As you all may remember, we were lucky enough to attend and host a fantastic group of Design Bloggers at the 2016 West Coast Art & Frame Expo (WCAF)… We’ve shared a bit about all of the unique things you can have custom framed, and now we’d like to offer some top tips on creating a truly fabulous gallery wall.

We’ve been seeing an explosion of beautiful gallery walls for quite some time now, and while many may seem haphazard, there’s definitely a few tricks to making them work. During our time at WCAF, we noted a number of similarities between the gallery wall displays we found most effective, and thought we’d pull our notes together and share them here with you:

1. Keep the art in the same tone – With as many pieces featured in the space above, things could have gotten chaotic quickly. This large gallery wall works because the art is all in the same black and white tone. While the sizes vary slightly, they pieces all appear to be pencil drawings in tones of black, white and grey. Keeping the art in the same colorway allows one to appreciate this gallery wall as a whole and as individual pieces.

   

2. Use same sized artworks – By using artworks that are all the same size, you’re able to create a symmetrical grouping, no matter how many pieces are a part of the overall grouping. The gallery wall above features an array of what looks to be Audubon bird art, all of identical size. Although there are may colors in the works of art, the sizing of the pieces laid out in this grid, allows for a visual appealing gallery wall.

   

3. Feature identical custom frame designs – Your custom framer can get creative with their custom frame designs for your gallery wall, as long as they’re all the same. The above image features a black and white photo gallery wall. But, what’e really special about this space is the unique frame design. Although they stuck to classic black frames and white mats, the custom framer bottom weighted the mats. This provides a truly custom look that offers a stylistic element this otherwise basic design craves.

   

4. Use frame mouldings of similar width and finishes – The above gallery wall features the ever-popular “salon” style grouping, which incorporates different types of art all in different colors, styles, textures, etc. While glancing at each work individually, you may not think it could work in a grouping with all of the other pieces, however, using custom frame mouldings in similar widths and finishes unifies a potentially mismatched grouping.

   

5. Know when to vary the frame finishes – Changing up the finishes of the custom frame mouldings in a wall grouping can be tricky. The trick to making this look work is hanging a thoughtful layout. The space pictured above showcases different types of art, framed in many different ways, however it works because they utilized the horizon line hanging technique. Note the bottom edge of the bottom row of artworks all hit the same sight line. This gives reason and rhyme to a totally unique collection of custom framed art.

*Bonus tip – your Interior Designer or custom framer will be happy to do the dirty work, and hang your gallery wall, just as you desire… However, if you’re looking to DIY this step – say, if you’re collecting framed art over time – cut butcher paper to the same size of each pieces you’re hanging, and lay them out on the wall with tape. This will give you the ability to move things around, and visualize the final product without lots of unnecessary holes in the wall.

We hope we’ve inspired you to get a bit more creative with your art arranging and displays, just like our trip to WCAF inspired us to share these tips with you. Gallery walls can provide a space with tons of style and personality, we encourage everyone to find just one place in their home for a gallery wall.

If you need assistance creating a gallery wall for your home, please contact the team at steve mckenzie’s and we’ll be more than happy to create something perfect for you and your space!