The article discusses various ways to display wedding photos and keepsakes in your home. It highlights the importance of choosing the right location for your photos, such as hanging them on a wall, placing them on a shelf or side table, or using a hoop photo display. Printiques Wall Design Wizard offers expert photo hanging tips for making planning a wedding photo gallery wall easy.
Another option is to use a printed canvas, which comes in various shapes and sizes and can be hung anywhere in your home. For a streamlined look, stick to rectangular or square frames in varying sizes or hang all photos and prints in a grid formation using the same size frames.
Another way to display wedding photos is to arrange Instax Polaroids in a frame, creating a unique and fun way to preserve and display them. A windowsill display can also be used to showcase family photographs, while a coffee-table book can be a prime way to display your wedding photos.
For Instagram, choose photos that evoke strong emotion, avoid filters, highlight special details, use your wedding hashtag, and post photos in Instagram stories. Classic frames are the most popular way to display wedding photos, and a photo wall is a great way to share all your favorite photos in one location.
In addition to traditional photo displays, there are also creative ways to display wedding photos, such as hanging them on a wall, placing them inside a snow globe, calendar, or turning them into a console table.
📹 Gallery Walls | The Do’s and Don’ts!
In this video, I go over my do’s and don’ts of gallery walls! Gallery walls can be very tricky because on one hand they can look …
How many photos should a wedding photographer give you?
The number of pictures delivered per hour. A wedding photographer delivers between 50 and 100 wedding photos per hour. I usually deliver 800 to 1000 digital files for 12-hour reportage. For a 12-hour wedding, I can deliver 1200 to 1400 pictures.
Long Answer: More isn’t always better. Why this question makes sense. Wedding photography is about creating keepsakes. Your wedding photos are what you’ll cherish when you look back on your big day. The best wedding photographers capture memories so you can order prints and make a photo book. You need more than 500 photos to choose from. I believe this question makes sense in three ways. If the photographer is new, you want to make sure he will take and deliver more than 100 images for your wedding album. It’s easy to take a few good pictures at a wedding and create a website, but it’s another job to take 700 stunning images. If the photographer won’t show you a wedding gallery, you should worry. Some photographers only care about their portfolio, not your guests or real moments. You may end up with 300 amazing photos, but none of your guests will see them!
How to display wedding photos in a living room?
Mix and match prints and decor items with your wedding photos in your living room. Don’t make your photos the focal point.
How to display lots of photos?
Display multiple pictures in frames. Some frames can hold many pictures. … Mix and match frames. If you do a gallery wall, have fun with your frames! … Matching frames. … Clipboards. … Hangers. … Tape.
How to arrange wedding photos?
Make 6 sub-category folders. You’ll still have a lot of images to work with. This task can quickly become overwhelming. The best way to organize the images is to break them into smaller categories and work with one folder at a time. Group the images by wedding day. Organizing by date helps you find all the special moments. This way of looking at wedding photos makes the task easy and less prone to mistakes. Divide the folders into six categories. 1. Details. This folder is for decorations, table settings, close-ups of the couple’s clothes and shoes, and the ceremony’s overall look.
Is it okay to hang wedding photos in the living room?
Where should I hang my wedding photos? There are endless options! There are a few common places and benefits to all of them.
In the living room – The most common spot. This is the room you spend a lot of time in, and there’s usually plenty of wall space for pictures. In the bedroom, you can hang a beautiful framed print above the bed, especially if you don’t want to hang a picture of yourself over the mantelpiece. You can enjoy more intimate moments in the bedroom. A bedside table or dresser is a subtle option if you don’t want a large print.
In a hallway or foyer – Another popular spot. Guests may still see it, but it doesn’t have to be a conversation piece. Series of smaller pictures work well in hallways or entrances. You could have a series of three or a gallery wall here. Add some joy to your home office with a small print on your desk. Our display blocks would be perfect here, or you could frame something artistic if you have wall space. In an unexpected spot, wedding photos can go anywhere! Mix them in with other art and home decor. Try different ways to hang them on the wall. Put them in a snow globe, calendar, magnet, or fridge. There are no rules, but keep them out of the bathroom.
Tip: Use the right tools and picture hooks to keep your photos in place. Read about hanging art and photos before using a hammer and nails.
How to display couple photos at home?
Display on walls. Another option is to display photos on your walls. Popular wall display options include frames set up in a pattern or symmetrical display. You can do the same with canvas prints if you prefer the unframed look. Try different styles to make your display unique. Have a picture of you and your spouse? Make a three-piece canvas.
Quirky shelf display. The last traditional display option is to put your pictures on a shelf. A wall display is symmetrical. A shelf display is asymmetrical.
How to display family wedding photos at home?
Display on walls. Another option is to display photos on your walls. Popular wall display options include frames set up in a pattern or symmetrical display. You can do the same with canvas prints if you prefer the unframed look. Try different styles to make your display unique. Have a picture of you and your spouse? Make a three-piece canvas.
Quirky shelf display. The last traditional display option is to put your pictures on a shelf. A wall display is symmetrical. A shelf display is asymmetrical.
On which wall we should not hang photos?
