Gallery Wall: 8 Things to Think About When Creating a Gallery Wall

I recently updated the hallway in our entry including adding a gallery wall with family photos. I love the look of it! It’s a clean, sleek and more modern feel. If you are thinking of creating a gallery wall, here are some things to think about.

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8 Things to Think About When Creating a Gallery Wall

1. Location and Amount of Pictures

First up is deciding where you want to put up the gallery wall. It can be a focal point in a room, say above a couch for example, or somewhere like a hallway as I chose.

This is what the hallway looked like before I updated it. I wanted a more modern and streamlined way to display photos of my two boys growing up.

Once I had everything down, I tried to get a general idea of what I wanted to do. I could envision three rows of three frames in each.

2. Shape of Frames

Between rectangular shaped frames and square, I really like the idea of square shaped. I liked the idea of a grid like look. Personally, I just found the square frames with matting that had a square opening appealing!

3. Size of Frames

To figure out the frame size, I first had to see what frames were available to me to purchase. I also needed to keep in mind what size photos I would be using and the size of the wall space I was using. I worked with Frame It Easy (https://www.frameiteasy.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjw5c6LBhBdEiwAP9ejG907M69a3fAyx4OofVKH4nRZuaZbuAny7oBhb65MC6_V-OQ0moV57RoCVNoQAvD_BwE) and got my frames from there. You can have them made to the exact size you need, which is great!

I had a bunch of 8×10 photos that I wanted to use, but I was open to cropping them a bit.

First I just approximated the size that would seem to work to fit 3 rows of 3 frames on the wall and fit my 8×10 photos by just eyeballing the space and using a tape measure.

When I came up with a frame size that I knew I could get from the website and that seemed would fit well in the space, I measured out some paper squares in the same size and taped them on the wall to be sure! The size that worked best for me was 14″x14″. I used regular printer paper taped together and cut to size, but newpaper or poster board would work great, too.

This technique can also work if you’re not choosing a company that custom makes your frames to size. If you find a frame that you like in a store and it seems like it would work, just measure the paper out to the size and see!

Shop Frames

Here are some ready made frame possibilities. You can click on them to shop:

4. Size of Matting and Size of Opening

In a similar fashion, I cut out some opening size possibilities. I knew I wanted to see a good amount of matting, because I like that look. I also needed to hold these openings over my photos to make sure it didn’t cover too much of them. The opening that worked best for me was 6″x6″. The matting is 3″.

5. Type and Color of Frames

If you are using Frame It Easy and would like to know what I used, this is the Derby frame in Wheat. They are wood frames. Obviously you should choose a type and color that you love and that works with the decor in your space.

TIP: When trying to make these decisions, it helps to look around at other gallery walls to see what you like. Search hashtags like #gallerywall on Instagram, and check out Pinterest, too.

6. Types of Photos and Color Scheme

I had a bunch of photos of my boys to pick from. There are millions of possibilities when choosing what to put in your frames, from portraits to vacation photos to prints and artwork. When choosing, you can’t just pick your favorites. You have to look at the coloring in all of them and see how they would all go together as a whole. While looking through, I realized that I thought it would look best if they all had the same white background.

After picking nine that had white backgrounds and all had that same portrait feeling, I wanted to get an idea of how they would look together. I laid them out on the floor first and tried different arrangements. It was then that I noticed that most were light and neutral, but four had darker colors in them. So I decided to spead those four out evenly like this. I feel like this set up flows nicely!

7. Spacing Between the Frames on the Wall

Once the arrangement was settled on, they were ready to be hung. First I needed to figure out how much of a space should go between each frame. I knew I wanted the space to be the same throughout. I just needed to figure that out while they were on the ground first. Then I could double check with my handy paper squares to see if it would work on the wall, too.

1 1/4″ looked just right to me!

8. Where on the Wall

Again, using the paper squares I was able to eyeball how high I wanted to hang them. This took a couple tries to get it to look just right, so I was glad it was just paper and tape that I had to readjust each time! I also knew I wanted the whole grouping to be centered between the door and the wall.

Using a tape measure and a level, making sure things were equally centered and aligned (and the paper came in handy to do any calculations on as well ;)), we were ready to get the screws in for hanging.

The paper squares ended up being a helpful guide in putting the screws in as well, along with the measuring.

Make sure to check that everything is level as you go.

A laser level would probably be a helpful tool in hanging a gallery wall like this!

The Gallery Wall

When creating a gallery wall, if you keep these things to think about in mind you should end up with a fabulous display that will transform your space beautifully!

TIP: If the frames don’t stay put and you feel the need to straighten them from time to time, stick a little mounting putty on the backs to hold them in place.

You can read about this staircase pictured getting painted here: https://lizzydesignsblog.com/staircase-makeover-painting-black/

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