The Gallery Wall
Are you hoping to add a gallery wall in your home, but feeling stuck on where to begin? We love a good gallery wall because you can go in so many different directions with it. You can go simple with a few frames stacked next to each other or you can really go the distance with different sizes, shapes and materials. Gallery walls tell a story, and we love storytelling – a story about you or your family, about your adventures and memories, your favorite colors, your favorite artists – you name it. It adds depth and life to your home.
THE TREEHOUSE
A gallery wall is the perfect way to add fun character in a kid’s bedroom. In one of our kid’s rooms in the Treehouse, we anchored around his favorite piece of Spiderman. We tied together with red from the textured rainbow and blue from the acrylic painting, and it all started to flow. We made sure he loved all of the colors and the look when it was all laid out on the floor.
Decide what pieces you want to feature and where. Do you want family photos down your hallway or do you want to show off your photos from travels around the world in your office? Do you have a collection of eclectic paintings from vintage shops or do you want to buy a set of prints like these gorgeous abstracts? Once you know what you want to frame or hang, and where you want them to go, then you can move to the next step.
Decide what look and feel you want the gallery wall to have. If you want it to be simple and serene, look for frames in the same color and style. For example, you could go with classic white mats and all black frames. If you really like the look of simplicity, make sure all of the black frames are the same. If you want simplicity but a little more interest, try different types of frames like a simple black frame and some with unique shapes. If you want it to be loud and bold, then start with a color palette to work from. This could be inspired by a painting you already have that you want to hang or a print that you really like the colors (pulling a few colors that you have decided for #1). If you are looking for help with this step, head over to Pinterest and search for gallery wall inspiration!
Frame time! Once you have your featured art and an idea of what frames you want, either order some frames from online or head to a local frame shop to look at options. We love taking all of the pieces to a shop where we can lay everything out and see all of their options. Custom framing can be expensive, so you’ll want to pick and choose which pieces are done at a shop vs which ones you can do on your own.
Sketch how they will be laid out on the wall. It doesn’t have to be a perfect sketch, but at least have a plan for the ones in the center if you are going wall-to-wall or floor-to-ceiling. If you have some frames or pieces of art that are larger than others, you’ll want to make sure those are balanced and hung first so you can work the smaller ones around it.
Fill in with other pieces as needed. We love adding objects like pottery in the gallery wall. We’ve also used smaller frames to add interest and fill in larger gaps (the 2x3 inch frames are our favorite).
Hang! You can of course hang on your own, but the best money we spend as a business is bringing in Chris from Nailed It (@nashnailedit on Instagram). She will get anything up on the wall with all of her hanging tools and leave no trace behind except for the holes required. She’s amazing and we highly recommend it if you are in the Portland, Oregon area! If you do hang on your own, this is the best laser level on the market. Not only can you use it for art, shelving, and hanging tv’s, but you can also use this laser level for hanging light fixtures. It will project a dot directly above where you are (great for laying out canned lights). This laser level is a good alternative if you don’t want to spend that much on a laser level. Decide if you want everything to be perfectly spaced (requires more planning) or if you are okay with having at least 3 inches between every frame and letting it feel more organic.
THE SLENDER HOUSE
Our main priority when designing the Slender House was to cater to our client’s pets. That meant bringing interest off the floor and up on the wall. A gallery wall was the perfect solution to add mixed materials in order to warm up the space. For this gallery wall because of the height and variety of mixed materials, we worked with Chris Nash from Nailed.it! We highly recommend working with her if you’re in the Portland, OR area!
We would suggest limiting the amount of gallery walls you have in your home. If your home is large, you can get away with a few spread out periodically, but you really want to have variety to let you eye flow. If you have a floor to ceiling gallery wall in one room, the next room maybe you do a large painting, and so on. UNLESS, you want your home to be very eclectic… then go the distance!! We love breaking the rules and doing what we feel is true to ourselves and our clients – always. If you like it, then it’s a job well done!
Have more questions? Message us @tealandscott on Instagram!
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