Creating a gallery wall

My decorating style around my home is pretty simple and straight forward. I don’t usually do large gallery walls that contain a lot of pictures and items. It feels too cluttered to me. I have seen beautiful gallery walls, but for the most part I like hanging one large item, or sets of items on the wall, and call it good.

I hung large pictures along my hallway wall. All lined up and straight forward. Hanging large pictures on large walls helps fill up the space, and keeps the wall interesting without looking cluttered.

I also like to fill up wall spaces with large architectural items. This old door not only adds interest, but fills up the wall space nicely.

I look for large vertical pieces that fill up wall from the top to the bottom.

So when my daughter said she wanted a gallery wall above her bed, I had to adjust my thinking a bit. She found smaller pieces she wanted, and she wanted them all hung together. So we went to work.

First, even though everything doesn’t match, there needs to be a level of cohesiveness to the objects. We decided that we would use wood frames, gray frames, and white frames. The colors would be soft, and nothing would stand out.

Second, I wanted to add layers of textures along with just pictures. We added a wreath, for some 3D effect, the wand holder, and made the fun hooks that hang her glass plant containers.  There is also a lot of different textures. There is wood, fabric, metal, greenery, and glass. This helps makes the wall look interesting, not boring.

Third, look for frames, mirrors, objects that have different shapes. I have circles, rectangles, squares… I even hung a frame as a diamond shape. Placing the round clock in the rectangle frame also added a bit of interest and whimsy.

Last, always work with odd numbers when decorating. I have seven things hung on the large wall, and there are three plant hangers. Just a basic rule of thumb, grouping things in odd numbers is more pleasing to the eye.

I loved how this wall turned out. It was fun to stretch my creativity and do something that my daughter really loves. I still prefer hanging large pieces on walls, but this gallery wall is perfect for a teen’s bedroom.