Avoid placing photos in the eastern or northern corners of your home. These directions can cause conflict between family members. Make sure the picture is happy. My mother believes in Vastu principles. She often hung our family pictures on the southwest wall. One day, I asked her about the family pictures and which direction in Vastu they should be in. She said that where you put family portraits matters in Vastu. She also said that the south-west direction makes family members feel close and in harmony. What is the family photo facing direction as per Vastu? My mom told me that family photos should be placed on the southwest wall. Displaying family photos in this direction is thought to strengthen relationships. Family portraits in this way make family members more affectionate.
How do you tastefully display wedding photos?
Choose a simple frame. You can hang it on a wall or display it on a shelf, side table, or dressing table. Your wedding photos are a special keepsake.
Display them tastefully in your home. For more ideas, visit our Cactus Collective Weddings favorites: Paper Culture, Minted, and Basic Invite.
Where should wedding photos be displayed?
The hallway is the best spot in the house. It’s the main entrance to your living space. People will walk past, but it won’t be the main focus like it would be in the living room. Series of smaller pictures work well in hallways or entrances. You could have a series of three or a gallery wall here. Your workspace: Experts say you should look away from your computer screen every 10 minutes, so why not have a small frame or display block on your desk at work or in your home office? A great way to take your mind off work!
In an unexpected spot– Wedding photos can go anywhere! Mix them in with other art and home decor. Try hanging them in different ways. You can also put them in a snow globe, calendar, or magnet. There are no rules, but keep them out of the bathroom. Tip: Use the right tools and picture hooks to keep your photos in place. Read about how to hang art and photos before using a hammer and nails.
What to do with all your wedding photos?
What to do with your wedding photos? Backup and storage. This is the most important thing. … Share! … Print. … Albums. Thank you cards. Your wedding photos are here! Look through the photos together and remember your wedding day. What’s next? What do you do with the files? How do you keep your memories safe? Don’t worry! I have some tips based on my experience with other couples. Your wedding day is special. I want to make sure you have pictures to remember it by.
1. Backup and storage. This is the most important thing. Keep a copy of your images on a USB or hard drive in a fireproof safe or bank safety deposit box. You can also upload them as a ZIP file to your Google Drive or Dropbox. Back them up in 2-3 places. I try to keep my backup files safe, but you never know. Some clients’ computers have crashed and lost all their photos. Make sure you have an online and a safe physical backup.
📹 How I Used My Wedding Photos | Ideas for What to Do with Your Wedding Pictures
How I Used My Wedding Photos | Ideas for What to Do with Your Wedding Pictures Buy my book for brides: A Bride’s Guide to a …
Thanks for this informative article. One more tip… When placing all the paper cutouts on the wall to visualize all the art, carefully measure where the hanging hardware will go first, and nail them into the wall through the papers. That way you can tear off the papers and hang the art in the exact space the first time, without making additional holes, and messing up your wall. 🤔🤗
I’ve learnt that I’m very sentimental with items in my home and i like to have a connection or a story connected. Gallery walls of generic or art thats just up to fill a space doesn’t speak to me at all. I’d rather an empty wall before a crowded wall of stuff. To me, it another extension of comodification.
My favorite gallery wall that I’ve ever seen was a bunch of different old black and white photos of different shapes and sizes. All pictures of different people and places. I asked him who they were and he said “I have no idea, I bought them all at thrift stores because I liked the frames” 😂 This guys just had bunch of photos of other people’s family and it was amazing chefs kiss
Nick, I am a professional carpenter that has had many occasions now to hang pictures for clients. Of course the technical skills of aligning many objects of differing dimensions according to eye level or sometimes top or bottom alignment of frames is within my skillset. What I appreciated so much about your article is on the composition of walls which is purely aesthetic and artistic. Many clients don’t know how to express their ideas and may need help with their composition which can be very personal and subjective. As I said, I am a technical person and sometimes this creates a disconnect between what the clients want and what information I need to implement their vision. Your article gave me many tools and discussion points to bring up with potential clients in order to satisfy their gallery wall desires. Thank you for your exceptionally well-spoken and detailed presentation.
Great tips, thank you! I completely agree about not using generic art. I have a gallery wall in my home office where every piece was purchased directly from an artist I love through Etsy, or their own artist website… places like that. And the wall makes me happy when I look at it because I love every piece and I know I supported independent artists in the process.
The first time I did a gallery wall, I found it useful to start with a large imaginary rectangle and hang everything within it. The tops of the frames are in line, continue down the sides, then get to arranging the space between items. I don’t strictly adhere to that, but it was a good place to start. Before I stumbled upon that tip, nothing was getting hung!
I think your comments about MOOD of the space is super important. Let’s be brutally frank for a minute: if your gallery wall is 12 photographs of your most beloved family members who have died? The mood is not going to be right for a cheerful yellow breakfast nook! If a young person in your family has disclosed to you that Grandpa Sylvester abused her as a child? Don’t expect her to sleep in a guest bedroom with a gallery wall that heavily features Grandpa Sylvester! I love the idea of paintings, framed art prints, mirrors, and small shelves of objets d’art on a gallery wall, but family photos can be tricky. Think it through!
Here’s one tip I once read about gallery walls that I thought was very useful and that I successfully implemented myself, back when I had wall space for this kind of things: using lines and their intersections to organise the different elements of the gallery. You can for example make a cross with a long vertical line and a long horizontal one where the intersection is the centre of the gallery wall and every element is placed from the centre to the borders in the 4 spaces that the lines have created. Or have that centre of “gravity” be a top corner of the wall (which I did and it looked surprisingly great without much effort). Or have one long horizontal line at the top of wall and the elements go downwards from there. And so on. Thinking of it in terms of lines / centres of gravity makes the whole process easier and helps keep a good balance.
