I knew I wanted a gallery wall somewhere in our house and our home office seemed like the perfect space since it’s a place I can be found every single day of the week. I was excited to fill the frames with pictures and mementos that mean something to me and would make me smile whenever I look at the gallery wall.
How to Make a Gallery Wall
When I first had the idea to put a gallery wall above my desk, I turned to Pinterest and found no shortage of gallery wall inspiration. There were large and small gallery walls. Uniform gallery walls and gallery walls that were made with a myriad of frames and colorful pictures. Pinterest always has a billion ideas, that’s for sure! (There are also tons of gallery wall tutorials on Pinterest as well, so check them out if this one confuses you or doesn’t seem to be what you’re looking for in your home.)
I found myself almost immediately gravitating toward a cohesive look that used frames that looked alike but with different sizing. Chelsea’s blog inspired me to head to IKEA to browse their frame selection and I stumbled upon their Virserum and Ribba frames (<—the same frames Chelsea used in her gallery wall).
(Ribba Frames)
Thankfully I visited the store early on a Friday morning so it was practically empty and I was able to lay the frames out on the ground to see how they looked together. I ended up preferring the sturdier look of the Virserum frames and started to play around with the layout.
I rearranged them numerous times but mostly followed a pattern I saw on display at IKEA.
I left with Virserum frames in the following sizes:
- 5 x 7” (3)
- 4 x 6” (5)
- 7 3/4 x 9 3/4” (4)
- 15 x 11” (2)
Everything was under $85!
Once I arrived home, I filled the frames (this took longer than expected!) and arranged them on my home office floor to examine the layout again.
Every online gallery wall tutorial I read encouraged people to outline the frames and cut out the shapes to mount on the wall to make sure you like the way the gallery wall looks before you start hammering nails into the wall. I took this advice to heart and used painter’s tape to place everything on the wall.
I’m glad I did this, because I ended up moving everything around a bit!
My mom was in town when the gallery wall madness was in full swing and since she had experience hanging her own gallery wall at my parents’ place, she definitely helped with everything! She wrote down the measurements of where the nails needed to go on each paper that was on the wall.
For example, on the above paper, I had to hammer in a nail 6 1/8’’ in and 1 3/4’’ down. This made everything flow seamlessly and I could hammer right through the paper and pull it off the wall. I never messed up a nail once thanks to my mom’s precise measurements. She’s a rockstar!
I also made sure to remove the “stander” thing on the back of the frames that allow them to stand up on their own. (I’m sure there’s a technical name for that part of a frame, but it’s not coming to mind at the moment.)
I skipped that step at first and the frames didn’t sit flush against the wall. I was quite happy when they just popped off without much effort. (An added bonus of using cheap frames!)
I’m not married to the pictures I currently have framed and I’m sure I’ll change things out over time, but so far I have the following items framed:
- Map of Orlando (where Ryan and I met, got engaged and lived together right after we got married)
- Beautiful picture of Sadie from an amazingly talented blog reader
- Three prints I made in PicMonkey (one says “Life Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect To Be Wonderful,” another is a list of places Ryan and I have lived in different fun fonts and the small one on the far right says “This is the day the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it” which was the psalm our pastor in Ocala would use to open each service)
- Front of a cute card from my friend Carrie featuring an old-fashioned picture of four girlfriends
- A collection of black and white photo booth pictures from over the years
- Our wedding date framed on a piece of pretty mint green faux-lace wrapping paper
- Photo of Macchu Picchu from our family vacation
- Photo of The Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine
- Three black and white wedding photos: Me + Ryan, Leslie + Ross, My parents
- Postcard from Wanderlust that reads “May You Continue To Shine”
And that’s it! The gallery wall was such a fun project and one I am sure I’ll change around over the years but for now, I think it adds a nice personal touch to our home office!
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Not relevant to this post, but I thought you might get a kick out of this 🙂 I myself could only last 1 Pure Barre class. I can’t stand the pulsing isolated movements, so I moved on to CrossFit and have stuck there ever since.
http://www.dudesdigest.com/true-life-i-went-to-pure-barre-and-it-was-fucking-miserable/
What a beautiful gallery wall!! I hope to make one similar to this one day when we get our own home! You home looks like it is coming together beautifully! Can’t wait to see more.
Thank you, Alex! <3
Love this! I can’t wait to have my own home office some day so that I can create on of these! Thanks for sharing! Your tips and tricks will prove to be very helpful 🙂
Your wall looks so good! I did something similar in my college dorm room this year… I went to IKEA (i love that place) and bought a large rectangular white frame, and placed three postcards in it, to replicate something similar to what they did which cost 40$! (Happy to report my DIY version cost less than 20 🙂 ). Thanks for the measurements tips!
It turned out really nice, Julie. Thanks for sharing your ideas (I love the map idea of where you and Ryan met). So cute and personal. I will have to keep this in mind if I get the urge to mix things up around the house.
