Gallery Wall inspiration and everything you need to know

A gallery wall can make or break a space in your home. It can create a beautiful elevated look or it can look awkwardly pasted together. Gallery walls are a timeless addition to any home but the style and look of gallery walls has changed over time and adapted to various styles and trends. In this piece we’ll provide inspiration for your next gallery.

What is a Gallery Wall?

A gallery wall – also called a photo wall or picture wall – is a collection of photos, art and wall decor that are placed together in 1 vignette in the home. A frames or pieces in a gallery wall usually have a common set of traits or art style.

How to design a Gallery Wall layout

Designing a Gallery wall layout depends on 3 pieces of information:

The size of the wall

If you are working with a large wall that is long you will want to consider layouts that make use of this horizontal space so that wall doesn’t feel unbalanced. If the wall is tall you will want to make sure the gallery wall is centered from the top of the ceiling to the ground if the ground is visible or centered from the ceiling to the top of the couch or table if there is one below.

Your Design Style

A gallery wall should be cohesive with the rest of the room or overall space. For example, if you have a farmhouse style, some wooden and black frames would help tie those elements with other pieces in your farmhouse style home. If you home is a mix of various metals and colors then you can have more variation in your frame choice.

Decor in other parts of the same room

I’m sure you’ve seen a stark difference in gallery walls that go from 3 large minimalist frames to 30 smaller, ornate frames that give a maximalist look. I would suggest your gallery wall style balances with the rest of the room. For example if you have a lot of large scale art around the room, a gallery wall with more frames will help the space feel dynamic as there is a mix of experiences from wall to wall. If you have various shelves of decor in a space, I would recommend a gallery wall that is larger in scale or a symmetrical grid. These types of gallery walls provide a simpler impact on the eyes that is needed with potentially busy styled shelves in close proximity.

How to choose photos for your Gallery Wall

The original gallery wall was a photo wall of family portraits from special occasions. This gallery wall continues to be a fan favorite and upgrading these with up to date pictures of growing kids is priceless.

Nonetheless, gallery walls of beautifully curated artwork are the the biggest trend right now. Showcasing artwork that tells a story, connects with the home and the homeowner’s life story are beautiful ways to add deeper meaning to home decor.

In this gallery wall from Etelage we can see beautifully curated vintage artwork with coastal elements that transports you into another space and create a serene feeling.

How to save on your Gallery Wall

Gallery walls can be expensive since this will cover a large amount of space the frames need to be quite large or you need upwards of 8 frames at a minimum. Add on the cost of matting and printing and this can quickly add up to a big ticket price. The best thing you can do to keep your gallery wall budget friendly is –

BUY CHEAP FRAMES! And reuse any existing frames you have even if you think they look horrible right now.

Here you can see, I created this gallery wall with a mix of cheap plastic target clearance frames, some TJ-Max frames that I had in my bathroom and 2 higher quality frames I was using in my previous gallery wall.

Transform your cheap or old frames with paint or Rub n Buff to give them new life and to give your frames a cohesive color scheme.

I painted all of these frames with Rub n Buff or a beige acrylic paint from target. I used a rag to apply the Rub n Buff and let it dry. Rub n Buff is a great alternative to just using paint because depending on the original color of the frame, the color that came through after the application was slightly different which created variation in the gold color from frame to frame. The blue frame in the picture is a frame I gave my 4 year old to paint to keep him entertained during this process. I call that a pro move.

The most expensive piece of this entire project was ordering custom matting for some of these frames. I thought it was well worth it and highly recommend the online shop Matboard and More. I did hours of research to find the cheapest option – including cutting my own mats from large mat boards from Michaels – and this was the least expensive option for me.

My gallery wall BEFORE:

My gallery wall AFTER:

I loved both my gallery walls but I chose to change it for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to have a more minimal look with less, larger frames rather than the mix of frames I had before. Secondly, I wanted to make the frame colors more cohesive rather than the mixed metals I had before since I’ve been updating my home to more neutral tones – especially in my coastal-inspired living room.

I also wanted to update the pictures since I’ve had 2 kids since the first gallery wall. The entire gallery wall always seemed a bit too high. This was done to accommodate that this is the primary walkway. Lastly I wanted to add some religious imagery to this space. I love the new look!