You are the definitive voice of reason for the design community! Thank you for what you do, it really helps. Also, that photo example of framed album art gave me a fantastic idea on how to bring my husband into the design choices so it can be for the both of us! He doesn’t care about design, but he’s VERY passionate about music. Thank you a million times! 💓
Hi Nick. You are the best at explaining design principles. I’ve learned so much from you and appreciate your no nonsense delivery and your sense of humour. Would love to see you take viewers’ photos of their spaces and offer suggestions on how to improve them. I think we could all learn from this process. Excellent website.
We moved into a new house about 4 years ago and the front room has really high ceilings. I did a gallery wall on the large wall over the piano and I love it!!! I did plan it out before putting it up. It came together great! I have gotten so nice compliments and they are all personal pieces of art. They all have a story to go with them. And each of my kids have some framed art too 🤗. The 4 years we have been in the house I have never grown tired of it.
I helped my parents redecorate their house and did a gallery wall in the living room. Most of the frames are 5 by 7 rectangles, but they are different colors (but tie into the living room colors). Also, the photos is a family tree. Grandma and grandpa at the top, a photo of the extended family. Then my immediate family, then their families. It looks good
I think you have to ask yourself “what story does this wall tell?” A bunch of squiggly lines framed on a wall in the latest trendy color might look really professional and grown-up but it says nothing. Sure, those individual pieces might be really artsy but then they would be better on their own, spread around the house. It’s much more meaningful if the wall tells the story or the interests of the inhabitant’s life. Pictures of all the places you went to, maybe a sunset wall with sunsets of all the places you traveled to, your own art if that’s something you make, pictures of all the dogs you’ve had, pictures of your kids growing up, or all the crazy adventures you have been on. A lot of the gallery walls you see in retail catalogs or Pinterest look good in terms of colors and design but if you copy that at home, it’s going to make your life seem empty.
I finally put up a gallery wall of my own paintings. I love the more formal look, so I used the same frames and mats and spaced everything exactly 4 inches from each other on the tops, bottoms, and sides. I had a nice large wall to work with. I used a long level, a t-square and a chalk pencil to map everything out.
Love the way Nick illustrates the point he’s making as in a visual clue – this is good; this, not so much ✅❌ It’s really helpful. I personally am so over a gallery wall, I find them too busy and do you really look at each item properly ever? In lots of cases, I think choose one, maybe two items, place them beautifully to relate to a piece of furniture or the layout of the room and it will have much more impact. Less is more sometimes, right? And Nick’s point about make it personal is key.
I’m now dismally worried that I lack an aesthetic sense. There were several walls that when they appeared on screen I thought “Well, Nick’s going to criticise that one!”.However then he’d laud it as a good example. Oh well, I will just have to keep learning…thank you Nick for commencing my education. I’ve saved the vid as a reference
We have a fairly small, but well lit corridor upstairs going from bathroom to master bed and kids’ room. Nothing in it, but wood flooring and white walls, so I painted a light grey rectangle on one of walls (painted about 30 cm from bottom, ceiling and sides) and within it I placed different sized white frames with my kids’ drawings. It came together nicely, had designated area, made my kids proud to have their work displayed and puts a smile on my face as I walk past. It is not a gallery wall for guests, but for us.
Your advice is spot on and helps this novice to avoid making disastrous mistakes because decorating doesn’t come naturally to me. Your candor, your frankness is refreshing. A person that is confident in what they advise does not need to mince words. Besides all of that you are very handsome. Thank you.
This is so timely and helpful! I am curating family photos for a gallery wall and never thought about texture. I will now add a rosemailed plate made for my inlaws to celebrate their anniversary, made in Norway by a family member and maybe a few other treasures that tell our story. I really hadn’t considered anything other than family photos until I watched this article.
I prefer one beautiful image – or maybe 3, lined up and similar in size – to a gallery wall. I just find it more peaceful to look at one image at a time. But also, I can see how difficult gallery walls are to do well and how they would appeal to many people. Your guidance is helpful for anyone who is planning such a wall.
Perfect timing! I’ve been repurposing frames for old family pictures. We formed a Facebook group and invited all the relatives we could find so we could share old photos. I now have beautiful family pictures from the 1800’s on up. The only changes I made to them was the I printed most in sepia tones since that was what many of them were anyway. I have dozens framed but haven’t worked up the courage to start hanging yet.
We have a gallery wall that goes up our stairs that is a collection of family photos through the years. My husband took the time to measure everything and I love the way it turned out. Not too busy but not too bare. We used the same size frames from our wedding as our “baseline” and then expanded out from there with different sizes, textures, and layouts. We planned it out with newspaper stencils of the frames before we hung a single nail.
Whew! Sigh of relief, I think I’ve done pretty well, based on these guidelines! I feel like I am fairly skilled at creating gallery walls now, I’ve done many, and at least in my opinion, they look very nice. I seem to have a knack for choosing the right pieces and arranging them well. I also like to lay out everything on the floor to get a visual of how the actual pieces will look in the arrangement I have in mind. Then use the pieces of brown paper taped on the wall to get the alignment correct, and you can put your hangers, nails, or whatever over the paper and tear the paper away when you are done for easy hanging!
