A house isn’t always a home. No matter how grand and luxurious it may be, it’ll lack that homey feeling if it doesn’t speak of the life of the homeowners. Sure, you can buy ready-made photo prints as there really is nothing wrong with that. Aesthetically pleasing, they do just the trick of dressing up walls. But, one design facet is even better: a gallery wall.
Depending on what it is you fancy, the gallery wall can show your personality, family life, memories, and even your style. You can opt to display travel photos, random pictures of the children growing up, quotes, or paintings. The choice is really up to you. Whatever it is you opt to hang, be sure not to cross the line of having your wall look too chaotic. A gallery wall can still look neat and organized with proper styling, making your home look more inviting.
These tricks, straight from the experts themselves, can help you transform a dull and boring wall into one that’s full of life through your gallery wall of photos.
1. Avoid Buying Matchy-Matchy Frames
What’s a gallery wall without frames to hold the photos in? As you think about creating this design element in your home, a trip to the home section of your department store is also called for. There, you’ll be selecting frames to hang on your gallery wall.
Avoid buying the same size and style when choosing frames, even if you’re opting for a clean, neat, and minimalist vibe. You can have square photo frames, rectangular, and even circular ones of different sizes. If you buy the same shapes and styles, quite frankly, your gallery wall will only look boring.
The whole premise of having a gallery wall is to serve as an accent piece in your home. This means it has to stand out. Don’t be afraid to play around with frames of different textures, styles, and sizes. When carefully put together, you’ll still have a nice-looking gallery wall that tells a story and captures attention.
2. Avoid Hanging Generic Prints
You walk into a home store, and then you find many frames with generic prints, ready to be hung on a wall. No matter how nice or inspirational those prints may be, you wouldn’t want your home to look like a model house. Your home will look generic, and no one will be interested in the prints you’re displaying.
Remember that you don’t have to finish your gallery wall in one afternoon. Consider it a work in progress as you gradually add more custom prints, photos, and even paintings to the empty frames. Should you have a quote you really like, you can always ask someone to do custom calligraphy for you instead of buying pre-made prints. The more custom work you hang, the more you’re actually letting your personality as the homeowner shine.
3. Remember To Stay Cohesive
Despite having frames of different styles and sizes, it’s also important to retain a sense of cohesion with your gallery wall. In contrast, this doesn’t mean having a matchy-matchy and monochromatic look to it; being cohesive means that the frames and prints should at least match the theme and style of the room unless you’re going to post entirely personal photos of yourself and your family.
For example, you’re planning to have an accent wall up in your foyer in your main living space. Your entire home has that industrial feel and theme to it. Avoid having bright and tropical-themed paintings or art on your gallery wall; else, there isn’t going to be any sense of coherence.
4. Create An Outline First
Before drilling holes in your wall, create an outline using a pencil or painter’s tape. Prepare that outline once you have all your frames ready, so your frames can still be well-aligned. The goal should be to have a sense of balance.
You don’t have to keep all frames aligned on a straight line, especially because you have frames of different shapes and sizes. Drawing an outline, however, can ensure your frames will at least have a sense of order. Moreover, doing so is important to keep the spacing between each frame equal. Don’t just place the frames randomly; else, your gallery wall may wind up looking cluttered.
Final Design Tips
Now that you know how to come up with a well-designed gallery wall, that vast expanse of empty space on your wall can finally be transformed into a beautifully-designed and well-made one. It’s inexpensive, and it’s very personal as well. Many homes will have their own gallery walls, but the photos hung won’t always be the same. You can start now by choosing photos to display and frames to hang, and soon enough, you’ll have your very own gallery wall to serve as a conversation starter right in your own home.