Gallery wall love - How to create stunning wall decor for your home

I've finally finished creating a gallery wall in our dining room! This post has been a long time coming, but I'm so happy to have this project ticked off my to-do list! If you are planning a gallery wall in your home, you'll find some useful tips and tricks in this post that should help you on your way! If you are looking for ready-made gallery wall sets, you'll find some gorgeous ones below.

I've been talking about creating a gallery wall in the dining room for a long time now. I fell in love with gallery walls on Pinterest and Instagram, but I had a hard time choosing wall art for this space. Everyone will tell you you should choose a theme, but I love the eclectic look. I didn't want all of the wall art to be of the same type.

After collecting artwork and frames for many months, I decided that this Summer, I was going to get that project done and ticked off my list! How did I do it? Read on!

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The offer is valid between the 25th and 29th of August 2021.

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How do I make my walls more interesting?

Curating a home is a gradual process. Instead of filling up every nook and cranny with furniture and décor as soon as you move in, it's best to live in your space for a while, until you get a feel for the rooms. Light is another factor to take into account. How much light a room receives throughout the day may influence the colours you use in your home décor, so it's best to take your time when it comes to wall décor too.

The blank wall in our dining room has been bothering me lately. Every time I pass it (which is often), the number one thought in my head is "How can I make this wall more interesting?" When I take photos in this room, my eyes always stray to this bare wall. Now I've decided, it's going to get an injection of personality!

How do you make your own wall decor?

You can make gorgeous wall art using pressed flowers. For more ideas on this, read my post “How to make pressed flower prints”. In that post, I show how you can easily make three different types of wall art using pressed flowers.

There are so many ways to make your own wall décor. If you love eclectic wall décor, scour flea-markets, or thrift stores for objects and prints that remind you of the things you love.

Etsy is my absolute favourite place to buy wall art for gallery walls. You can buy anything from original paintings, drawings or prints, to a complete curated gallery wall!

Gallery wall resources & Free printables

For more information on finding wall art for your gallery wall, read my post 'Stylish and affordable botanical art for your gallery wall'. T

You can also find free printable wall art in my subscriber library. Read more about my free printable wall art here.

Creating a gallery wall – Planning

Yes, you need to make a plan. If you've been a reader of this blog for a while, you'll know I'm a huge fan of creating mood boards before starting any project.

The first thing I recommend is to create a new Pinterest board for your new gallery wall. Whenever you spot a gallery wall you love on Pinterest, pin it to your board for inspiration.

Did you know that you can also pin from other websites?

Once you know the general direction you want to go with your wall décor, you can start pinning wall art from other websites too. Online shops like Etsy, Desenio, Junique and Poster Store are great sources for gallery wall or wall art.

DIY SAFETY

A QUICK REMINDER: When attempting any DIY project, please take care to undertake the necessary safety precautions. You should always follow the manufacturer’s safety recommendations when using any product or tool. When following my instructions for a DIY project, you are doing so at your own risk.

Measuring your gallery wall

Don't forget to measure your available wall space. It's no good ordering massive prints and then finding out you don't have the room for them. It's easy to make this mistake because gallery walls seem to look much smaller online than they are in real life. At least, that is what I've found. In any case, it pays to double-check the measurements of the prints. I loved the first compilation of wall art prints that I chose, but after checking the measurements, it became clear that it would be far too large for my space. Remember that you will need to leave some space between the bottom trim and the ceiling or top moulding of the wall too.

How do you layout a gallery wall?

When you have enough pieces of wall art pinned to your gallery wall board on Pinterest, you can start curating your pieces. Create a new page in Microsoft Word and add your wall art designs to it. Move the wall art photos around until you are happy with the general layout.

Once you are happy with the layout and you've checked that the sizes will fit on your wall, you can go ahead and order your prints.

How to find the layout if you already have wall art

To find the layout when you already have your wall art or prints, I recommend laying them all out on the floor. If it helps, you could tape out an area on the floor which represents your available wall space, then start moving the wall art around until you like the design.

How do you space a gallery wall?

I went with the rule of 7cms between each print, top, bottom and sides. The landscape photo in the middle of the bottom row is wider than those on either side of it which means that we needed to alter the spacing for the largest print in the top row too.

My Tip: Once you have your gallery wall laid out on the floor, take a photo of it. The camera sees what the eye skips over! You may find that your wall art needs adjusting here or there.

Should gallery wall frames match?

Your gallery wall frames don't have to match. My gallery wall frames are all the same thickness, but I've added black, white and wooden frames to my wall.

Using antique frames

If you decide to use antique frames in gold or silver, you may find that the colours don't quite match. Some gold colours are more yellow than others, for instance. You can easily get around this by using a wax metallic finish on the frames to make them a more consistent colour.

How do I make a cohesive gallery wall?

If the eclectic look isn't for you then it's best to stick with a more consistent look but how do you achieve that?

Choose a Theme for your gallery wall

You can choose a theme for your gallery wall and include only prints that fit that theme. Some popular themes include botanic, nature, architecture, coastal, farmhouse and so on.

Mixing themes

What do you do when you like more than one theme? Well, you can mix them up but try to choose photos that have something that binds them together. For instance, I love both botanical and architectural prints. By choosing botanical prints with an architectural style, I've managed to combine the two themes successfully.

You can also choose eclectic prints with the same a colour scheme so that the prints look as if they belong together.

Shop gallery wall sets

Here are some of my favourite gallery wall sets available to buy right now. Some of them are even on sale!

Click on any image to view.

How to add wall art to a wall

There are various ways to do this depending upon which layout you have decided upon for your gallery wall. Here is how we did it.

Set guiding lines

First, we decided how low on the wall we wanted the bottom line of prints to be.

Next, we place a long spirit level on the wall for reference and used painters tape to make a guiding line for where the bottom of the prints would hang.

We started with the landscape photo that would be in the centre of our wall art display. Turning the print over so that the back was facing upwards, we measured from the bottom of the frame up to where the hanging hooks were. Then we marked those (there were two) on the wall. Then we measured the space from each side of the frame to the hanging hooks and made another pencil mark. Using these marks, we hammered in two nails. That was that.

Next, we measured 7cms up from the top of the first frame and made a pencil mark. We used the spirit level to help us create another line to represent where the bottom of the top row of prints would hang.

Then we hung the centre print of the top row in the same way as we did the bottom row.

Spacing wall art on your gallery wall

Now that the two centre wall art pieces are on the wall, we can continue to work out to the sides. We measured 7cms to the side and made a pencil mark. Then we measured for the hooks in the same way as we did above.

Finishing off your gallery wall

Double-check that all of the frames are straight and that they are the right height. Ours weren't perfect to start with, but we just removed each frame and hammered the picture nail downwards or upwards a little until it was the perfect fit.

When you are happy with your gallery wall, you can remove the painter's tape then you are finished!

Adding a gallery wall is a great way to add some personality and interest to your home. I also think it would be fun to exchange some of these prints seasonally to create a totally different look and mood.

What do you think?

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