I usually don’t like the dark wall thing but the one in your dining area works. I like how it contrasts with the kitchen giving it a real sense of separation and the way it looks from the white-walled sitting room. It also looks like it’s in a corner giving your eating area a sense of intimacy. The color and glow of the ceiling fixture warms up the space and plays nicely against the warm kitchen cabinetry and the warm woods in the living room. 👍🏾
I have a huge collection of original screen prints and paintings from other artists, as well as myself, that I dream of putting into a gallery wall, but I’ve always been so nervous about doing such because of how many poorly executed gallery walls I’ve seen. This article was really helpful in getting past that fear, though! You had some really great tips!
Great timing for this article! I’ve just spent an hour planning out my gallery wall for a wall in my new flat. I’m only guilty of one of the “don’ts”; I’m using mostly generic art. 😆 However, I’ve chosen each print carefully to work well together and with my colour scheme, as well as my personality, and I’ve stayed far away from anything I’ve seen elsewhere a million times. In the future I would love to incorporate some more personal pieces. For now I only have 3 “original” pieces out of 13 total (it’s a BIG wall). Ah well, I love every single piece and in the end that’s what matters most. Thanks for another great article! ☺️
I just found you, Nick, and I think it was a greater power who did that. I need about every bit of advice you give! I’ve been wanting to do something with some vintage postcards from my small town (black and white, 1900 era) and this collage concept has me interested. I’m always worried that a collage won’t stay perfectly even and will start to look sloppy when one frame tilts a bit.
Hi Nick, I really appreciate the helpful tips. I have inherited many of my mother’s paintings and tile as well as many very old family photos that hung so beautifully in my family home. Our family home was much larger with ample wall space to do everything justice. My Palm Desert home doesn’t have nearly the wall space necessary however, I do have vaulted ceilings. The conundrum is how not to overcrowd, not to hang too high, and not to hang these cherished items too close together, etc. Oh, how I wish you could pop in to lend a hand! 🙏 Overwhelmed!
I have a small home with 8 foot tall walls with a heat vent on most walls so I prefer one large piece or more often I prefer a blank wall over the cluttered feel of a gallery wall that IMO would not work for me. I agree most people have no good sense of scale or space. If I had a nickel for every room I’ve seen with art above a sofa starting about 4 feet above the sofa……ugh! Yes! Consider the whole wall not just the individual pieces. And I agree with the tip about making your wall personal and not just printing off the latest online art. Great tips!
When in a college apt- 4 boys 2 bedrooms (cheap and crowded), my son and his roomies bought every homely, framed family photos from thrift stores they could find and made an entire gallery of their “family” photos. Oddly enough, it looked great with all the buck toothed aunties and plump guys in fedoras. They had carefully planned the space. Your point worked even with those images.
great timing on this article.I have a ton of artwork that I am about to place all together due to very little wall space here. Great ideas! thanks. oh ALSO you could mention places for a gallery wall, since like me, some have limited areas in smaller houses: bathrooms, hallways, staircases, even high up in closets!
Great article. I have a couple of different places where I’m planning on putting up a grouping. Next up is my husband’s room for his calligraphy, journaling, music and so on. I asked him what he wanted in there and he said he wanted some items he picked up with his mother on the beach as a child. I’m hoping to mount them somehow and make an arrangement on the wall.
Wow!! I finished scaling my wall with brown tape and my eye kept helping me to change things to give good space while focusing on a balance of the whole wall. I did this not knowing I would see this article. I went with my gut and if it did not feel right, I changed things. It is not too high and reasonably pleasing to the eye. I have poster frames where I can update the wall by changing the art. I have macrame with wooden framed quotes and added small floating shelves as fillers, etc etc. I do not have everything up but have the tape holding the spaces.. as I find the right pieces. Looking forward to your bo ho article.
hahahaha! I have at least 3 gallery walls and tons of art not displayed yet – all personal. Gifted, from travels, and things I made. But I still owned the “Seen” IKEA bridge as the only thing on my wall for years when I was overseas and my stuff was in storage. It’s a peaceful view. But it went on the curb when I moved back, that’s for sure.
Thanks for sharing your views on how to setup a gallery tastefully.🤗 I love putting up photos of my kids, their weddings,my grandchildren and deceased great grandparents and great great grandparents😍🥰❤. Its my favourite spot in the 2nd lounge…I can sit there watch TV and gaze up at family and get joy and comfort from it. My husband hates it. Calls it my creepy place. Luckily he has his own lounge room or should say theatre room and has his creepy truck, 4WD and western memorabilia displayed untastefully in there to my thinking. So what I am saying is everyone to their own. I’ve shown him your ideas and guidelines and super surprisingly his gallery display has been tweaked and updated and looks almost as good as mine! Now its a work of art not a mess of junk.
Nick, I’m being a brat a making a general comment on your articles. Love them! Appreciate your point of view as an educated interior consumer. You do your research and I like that. You are practical! You present info in an entertaining way. My one tiny complaint/suggestion is…please please please drop the word “really” from your vocabulary. You use “really” whenever searching for an adjective. We all develop verbal habits that can be annoying. Really is yours.
