A Step-by-Step Guide for Creating a Beautiful Gallery Wall with Your Favorite Art
- DecorRefresh
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
After downsizing two years ago, my hubby and I knew that our new open-plan home didn't have sufficient wall space to display all our favorite pictures and wall art. In addition, we didn't want to store, sell, or donate the bulk of our collection! We did, however, have a large wall area around the staircase and some additional wall spaces in our basement. Our solution was to create three gallery walls (starting with the staircase gallery) to showcase the majority of our art. Read this step-by-step guide on how to create a beautiful gallery wall with your own favorite art!
Gallery 1: Staircase Gallery
While some elements of the staircase gallery wall design needed minor adjustments, the biggest challenge was climbing a tall ladder in certain areas and using appropriate fixings to hang the art. We followed the steps below to design our galleries, but please keep in mind that the following tips are based on our experience and may not be applicable to everyone.
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Product Sources: Matisse Art Prints (11 in x 14 in) | Black Frame 16 in x 20 in (matted to 11 in x 14 in) | Framed Art Print Eastern Tales Birds II
Step 1. Measure the Wall Space for Your Gallery
We began by precisely measuring the height and width of the area where we planned to hang our artwork. Our intention was for the gallery to begin approximately 3 feet above each step and align with the angle of the banister around the staircase. I envisioned the gallery not covering the entire wall and being somewhat angled. Who knows, we might add more art in the future, and we have the space to accommodate it!
Step 2. Use Painter's Tape to Replicate Your Gallery Space on the Floor
The next step involved transferring all the measurements to our living room floor by using painter's tape to outline the gallery area. In the picture below, you can see the steeper angle at the bottom and the gentler angle at the top. The gray sofa is a proxy for where the wall met the ceiling.
Step 3. Design Your Gallery on the Floor
At this point, we gathered all the wall art we had and propped them up against the walls around the room. I then arranged the art in the gallery space, beginning with a vibrant piece in the center and expanding outward, aiming to maintain no more than a 3-inch gap between the pieces horizontally. The vertical gap occasionally exceeded 3 inches, but it looked fine when considering the design as a whole. It was a little like working on a jigsaw puzzle. It needed numerous 'tweaks' until I was fully satisfied with the overall design!
Most of our frames are black, with a few in gold and bronze. I arranged them so that the black frames weren't always placed next to each other, and the same applied to the gold frames. I also selected pieces from our collection that align with a 'nature' theme. Each piece evokes a memory of a specific place and time. For instance, the green frog on the pink background is a photo I took during a vacation many years ago, serving as a delightful memento of our trip!
Step 4. Take Photos of Your Design As You Progress
I took numerous photos throughout the design process. These were invaluable for the 'tweaking' stage, allowing me to 'undo' any element that didn't quite fit the space or didn't harmonize with the surrounding art. Additionally, the photos helped in visualizing the overall 'big' picture and imagining how it would appear when installed on the staircase wall.
Step 5. When Happy With Your Design, Measure Between Pieces
This step is very helpful for transitioning your design from the floor to the wall. On a blank sheet, you can recreate your design and note the measurements between each piece and its adjacent ones. Although you can make minor adjustments when hanging your art on the wall, knowing the ideal distance between the artwork beforehand will save you a lot of time and effort!
Step 6. Start Hanging Art on the Wall
We used a little giant ladder to hang the higher pieces of art. It is invaluable when working on the stairs, whether it be hanging art, or painting the walls!
Step 7. Enjoy Your Gallery and Start Planning the Next One!
After we finished our staircase gallery we still had more pieces of wall art that had a somewhat 'musical' theme. We still had too many to store, so we started to plan our next two galleries on two walls in the basement. Below is the finished staircase gallery, although we have since changed a few pieces.
Gallery 2: Gallery Above Record Player Cabinet
As before, the first task was to measure the area of the gallery wall space, extending to about 10 inches below the ceiling, and 7 inches away from the walls on either side. The challenge here was to mix a few small pieces with some larger horizontal ones. I love the pop of color from the musical instrument pieces.
Many of the frames below were custom ordered from American Frame. They offer an excellent range of mat boards and frames, and I can personally vouch for the quality of their products. On several occasions, I changed the mat board color to better align with the overall design. I also replaced the old backing paper and hanging hardware. YouTube has numerous tutorials on how to update frames and mat boards, and complete them with suitable backing paper for a professional finish.
Below is the finished gallery on the wall. When art is structured in a symmetrical form, such as the square design below, yet includes elements of different sizes and colors, it becomes a canvas in its own right.
Product Sources: Custom 3D Wood Sign | Third Man Theme Song Sheet | Cambridge Audio TT50 Turntable | PSB Bookshelf Speakers | Crosley Furniture Everett Media Console
Gallery 3: Gallery Above Office Desk
In some ways, the wall above my hubby's office desk was the most challenging space because of the larger blank canvas, and also because I wanted to include as many of the remaining art pieces that we possessed. So, using the step-by-step method for design, we measured the area and then started to place the artwork on the floor.
This space turned out to be larger than the art we were planning to hang, so we began searching for more art to both balance the design and infuse it with more vibrant colors. Luckily, my mother-in-law, an artist of beautiful landscapes, had gifted us several paintings that were both vibrant and perfectly matched the overall design. I incorporated these paintings, along with two 3-D shadow boxes and a clock, to finish the design.
Alongside the new elements, I needed to re-frame several pieces due to their outdated mat board colors and frame designs. I swapped the old-fashioned frames with ones I purchased from Target and Amazon. The mat boards required custom sizing, so I ordered them from American Frame. Below is the completed gallery wall.
Product Sources: Origami Butterflies | Spinning Time Glass Wall Clock 17in
The beautiful origami butterflies in the 3D shadow box (in above photo) on the right added a little extra interest to the gallery. The other shadow box (in photo below) contains a set of drum keys that my hubby had previously framed.
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