames themselves don’t have to match.

Remember that a gallery wall should be interesting and capture the eye. If everything is uniform it will not have the same impact.

2} You can use a combination of photos and artwork

Unless you want a monochrome gallery wall, don’t get stuck in a rut about what kinds of things to incorporate in your gallery wall. Photos, artwork, printed art, even wooden pieces, or a clock- think collection.

3} Balance the scale of the gallery pieces with the size of the wall

I recommend mixing a range of sizes in your gallery wall. I have 22 photos on my gallery wall, but they are not all 8×10. That would be exhausting to look at and hard to arrange in an interesting way.

I have a mixture of 22×24, 16×20, 11×14, 8×10, and 12×20 photos on my

{NOTE} Avoid pieces or decorative items that just “fill space.” This will create that kitschy look I mentioned earlier and it will take away from your gallery wall rather than enhancing it. Basically, if you have to run out and buy wall decor at Hobby Lobby it probably doesn’t belong on your gallery wall.

5} Start with a focal piece and build off of it

Starting with a central piece will make the whole arrangement flow. Keep in mind that this focal piece does NOT have to be in the center of the wall. It can easily be off-center. You just need a starting point to work from.

6} Asymmetry is okay!

Don’t freak out! My husband loves symmetry so I work it into my designs a lot, but when it comes to a gallery wall anything goes! I typically start with something in the center of the wall and work from there, but I do not match each side nor do I leave each end of my gallery wall even.

Part of the beauty of a gallery wall is the idea that it has no end. The intent is to draw you eye to each side and leave you wanting more. Making your gallery wall exactly square and matching on every side will definitely hurt the custom feel of it, and make it look like a kit.

My Method

I don’t take a super technical approach to designing and hanging gallery wall photos. I’m more of an “eyeball it and call it” kind of girl. However, if you need a couple of pointers to get you started, here is what I typically do:

• Gather everything I might possibly want to go on my gallery wall. Everything.
• Choose the item I want to be my central piece – the piece everything else works off of. You can see from the top photo below that I didn’t start with a central piece at first so it looks like a bunch of photos jammed together. Clutter. Gross. I ended up scrapping this and starting completely over, and ended up with the finished product on the bottom:
• Lay everything out on the floor, preferably along the intended wall and starting with the central piece.
• Work outward from the central piece until every item has been placed.
• Take measurements for the central piece to ensure it ends up in the desired spot on the wall.
• Start hanging!
• Occasionally take a step back to look at the wall, and make sure it is coming together like you want. If you need to move something, move it.

A gallery wall is a great way to add style and personal touches to a space. Your collection doesn’t have to be huge, and it doesn’t have to have a large number of items to make it pop. In fact, a good rule of thumb here is quality over quantity.

My goal was for my gallery wall to tell the story of our family while providing a large visual statement that keeps the eye moving. I think I accomplished that!

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Show me your gallery walls! What story do you hope to communicate with it? Tell me in the comments below!

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