I love gallery walls! In fact, I have several different types of gallery walls in my home. Some are photo walls that are nicely arranged images of the same size and color and others are perfectly imperfect like the one in our kitchen. This type of gallery wall intimidates a lot of people, but if you let yourself loosen up a bit, anyone can create a fun and original eclectic gallery wall. Here are my tips!
- Gather: Round up a bunch of items you want to include in your gallery wall. You can include just pictures but I think it’s fun to add objects to give the gallery some dimension and variety. When finding items to put together I try to look for things with similar colors so that it looks like a curated assortment. In my example, I have some art, including a framed Boulevard Brewing poster from a friend and the 3 framed vegetable images that I found at a thrift store. I also have items I inherited from my Grandma; some antique kitchen tools and a few things she hand painted. Other items include; a candle sconce, captain’s mirror, a bottle opener, and some little birds made from seedpods that I got from uncommongoods.com. I love that everything on the wall has a story and sentimental value.
- Think about size: You want to include things in a variety of sizes. If everything is really small it looks crowded and underwhelming and if everything is big it lacks variety. Try to find different sized items so that you can create a balanced, eclectic arrangement.
- Think about shape: In addition to size, you should think about variety in shape to add interest. You’ll notice I have frames, as well as circle elements and oddly shaped items. This is what gives you a feel that looks random but still put together. This is not your perfectly aligned gallery wall of the same size images, which is a beautiful thing, but another tutorial for another day.
- Arrange: One trick is to arrange things on the floor before hanging them. When you start placing items you should play around with different arrangements until you find what works. I like to think of it as a puzzle. You want to look at the shapes and balance them. You don’t want all of the smaller items on one side and the bigger items on the other; that would look unbalanced. You also don’t want all of the rounded items on one side and square items on the other. It’s all about trying different things until you find what works.
- Don’t try to be perfect: You want this to look arranged but not perfectly aligned so don’t try to align things too much or you’ll end up frustrated. It’s ok for one item to hang a little lower than another and to have a little blank space here and there. This is where you get to break some design rules, so have fun with it!
These are my tips for creating an eclectic gallery wall. I hope you found some useful information and decide to tackle one of your own. It’s a great conversation piece and adds so much character to your home. If you liked this post, pin the image below and don’t forget to follow eddyandpine on social media to get updates on the latest posts.