Me sitting here like 😶 cuz i had a gallery walls in my old apartment that i just moved out of. Tbf it was of postcards from when i went backpacking through Europe and I only used the small walls where I couldn’t do anything with. I loved the walls and everyone who came over liked it, but that’s cuz postcards are all shaped the same-ish size so it’s easy to style them. I had even spacing between all the cards and balance out the portrait and landscape cards evenly. Also, it was a personal item/artifact and they looked better on the wall over being in a box.
A young professional couple I know have hung 2 entire living room walls, of their small apartment, with original art works from Morandi to Valerio Adami, ranging from medium size to extremely large. The other 2 walls are taken up with a huge window and a floor to ceiling white bookcase, stuffed with books, interspersed with a small antique desk. The room is finished with 2 charming Italian armchairs and a couch dating form the 1900’s. Upholstery is in a crushed raspberry shade of very discreet plush. Finishing touch, a very antique Persian carpet laid over parquet flooring. How does it look? Absolutely devine. It expresses their interests, their way of life, even their friends. It’s so personal, warm and inviting. I think break all the rules (like they have) do what you want….but do it with authority and a firm hand. No scaredy cat blob of colour and a timid little painting..go for it! And bonne chance!
Hi Nick! Truly love you articles- not just the content but you clear instruction and “can do” encouragement and spirit I would love to see you address floor to ceiling gallery walls or salon walls. I just finished one inspired by Gertrude Stein’s Paris apt– no original Picassos though! I am truly lucky. I live in a 100+ year old NYC apt with high ceilings and the wall is 21 foot in length. I have about 25 pieces. I think I did a good job, art from many eras and styles and varied shapes…and some custom works. I think its called maximalism? Wish I could have you over. You are great. Keep up the great inspiring work.
Very useful. I’m doing a gallery wall on all 4 walls of a small bathroom where I can’t repaint from the dark Chelsea Grey. I am making my own acrylic art pieces on different sizes of gallery wrap canvas. This should brighten the room which is only 30 sq ft and has a ten foot ceiling and will be easily changeable for next person.
My partner insists on keeping his framed degree displayed. It was there when I moved in, lol. The wall it’s on is perfect for a small gallery wall. He really wants to keep the degree up there. These tips have given me some ideas on how to incorporate and connect this to other art pieces. Well…I hope 😬
These are all fantastic tips, but sometimes you’ve just got to throw your hands up and say, “Screw it. It’s my house and this is what I like. Nobody else has to live in this space and I want to please me.” My husband and I have traveled all over the world and we have a lot of cool pieces. I’ve always adored those cluttered, overstuffed, floor-to-ceiling gallery walls and now that I have my house, I want it. With that said, there are tips in Nick’s articles (like this one) that can even make my personal gallery wall better. Like how high to start the art above the couch, leaving breathing room around the collection to frame the whole, planning the collection carefully, leaving about the same distance between pieces, and trying to keep a balance between the colors/textures of the individual pieces and the vibe of the room as a whole. So even if you’re doing the thing that is ill advised, that thing can still look SO much better than it would’ve. Thanks for helping me make my space the best it can be, Nick! I appreciate what you do.
You said “don’t use generic art” but then a lot of the “do” walls had art that looked incredibly bland and generic 😅 For example in the wall in the room with the piano and brass lamp, most of the prints look incredibly bland. One is literally 3 blobs of grey, framed. I’m guessing it was a catalogue photo?
I always look forward to your articles. Happy Thanksgiving! Are those three big prints of the two kids and the dog really a gallery wall? I don’t code them that way in my mind. I like the idea of adding in textures and of course, using art that has meaning. Those are great rules for decorating in general. Even the better gallery walls, though, still feel cluttered to me.
I have a super simple hallway Gallery Wall with family photos. I think maybe I put the frames a bit too close together. I like the idea of adding a mirror or something else, but the space isn’t big so I’ve got to be careful not to over crowd! I have a more minimal design esthetic anyway. I put a photo up in my Instagram story and tagged you! 😁
Love the idea of mapping it with paper and tape. It was really hard to do the large pictures on my stairwell where they were not all the same size and the wall is two stories at one end. I used the same artist (everybody loves Kincaid pinks/purples where all his art uses the same palette no matter what location he paints) so the colors combined and the frames/mats matched but it was hard getting the white space to balance. Also you view the art from many different angles like the landing above, and even the front door views the stairs so people notice it right away. The very long hallway was easy and I went with black and white large pictures with a lot of detail because there you are standing right next to the picture so complex scratch art drawings of wolves, polar bears and other wildlife worked great. Even those Xray photos of plants went with the complex black and white theme. The runner is turkish and very red. I like it but my sister is a minimalist and calls my style old fashioned which to me is French Provincial and not Danish Modern or what you call mid century (sorry I am old).
I just discovered you and i love your content! Short articles and to the point! Also very clear practical advice thats easy to understand! I have an idea for a article because i am struggling with this one: coat closet. Does it really only belong in the hallway,can we put in the living room because it makes more sense?? Thank you. Greetings from Belgium!
Hi 👋 I love your article. Thank you. I have a large vertical painting in the center of living room white wall behind a couch. I was planning on adding Ancient Greek plates on one side and adding two square box pictures (top/bottom) on the other side…. Does this go? I have traced an outline of them and shapes look good. I’m just wondering if what I’m hanging goes?
