One of the things that always makes a new space feel like home is adding personality by hanging art on the virgin walls. Though some pieces (and some walls) are destined to be an individual focal point, larger walls allow for the creation of an gallery wall that brings together a multitude of pieces into one large art installation. If you want to create a gallery wall for your home, then read on!
Photo 1: This wall is on the right when you walk into my living room and is the largest expanse of window-free wall in the room. I tried a variety of different pieces in the space but each one was simply too small and looked lost on the wall, so I knew that a gallery wall was the best way to add some interest to this blank canvas.
Photo 2: Because I pick up pieces of art when I travel, I have an array of sizes, colors and themes which can make for a disorganized look. My solution to bring order to the chaos is to frame most of my art in black— different frames and widths, but one color. Though this is a matter of purely personal preference, that common framing gives the finished product a polished look.
Photo 3: Laying out the art on the floor at the foot of the empty wall makes it easier to picture how it will look on the wall as well as providing some guidance on how the final installation will fit. If you have spare newspaper or butcher paper you can make a mock up of each piece to actually tape onto the wall, but I confess I am too impatient to ever make that work. I decided to space each piece 1-inch from the pieces around it — a decision I reached by moving things around on the floor until I was happy.
Photo 4: Though this can be a one-person project, having my husband around to help certainly made it go faster. I built the arrangement out from the center piece (the harlequin), measuring the placement of each piece as we went along. I actually just eyeballed the placement of the initial piece, but measuring is probably a better idea as I was a few inches off the floor layout (which is why the final installation is a little different than the initial layout on the floor).
Photo 5: The wall is really taking shape at this point with the largest pieces in place. I wavered a bit with the last few pictures, trying out different positions before settling on the one I liked best.
Photo 6: The finished product is everything I had hoped for and more. This formerly blank corner is now a focal point that attracts the attention of everyone who enters. The organic shape also means I can eaily add to the wall as I find new pieces for my collection. All in all, this project took about 4 hours, time well spent in my opinion (though my long-suggering husband may have a different opinion!)
If you have a gallery wall in your home, please share your tips for a successful project in the comments below.
Images: Colleen Quinn
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I recently did a gallery wall in our house. I measured all my pieces and then did the layout in Google sketchup. This way you can measure exactly where each nail needs to be placed so that the spacing between all the pieces can be exact, if you want it to be.
And I don't think that is a drop ceiling. Looks like lattice mounted to a drywall ceiling??
What a lovely job! Nice, well balanced and interesting. Gallery walls are one of my favorite ways of displaying art if they are done well. This one is!
Neat trick I learned on some website - using a paint stirrer picked up at the paint store for free - nail a nail toward the bottom - hold the stirrer hanging the artwork up against the wall where you want it, remove art, hold nail in place to mark a hole... hammer new nail in - next..
rr90027 - that's a great tip! I often manage to mess up nail holes even when I think I've measured perfectly (to remedy this I started using 3M velcro to hang pictures)
biggygreg and rr90027, thanks!
Thanks for the tip of planning it out on the floor first! Doh, why didn't I think of that!? Art is very personal, and maybe it's not perfectly homogeneous, or 100% balanced, but art doesn't always match the sofa. I actually think hanging a collection is a nice way to include pieces that you may not like but are obligated to hang. My boyfriend has a couple of those, and I incorporate them into my similarly hung collection and they kind of "disappear". It's great.
rr90027- what a great tip!
The ceiling is...inexplicable. The dropped part you see is the duct work for the central air that was added after the house was built. The rest of the ceiling is wood strips nailed into concrete to create a grid pattern- no idea why!
I have more art to frame and so am sure the left side will fill out in the coming months; I'll be sure to post new pictures when that happens.
Why put everything so close together, especially on that what looks to be large wall?
My eye bounces all over the place and I can't appreciate any particular image.
@mtlyorel -- Why not swap for one big painting? Maybe because some of us collect art we love and then want to look at it, rather than buying something new to fit a space...
I like the overall display, but I think I'd have gone for more like a 3 inch spacing -- you reduce the "cohesiveness" that makes everything work together as a unit, a little bit, but it tends to give a bit more breathing space.
I also like to incorporate a couple of oddly shaped things (circles like mirrors or plates or sunbursts or 3-d floral swags, maybe) in groupings like this, for similar reasons.
My favorite wall display!
The Designer Insider
http://thedesignerinsider.blogspot.com/2008/10/wall-displays-mix-it-up.html
this is terrific - we can't tell you how many times customers ask about A) how to do this, and B) do all the frames have to be the same? We emphatically tell them no - each frame should suit each piece. This is a great example of that fact and it came out looking awesome. Thanks for posting!
I'm with you mtlyorel, unless this look is done exceptionally well and with individually exceptional pieces, it can look cluttered and messy. Personally, I prefer order. But, my DW has one of these salon-style walls in her office. Each to his or her own. If you love it, go for it.
p.s to SherryBinNH, using a large large spectacular pieces doesn't necessarily mean "buying something new to fit a space." Pieces of all sizes can be collected. By the time you add up the cost of all those little random pieces, you probably could have invested in a piece of good art from a local artist.
I like the idea, but I too would like to see a little more space in between the pictures. It also looks very top heavy because that trunk is relatively small and that little think to the right of the trunk is just out there by itself. It seems to need something longer on the bottom, like a credenza. It also looks right side heavy. All the pictures are jammed together on the right side of a long wall, and the left side is blank.
I have a hard time with gallery style displays because it drives me nuts when the frames aren't absolutely equally spaced and parallel to their neighbors.
looks great...add on (more frames) !!
ALWAYS LAY OUT ON THE FLOOR FIRST - 3 hours later you will be ready to start nailing Do what makes you happy and not what you think others will like and AT will think is COOL Express the inner YOU
Now the left side looks bad....I'd rather spread out the art a little. It looks way too crammed in.