I’ve always thought I’m someone who doesn’t put things on walls. I see so many amazing packed to the brim walls on Instagram and feel as though mine must look so bare in comparison. It’s partly an issue with never really finishing a space because I struggle sometimes with lacking creativity and ideas for a gallery wall.
The other day though I realised that actually, these displays can take on so many different formats. It doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s does and once I started looking round our home, I discovered fewer blank spaces than I thought. If you’re stuck in a creative rut, here’s 5 ideas for a gallery wall showing how to be less blank and more bold:
The Organisational Gallery Wall
Sometimes we can be too wedded to the idea that only pictures can go on a wall whereas in reality it can be any medium. Our kitchen is super short on space but we did have this blank wall to the left as you come in through the door. We also often don’t see our kitchens as being a place where we can inject personality, since the functionality element overrides.
But what about creating a space that is organised AND fun? I gave the gallery wall a twist in our small kitchen recently by adding a couple of prints, a couple of accessories and using hooks to create some much needed extra storage. Organising needn’t be boring!
The Big Gallery Wall
It’s not always about having lots and lots of hangings to pad out your design. If you have a fairly large wall area that won’t be too overwhelmed with a bit of ahem *size matters* try going BIG! I recently worked on a collaboration with Posterlounge and decided that I didn’t want two identical gallery walls in our living room in terms of design, so created a super-sized look instead.
For me this look works best if you’re sticking to a similar design for your prints. The three I chose were all travel-related from the same artist – trying to mix and match when you’re using larger prints won’t always work like it does with a collection of smaller items. And remember the “general” rule of collecting in odd numbers, 3,5,7 etc. Although as I’ll go on to explain, it really IS a very general rule…
The Themed Gallery Wall
You don’t always have to follow the rule of “evens” when it comes to creating your wall feature. Depending on the space you have, a collection of 2, 4 or 6 works just as well. When I gave our dining room a revamp, we bought a new cupboard to keep our stash of soft drinks in (not booze, honestly 😉) and I gave it a bit of an art deco paint job to make it more than just another old IKEA grey unit.
Since it’s our bar cart/trolley/drinks cabinet area and is set back into an alcove beside the fireplace, I decided to theme the prints I hung and chose 4 vintage-style alcohol adverts from the 1920s/1930s to tie in with the art deco upcycle of the cupboard. A collection of 4 prints here actually works better than 3 or 5 would have done.
The Memories Gallery Wall
One of the things that’s always put me off hanging pictures is I didn’t just want to do what everyone else was doing (can we say Aquarius much?!) There are so many great places to source prints from but it just doesn’t feel very original and whilst I know that trends come and go, I wanted to hang something with a bit of a story to tell that actually has meaning for us.
I’ve written more in depth about this particular gallery wall but this is where for me any size/style/colour of frame really works because we had quite a few pieces to collate together. I knew that matching all frames to be the same colour would feel a little too oppressive so went for a mix of white, black and wood and honestly it makes me SO happy.
The Practical Gallery Wall
Ok you’ll have to suspend disbelief for this one because a shelf, two prints and a hanging planter doesn’t really constitute a gallery wall but stay with me. One of the wonders of coming across so many brilliant interiors accounts is how much inspiration there is to be found. I’ve seen everything hanging on walls from bikes to lego sculptures to guitars. You name it, many items can be wall-mounted these days.
So in the spirit of wanting to find a new eating spot for Boo which didn’t involve using the dining room table anymore, we repurposed a couple of book shelves from our old book case, painted them and fitted them to the wall. Add a couple of prints and a hanging spider plant which doesn’t need too much attention and it just goes to show that you have a practical space which doesn’t need to be boring.
I hope this has given some inspiration if you’re looking for ideas for a gallery wall in your own home, I’ll be working on a new wall feature in the dining room later this summer so stay tuned!
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