A gallery wall is a fantastic way to add interest and personality to a space. Never underestimate the power of art to set the tone and energy in any room – and leave your own personal mark in terms of taste. Sometimes choosing a single piece of wall art just isn't possible – and so creating a gallery wall is the perfect solution. Here are our top 5 tips to create a high impact, cohesive gallery display for your interior.
1. CHOOSE YOUR BIGGEST ARTWORK FIRST
Find a large piece of art that you love, and use that to set the tone and atmosphere for your art display. Think about what else you have (or what else you’ll buy if you’re looking for new or second hand pieces) across a range of sizes which will complement the main piece but still sing their own song on your wall.
2. FIND A COMMON THEME OR COLOUR
Many people find that their gallery wall works best with a little order and consistency. You might choose a series of water images, for example, or perhaps animals or scenes. You may also want to theme the wall around a certain colour or set of colours that match your decor. Pops of colour in varying textures, shapes and tones work brilliantly so it doesn’t look too overdone, but to be honest, in gallery walls, everything goes – from totally matchy-matchy right through to seemingly chaotic!
3. MIX UP YOUR FRAMES
The most effective gallery walls mix up the frame types and sizes of artworks so that the display is a little haphazard. If choosing new, try to mix up sizes, shapes, colours, width or thickness and even old versus new. This might cause OCD-type tendencies to come out in some, while others relish the variety.
4. CHOOSE PORTRAIT AND LANDSCAPE
Choosing all portrait-orientation art can look a little too contrived, so make sure you have a mix of orientations to suit the space and keep things a little unpredictable. Plus a portrait-landscape mix will definitely use up the space better.
5 PLAN THE SPACE
Once you have collected all the pieces you want to display on your gallery wall, experiment with the layout. Measure your chosen wall space and plot out the dimensions on the floor using masking tape. Place your largest piece to the left or right of centre, and fit the other artworks around it, giving each one adequate space. Far easier than trying to do it on the wall! We are sure there will be an app for this somewhere – or some art sites might even offer a service, but if not, there’s a definite opportunity for someone! Happy plotting!
