I LOVE looking at photos! Whether I’m in a good or a bad mood, looking at happy memories always puts a smile on my face! Every house that we’ve lived in had a gallery wall and every time they look a little different. The one we just completed in our current home is my favorite yet! I thought I’d share my easy and fun process for designing a gallery wall.
- Visualize what you want. Do you want uniformed or more of a collage of different sizes?
2. Plan the space. This means measuring the space, looking up frame sizes, etc. Don’t just buy the same number of frames and the same sizes that someone else has because every space is different- the wall size, the ceiling height, the colors in the room, etc. Like I said, every gallery wall that I’ve done looks different because every space is different.
3. Cut out frame sizes with paper or cardboard. I recommend cutting different sizes out and taping them on the wall with painter’s tape. You will be surprised at how different a space can look once you do this! For this house, I thought I wanted less frames but bigger sizes but after cutting everything out and putting it up, it just didn’t look right! I thought we would need about 9 frames but turns out that I needed 15. I was way off! We ended up with fifteen 11×14 frames.
- Order the frames. I ordered mine through Golden State Art, I had a great experience! The website was easy to use with plenty of options, it was very reasonably priced, shipping was fast, and the frames are BEAUTIFUL! These are the frames I got (15 of them). Golden State Art was so kind to provide a 10% off code for you, use AOTM10 for 10% off your order.
- Select the photos and colors you want. I always try to go with a variety: family pictures, pictures of the kids individually, a wedding picture, vacation pictures, etc. I always order a few more than I plan to use so that I have extras in case I want to rotate them. I also make sure my photos all are similar colors, I don’t want any pictures that are too bright or dark that will stand out. Also, you have to decide if you want color or black and white. This is the first house we’ve had a color gallery wall and I love it! In the past, I didn’t know how to edit photos so it was easier to do black and white because they all flowed together. Now, I just try to ensure they all have similar presets.
- Hang them and organize!! Now the exciting part, organize your photos how you want them before you hang them.
And then you’re done! I love how it turned out!
I hope your gallery wall makes you smile as much as mine does! Don’t forget to use AOTM10 for 10% off your order. 🙂
This is beautiful!! I’ve always loved how you decorate.
Aww, thank you so much!
Perfection. So many photo walls look cluttered and honestly stress me out. This one has the wow factor. I might order the same ones in a different size.
Thank you, that means a lot! Let me know how it goes for you!
This is a gorgeous photo gallery. I tend to not like photo walls because they appear messy or not scaled to the wall dimensions. Your photo wall is perfectly scaled to floor, door openings and ceiling, which makes it look so beautiful. The frames are great for the photos because they are simple. The white frame and matt highlight your colorful family photos. Your photo gallery inspires me to try this and your step by step instructions are very helpful.
Thank you so much, Laurie!! I was really happy it turned out how I pictured! 🙂
Where do you print your photos at?
Mpix 🙂
Oh and what presets do you use?
Lately, I haven’t been using them. I use Lightroom and edit them by hand because I take a lot of photos with my camera and not my phone.
The colors in this are so nice. Simple but elegant frames and then the photos in color make it feel like a happy family lives there.
Thank you so much! I love how it turned out. I almost did black and white pictures but I’m so glad I didn’t.
This is absolutely gorgeous! Perfect
Thank you, Mika!