Im moving into a new townhome the end of the month and want to make a gallery wall starting with 3 watercolor paintings from Bermuda, they are special because the first one my grandmother bought in the 1950’s, the 2nd was one my mother bought in the 1960’s and the 3rd one I bought in the 1980’s . Im curious what other items/artwork would compliment the soft colors of the watercolor paintings
Interesting, I think I implemented a lot of these tips when doing my gallery type decorations ( spacing, color coordination, variation in size textures) in my entertainment room, even if we hung things piece by piece. I guess that’s the difference between adding elements of “design” to a truly eclectic home rather than adding an element of eclectic to a designer home! Hah
I kind of want to do something weird. I have a multi-photo frame in my room with fun greeting cards. It looks so happy, I might want more cards. I also like pictures of flowers and historical clothing, as well as the idea of framing pieces of fabric with cute prints. Would it be too weird to frame fabric or staple fabric to a form? Can I mix all of those, maybe with China plates? How about painting little patterns on frames?
Im glad I came across your article. I was often tempted to try it, but I was too afraid of ending up with a bunch of wholes around the frames : measure once, drill twice is usually my way of doing things because I get too hasty 😂😂😂 one day, with your advices in mind, I’ll take the time to do it right. I have one question though. What do you do when the angles in your home are not square? If you live in an older construction, door ways, ceiling, wall angles tend to be slightly crooked. Do you try to line up with the closest or most obvious line? do you level everything and forget about the rest? or do you simply avoid any square frame and only use round art 😂 I guess one could try to make it further away from the litigious angles, to make it less obvious, but it might not fit the space or force you to scale down…
Nick, PLEASE tell us how to do a gallery wall up a staircase. We have one of all our travel and I have difficulty adding to it. It’s full now, but wondered just how far up we can go. We have a short landing (about 5 steps up) and then it turns and goes up the stairs to another landing and then turns again for a few more steps.
This was super helpful although I’m still not totally confident I can pull it off. I lost recently lost my female dog 46 days ago and her brother passed in 2017. I’m going to be doing a couple larger shadowboxes with some of her most cherished awards and plan on placing them on a smaller entryway wall all by themselves. On another wall, I would like to do a gallery/memorial wall of fun pictures of both of them. I have a 12×12 matted to 8×8 portrait of both of my dogs. I also have approximately 8 qty 5x7s in matted 8×10 frames. All frames are black which I believe kind of ties in with my household. I would assume I would use a more symmetrical design around the 12×12 giving them 3 to 4 inches between. Would that be appropriate or should I rethink my idea? I really enjoyed your article. Thank you.
Thank you for making this article. I have been buying art that speaks to me and realized that they follow a specific ‘theme’ and would be so cool to showcase together; however, the frames that highlight the art are not cohesive together. For example, one is a modern black floating frame while another is rustic wood. HELP!
Hi! I’m really enjoying your articles! Do you ever give specific advice, I have a challenging living room situation. What’s to be done with living room walls that have windows, but with uneven wall space between…? For example, in length, west facing 3 ft wall to 3ft window, then 5 foot wall ending in corner, then north facing 4 ft wall leads to 3 ft window, then 4 ft wall leads to front door. So there is a large corner where the west 5ft wall meets the north 4 ft wall. It doesn’t feel right to frame the windows with art on either sides bc the wall length is so uneven. Would a corner gallery wall work? Or what do you recommend in a situation like this? I prefer minimal, mcm design. Thank you:)
Maybe folks here can help me… I’m really into music and have collected dozens of concert posters over the years (most around 24×17 inches). I have many of them framed and hung in the living room, bedroom, and even the bathroom. My problem is I have SO MANY that are sitting on a shelf because I have run out of space (they are currently all spaced about six inches apart in a single row). What I’m considering is to take all of them out of the frames and use them as wall paper on one huge living room wall. Not sure the best way to adhere those yet, but I have done staples in the past (right onto the drywall – which works much better than you’d think). What are YOUR thoughts on this project??? Thanks for ay advice!
Nick, can you do one on those tall ceiling new builds! The place itself is kind of small but the ceiling is up to 2nd floor. Friends and family do art but I’ve complained they are small sizes always. Hence little gallery wall. I’ve thought of putting objects or baskets, fabric art up there.. Huge blank prominent nothing up there. I’m also in earthquake country so don’t want stuff falling on us!
You should collaborate with Allana Davidson. She and her finance bought a house and moved back home to Vancouver (or suburb close to Vancouver) and they are struggling with their entryway and living room! She is a really really nice woman and you both could benefit from it 🙂 Basically you need to tell her that she NEEDS an bigger rug (right now she has this typical small rug just under the coffee table thing going, see in her latest vöog) It would be so so cool 🙂
I think people often end up with unintentional gallery walls because they have a lot of art/photos/whatever and only so much wall space. Instead of trying to make their resulting gallery walls look better, what if they selected a few pieces they enjoy looking at right now, stored the rest, and switched them out occasionally (or seasonally)? (And eventually, Marie-Kondo the stuff that they never feel like taking out of storage.)
I love the website. I love you. So, I feel like a butt saying this on the page, but I couldn’t find how to notify you privately. I really enjoyed the vid today but every time it came back to you my eye went directly to that little blue vase on the media center. Me thinks it is too little. Should be much bigger, round, keep the color AND those twigs in the vase gotta go. Loved everything else : )
I plan to make a gallery wall with the covers from my record collection like your example at 11:07. I don’t have that much budget and I don’t really want to have too much stuff (kind of a fan of minimalism) so it seems to me the ideal solution to have my music collection double as wall art. That being said, I also have a lot of books (especially art books) and so I would like to make a library wall too, but I find it very difficult to decorate my bookshelves in a stylish way. It quickly looks quite busy and untidy. If you have any advice for that, I’d love to hear it.
