7 Useful Gallery Wall Tips
July 30, 2020A gallery wall can be an interesting focal point in a room. It can also be a great way to fill a wall with decor without overwhelming the room. But, it’s easy to get a gallery wall wrong and end up with something that looks disjointed or cluttered. Here are a few useful gallery wall tips to help you create a gallery wall that enhances and complements the overall look and feel of a room:
1. Dedicate Time to Planning the Layout in Advance
A gallery wall tends to have a lot of pieces. The more pieces involved, the more options you have to get it right or the more opportunities you have to get it wrong. It’s tempting to rush through the process, especially if you already have an idea in mind for how you want the end result to look. But, if you don’t take the time needed to plan the layout in advance and get it right, you’re more likely to end up with a gallery wall that just doesn’t work.
Instead of rushing into things, hammering away, and hanging things as you go, take some time to think about what you want your gallery wall to look like. Think about the feeling you want to have when you look at it and how you want it to fill the wall you’ve chosen for placement. Also, consider how the arrangement on the wall will flow and work with the shape, colors, and decor of the rest of the room.
Gallery walls are often one of the popular creative ideas for fireplace decor. This also means that it needs to work around the fireplace and other structural elements of the room. Depending on how you’re decorating the rest of the room, the layout of the gallery wall may need to shift to better fit where you want to feature it and so it works well with everything else in the room. If you don’t plan the layout in advance, you won’t know what works and what doesn’t until you’re done hanging everything.
2. Start With More Options Than You Need
As you are planning out your gallery wall, it’s a good idea to start out with more options than you need. One of the common gallery wall mistakes to avoid is not giving yourself enough options in the beginning. You should have an approximate idea of how many pieces you want to feature in your gallery wall.
Even if you have a solid idea of what you want, start off with almost double the number of pieces you think you will need. This ensures you have enough options to choose from and are able to switch things out and rearrange as needed. Your gallery wall needs to be cohesive when it’s done. All the pieces need to look like they fit together and work together. If you don’t start with enough options, you may find yourself trying to force things to work when they don’t.
3. Play Around With Different Frames
Another one of the useful gallery wall tips is to play around with different frames. It may be tempting to stick to the same type of frame for everything on your gallery wall. Although this can work, it can also result in a boring gallery wall that blends into the background instead of drawing visual interest or adding to the room. You can try different materials, finishes, shapes, and even colors to get the right look for what you want.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Use Color
Whether in your frames or in the pieces themselves, don’t be afraid to add color and experiment with it. Even if you’re going for a simpler farmhouse look, you can still play around with different types of wood or stains for your frames to create an interesting visual.
At the same time, painted wood is also popular in farmhouse decor and other interior design themes. So, you could also dive into your color palette and use pieces or frames for your items with various colors from it to create an interesting look.
5. Include Some Variety
When planning out items to include in your gallery wall, try to include some variety. All of the items you include do not have to be the same type or medium. Your gallery wall can be all photos, all prints, or all paintings, but it doesn’t have to be. This type of flexibility is one of the reasons why going big with a gallery wall is one of the fall decor trends that tends to be popular year-round.
You can mix and match various types of items and different mediums to create a more interesting gallery wall. You can also include other types of wall decor like mirrors, signs, a compass, hanging sculptures, etc. If you’re going for nautical interior design, you can even include a map, a ship steering wheel, some rope, or even a paddle in your gallery wall!
6. Switch up Sizes and Shapes
Another way to create an interesting look and add some variety to your gallery wall is to switch up and play with sizes and shapes. Although items of the same size can still create a fantastic gallery wall, varying the sizes of the items often creates a more interesting look.
Varying the shapes of the items in your gallery wall does the same. Square or rectangular frames may be the standard, but they’re not the frame shapes available. If frames in different shapes aren’t what you’re going for, you can include shapes in other wall decor.
7. Check Your Spacing Between Items
Creating a gallery wall may be one of the popular maximalist interior design ideas, but it’s not supposed to look cluttered. Getting the spacing between items right goes a long way in making sure your gallery wall looks good, which is why checking your spacing between items is one of the useful gallery wall tips.
If items are spaced too closely, too far apart, or inconsistently, it can make the entire gallery wall look disjointed and cluttered. It doesn’t matter if you planned out a perfect gallery wall If the spacing is off or things are hung or installed poorly.
These are just a few gallery wall tips to help you create a gallery wall that works for you and your space. If no amount of adding or switching decor or remodeling makes your current house feel like the right home, it may be time to consider a custom home that is built to your needs and wants.
If you’re ready to start bringing your dream home to life, contact Custom Home Group at 717-284-4090!