A couple of weeks ago I posted about covering your walls with great art on a budget and talked a little bit about using Modge Podge and found objects to decorate in the form of a gallery wall. Well, dear readers, today I’m going to take you through some of the steps Eric and I have taken in creating that gallery wall of our own, and show you some photos of our new room.
I love gallery walls because they help to fill large spaces, they help to communicate a theme in your space, and they allow me to revel in my hoarding and collecting tendencies. They’re also super easy and cheap to put together. Here are a few steps we’ve taken in creating the wall in our space.
Decide on a Theme…
Picking a theme, color, or general idea for your wall will help when selecting items to hang. For our wall I had in mind something masculine that captured nautical, travel, wildlife, and local themes. Some of the items that are Modge Podged (for example the white plate on the right and the octagonal piece with the plant on the bottom left) actually feature maps and plants local to North Carolina.
Our walls has a number of birds, landscapes, and darker colors that really speak to the masculine tone I wanted. I also really wanted to capture the idea of the room of a man who has traveled the world and collected items along his journey.
Pick an Item to Center the Wall…
I think it’s really important to have a center piece or a collection of center pieces to work away from as you’re putting the wall together. It doesn’t have to even be a large piece like the mirror we have here (for us the mirror is super practical because it’s at face height and gives us the perfect place to check out how sexy we look before heading out). It could be a small collection of frames, a singular painting, or anything else really. Just select an item to place in the center and give you something to work from.
Plan Your Wall Out on the Floor…
This is so simple but it will save you tons of time. Gather all of the items you’ll be placing on the wall, measure your space, then recreate the wall on the floor in the same size. Then, take a photo of the completed “wall” and get to hanging. A great way to ease the pain of hanging items is to apply a small dab of a bright toothpaste applied to the hanger on the back of your item and press it to the wall where you’re going to hang it. The toothpaste makes a mark on the wall where you can put your nail/screw/thumbtack/pushpin and hang your item. Better yet, try these Command Picture Hanging Strips to make hanging items even easier without leaving holes in your wall – I LOVE them!
Avoid Straight Lines…
This is a tough one for some folks, but you have to strive for symmetry in your hangings without creating straight lines of items. You can always have some items line up with each other, but for a fun and organic wall hanging like ours, you can’t really apply everything on a perfect grid. This could all be a matter of personal preference too, but I think it’s much for more when everything seems to fit perfectly on your wall without it looking too planned or contrived. That’s why preplanning the wall on the floor helps!
Mix Mediums and Types of Wall Hangings…
Our wall features mirrors, paintings, drawings, needlepoint, brass items, prints, upholstered and embellished items, painted wood, and more. All of that works well together since it’s in the same color and theme family. Mixing mediums and types of wall hangings gives your wall tons of interest and brings it all to life.
And the following are just a few extra pictures that I just have to share with you! This is the dresser below our gallery wall (it will be painted white soon, don’t worry) complete with Eric’s bow ties and sunglasses, some of my regular glasses, my grandfather’s tie pin, and some of our jewelry.
Eric has had this vintage cigar box and always wanted to use it to decorate with, it’s perfect for holding bow ties and pocket squares on the top of our dresser.
And some of the books actually hide our Internet router and modem (simply cut the pages out of some hardback thrift store finds and place the router, modem, etc. inside)!
You can use your accessories for decorations! Especially when they’re as cute as Eric’s red velveteen sunglasses from the Gap and the wooden Weekend Wayfarers Eric won from Scout Sixteen.
Do you have any tips for creating gallery walls? Let me know in the comments below!
Tyler
There is so much I love about this wall! I think the anchor is my favorite. Great post, y’all!