Ok. I’ll be very honest. Our home is coming together and starting to look really nice. However, I have a ton of transformers from my childhood I would like to display in a way that flows with a Mid-Century/eclectic aesthetic. I get decorating with collections that are variations on the same patterns but is there a way to decorate with items that have very little color or pattern repetition?
When I started traveling a couple years ago I decided to buy a postcard from each place I went to. I was pretty careful to alternate between vertical and horizontal photos, so I could put them all together in a gallery wall… Two and a half years later, I have well over 100 postcards on the corner walls of my bedroom, and I’m a little unsure what to do moving forward. Should I call it quits and put them all in a massive scrapbook or let the cards invade other rooms?
So I have 2 walls (that meet each other) to hang art because everything else is an open floor plan, windows, the TV over the fireplace, or built-ins. The problem is my biggest wall for art is half interrupted by the stairs coming down and the sectional that curves around that wall, the center is just a few inches shy of where the staircase interrupts. Is there a way I can create a gallery wall and tie the couch to the table that is likely at the end and frame them together due to that staircase? I plan on doing one large piece on the wall that intersects with it (by the table at the end of the couch) as that is a smaller wall to contract the gallery type mosaic I want to do on the other (like your bluer art collection example). Help? Everything says center art over couch but that means no art at all b/c of staircase or 5″ wide piece/pieces of art on a 9 ft wall which wouldn’t look good either.
For almost all spaces i Like big pieces of Art instead of a Gallery Wall. Anyway, i did a Gallery Wall in my son’s room. Since His room ist full of Like bright reds, greens, Blues and yellows. His room ist colorful an fun, i used diffrent frames in those bright colors, but also some neutrals with Selfmade Art.
I always have had a gallery wall as a “wall of memory” which i fill with things that hold memories for me. If there is an item like a poem someone wrote for me, a postcard i got or a drawing i made or whatever, i add it to the wall. So the longer i live at a certain place the more items are added. If i find an item which does not hold any memory anymore i take it of and rearange the rest of the pieces so that the hole is filled up again. It is completely disorganised and on first sight it does not fit together at all but because it is purely my style it fits in with the rest of my space almost by definition and is a great conversation starter since i can tell a story about every single piece. Therefore i would say that you dont really have to plan out your gallery, but you should look at it critically and if you change something you have to be ready to change the rest of the gallery as well.
So I’m a weirdo and would like to ask. My artwork is hanged up very high. I have a high ceiling but I’ve left no empty space where it looks weird at least to me. My question is would it be okay to hang the artwork high in my case since I’m not leaving any wall space. I can send article. I’ve never have shown my space to anyone that I don’t know but I’ve always wondered if it is as special as I think it is.
Barn sales and thrifting are a good place to find some fun things that give you the feel you might be searching for for certain gallery wall styles without being from Hobby Lobby. I would also strongly urge people to consider hiring an independent artist if they do want some quote style art. There are lots of fun ways to pay homage to something you love… like a certain song… your wedding vows… etc without it being just printed on a canvas. I’ve seen beautiful art made using the colors from a wedding and the sound waves from the harmony of the first dance song… I’ve seen paintings done using the imagery of the words in a favorite song or poem. Be creative and don’t be afraid to reach out to independent artists and art students… just don’t try to short change them either.
When I designed my gallery wall I actually took measurements of the wall (the space is 9 feet wide) and diagrammed my layout on a large sketchbook page. I treated every foot as an inch to keep it to scale, and worked out different configurations. After I had the wall finished visitors would ask how I did it, and I would just pull out my sketchbook with the notes and measurements. A common reaction was “ew, Math” and “nope”. LOL, maybe they would prefer to use the painter tape and paper method. That is pretty ingenious, imo.
I think you said this, but maybe you didn’t say it clearly enough. Gallery walls MUST have a variety of frame sizes. Those last examples you showed, where all the frames were identical and hung in a grid…I personally don’t consider that a “gallery wall” (but it was beautiful). That example is the hardest to implement because the frames are exactly the same, must be hung exactly level and exactly the same distance apart…just hanging two pictures level is hard enough. But in a lot of your “bad” examples, the mishmash of frames were all the same size! So of course they just look higgledy-piggledy scattered all over the wall. I think you need at least one large thing to “ground” the composition, and then move out from there.
Wow, the “bad” gallery walls are breathe personality and enthusiasm of the people who put them together while the “good” thought-out examples all look like walls in IKEA xD I like the kind of the design advice that makes a space more convenient, but this sort of design tends to pull towards uniform and impersonal – while claiming to support personality. Every time a designer says “you can add some colour!’D” and then shows a drab interior with some brass and navy/dark green walls xD
All the ones you think are unplanned are AWESOME! They’re eclectic and personal; everywhere you look is something new for the eye. 1:27 is amazing. So is 3:03. Maximalism suits some of us. You’re suggesting that everyone plan out a generic, well-spaced gallery wall. These walls are going to be on the “don’t do” lists of ten years from now. There’s nothing wrong with those walls if that’s what you like, but there’s nothing original, fun, or eclectic about them. They’re bog standard.
I’m typically not a fan of gallery walls as I prefer 1 big picture that’s more easily seen from a distance. However, on the hallway connecting the bedrooms, I do like to create a gallery of family pictures. But again 8X10 is preferably the smallest I go with. For me personally, I find small gallery pictures too cluttering….too much frame not enough image.
Imma just do what I want and not care what you think. I really like that bathroom that’s ” over crowded” that he hates. I’m tryna be a maximalist over here. I never plan I just put stuff up as I go. I do however use lots of shapes and sizes and only use the top half of the wall ( I put up chair rails) don’t use the same frame on all of them cuz that’s boring. But yeah do leave space around the outside, also I don’t like a “everything is spaced the same” look cuz again too boring and planned out looking
I was traumatized, when I saw the gallery walls people are doing as professionals and posting here on Youtube. No grid or any composition in sight. They do stick the papers on the wall … but it doesn’t help anything, if your not paying attention to the proportions and just trying to fit a bunch of stuff on the wall.
My first gallery wall was a collection of family diplomas. I work in higher education and seeing them all together impacts me with so much gratefulness for what the generations before me accomplished. One is a law degree, a medical degree, a nursing degree, an honor society certificate. I’m not as fancy as all that so it gives me strength I have this in my family tree.
Altough I quite liked some of your tips here I strongly disagree on the idea of planing it out before hand. My Approach is to buy each art pice one at a time, with authentic ones beeing allways more desirable than a cheap print. Than hang each pice where you can enjoy it the easyest. Make shure to hang each pice as an point of intrest in its own right and if your wall grows togheter to Form a gallery over the years than thats fine.
I think that gallery walls are like colour preferences or actual art. Some people are going to love a certain style others aren’t. I personally think a gallery in the home should probably have a little of that haphazard “had no idea what I was doing” vibe and there should be actual pictures of the people family and friends that live there otherwise I think It’s pretentious af. So many “art” prints are up just because they are easy rather than liked or they are too busy trying to impress visitors rather than the occupants… that’s how a home ends up looking like a showroom or display home rather than an actual home.
Oh No! I am an architect and can say with absolute confidence any store-bought decor item should be trashed or donated. The absolute last thing you want to put on your wall, furniture, countertop etc…is something that looks like it came from Hobby Lobby, Your home should tell a story about you. Pictures of family, friends, places you’ve traveled, items you’ve collected or purchased at auction/antique store. You don’t want your house to look like a magazine spread. If your friends bypass your living room and head straight to the kitchen, you need to redecorate!
Maybe this fading home decor trend should be called an “anti-gallery” wall, with the random themes, sizes, genres and placements in so many of the excellent examples in the article including the “do’s.” Actual galleries don’t organize their walls this way. How about just one amazing oversize art piece, or a woven textile such as an vintage rug, quilt or tapestry, or a large mirror to bounce light around or make the wall look more like a window? Supporting the work of a local artist or craftsman could be less expensive and more rewarding than putting up a lot of mass-produced art in mass-produced frames churned out in overseas factories.
If you are going to have art in your home, you may as well display something you love and is meaningful to you. I believe a cluster of art only dilutes the individual pieces unless they work together instead of competing for your attention. A family photo montage is best displayed in your personal space like a bedroom unless you have some tastefully done nudes, then that can be o.k.
you mention generic art i this article and this si something that really bothers me, because i only own art that i like and want to look at. i see people with gallery walls that look like display homes, and yes they look nice but but its all filled with bland boring in my opinion dumb art. that said the art i like is art i actually like and it is all over the place and i wonder how to make it all work together. on a very similar note i see a lot of people that have entire book cases filled with generic books that they bought based solely on size and color, they have an entire book case filled with books they will never read and the whole thing is just a decoration. again all my books are books i want and own because of the content of the book, but when looking at my book case i think these books really are all over the place in size and color and texture and material. so i have really mixed feelings on it. but i want books a guest may come over and want to look at as opposed to some random book on tax preparation or something that was chosen simply because it is a certain shade of some color.
Again, I think you are being too prescriptive or vague. Maybe just not considering the 400 level design. The overcrowded wall you show in the airy condo is hideous. The wall is heavy but completely ungrounded in what looks like a sunny seaside condo. However, the overcrowded wall in the powder room is an amazing statement. It harkens to an English country house or robber baron mansion, where decades to centuries of acquisition means that they had so much stuff they just needed to put it somewhere. The uniform scale of all of the items shows the design intent. If the art is curio oriented—old prints, silohuettes, daguerreotypes, pinned insects like butterflies—all the better. Also powder rooms and small hallways are enclosed defined spaces where you can have fun or make a statement in a contained but otherwise forgotten space. The biggest travesty I. That powder too. Is the white porcelain toilet paired with the stainless steel sink.
I normally love your articles, but this instruction seems totally pointless considering that one obtains the pieces over a long period of time, and keeps adding them so, and you cannot know in advance the shapes and sizes unless you keep them in a closet until you have more pieces to put up there at once. I think the way to go is to START well, i.e. put a DOMINANT piece in the middle, if you know you will love it forever and ever, and then keep surrounding it in a SOMEWHAT planned fashion, i.e. do your best, but it will never look as good as if the whole thing was planned as an exhibition put up all at once. And for what it’s worth, I think the wall at 3:05, bearing the red x, is very much planned and considered.