I love it! I’m going to do this on my wall too. And p.s. I love that Sadie has to be in the pictures you posted here.
Alwayssss! Haha!
Love the gallery! I miss having more printed out pictures. I feel we have lost that a little bit with using digital. I still have two frames on my shelf from over the summer I need to fill. Oops!
CUTE.
I LOVE your gallery wall. Love that you included quotes and meaninful things other than pictures. I never would have thought of it. There’s no good place in my current home for a gallery wall but I’m definitely pinning this for future idea.
I’m not patient enough and didn’t bother to hang the paper to make sure I liked the layout. It looks okay, but I’m not thrilled with it and now call my office “the sprinkler room” because I made so many holes in the wall. Thankfully the holes are all covered by the frames, but that means the gallery wall isn’t coming down anytime soon 🙂
Great tips! Now if only I had the eye to naturally hang things straight… I’ve been using my iPhone built in compass app, and going to the level option, but still am having to move far too many nail holes! Haha.
So pretty! I had a gallery wall in our house before we moved over seas. I was so scared to make all the holes in the wall someone suggested to use 3m strips. I was so excited someone shared this tip with me. After I got it up, I knew I could move it around and there would be no harm. http://www.eatallovertheworld.weebly.com
I did this in my bedroom, and my boyfriend doesn’t quite understand that it’s a thing and that I didn’t just get spastic when hanging up pictures. 🙂
You are a PRO! That looks so fantastic. I’m going to send this post to my sister because she is dying to do a gallery wall like this.
So pretty!
Julie, I absolutely LOVE it! You really did a wonderful job with it.
Thank you so much, Ashley!!
I LOVE the map of orlando. It’s so funny how we remain so attached in a way to places we’ve lived
The gallery wall looks awesome! Does IKEA have those frames in black? I’m looking to put together a gallery wall but am having a heck of a time finding frames (at a reasonable price) so my project is on hold at the moment. Oh, and I’ll definitely do the measurements the way your mom did it. Thanks for sharing that tip!
I did not see those specific frames in black but they definitely have a bunch of other frame options in brown, silver and black!
It looks beautiful! I absolutely love your office! Josh and I have been talking about how I need to stop blogging from the couch because I always manage to fall asleep halfway through!
Looks nice! Though that bottom left one is giving me eye twitches.
Awesome work! The whole office looks great. I can’t wait to live in a house instead of a little city apartment one day so I can decorate too! Happy Tuesday:)
Looks so great! I always wanted to do this but I’m too imitated…well, too indecisive to pick the photos/quotes I would want!
That is honestly what took me the longest! I’m still not 100% happy with everything I have framed… It’s a work in progress!
Love your wall! I have one in my living room of places I’ve traveled and of my husband and I. It also has framed art and sayings. Pinterest came in super handy doing this but in the end we just pretty much winged it. 🙂
So goregous!! Thanks for the easy to follow instructions!
I love what you created! It is a great mix of fun things too!!
Your wall looks great! I did something similar but with gridded wallpaper. You just trace the frames on the paper and you don’t have to worry about using a ruler!
The wall looks great! Definitely Pinterest worthy 🙂
It looks beautiful – I love the picture of Sadie!
I love the look of that gallery wall! SO cute!
Yay I’m so happy you did a tutorial on this 🙂 When you first updated your office here on the blog, I went to Home Goods (FABULOUS STORE!!!) and updated my home office with odds and ends. Your gallery wall looks great. I’m hoping to put one together soon 🙂
I love a great gallery wall! I just did a gallery wall very similar to this. I used blue painters tape to form a horizontal line across the wall, then hung pictures of different sizes above and below that line. Our wall is longer than it is tall so it worked well to have two rows of pictures spread across one line. The variation in frame sizes really helps it look not so rigid.
Good work! I have a gallery wall on my to do list as well!
The hammering into the paper is such a good idea! I always create 239483 holes in my walls because it’s always slightly off. Your mom = genius
This post came at the perfect time! We are in the middle of putting our first gallery wall up. I pinned a milli from Pinterest on different shapes and ways to organize. But I still feel like a lost cause! My perfectionist husband wants it to be perfectly symmetrical (like square or rectangular shape) where I want some abstract action. They will prob just lay on the ground for a few week longer 😉
ps what’s your take on mixing canvas photos with frame photos? merrr, am I a lost cause? 🙂
I love your wall, i;m feeling inspired!!
Love the tips and the finished product! Last year, I started a 101 in 1001 list on my blog and one of the items on there is to FINALLY set up a gallery photo wall in our home! I’m sure I will be looking back on your tips and tricks when the time finally comes!
This is beautiful! Thank you so much for posting such great instructions – I would have skipped the whole ‘hanging everything up with painter’s tape’ to save time… but now I see why it’s important! I can’t wait to do this in my office one day – thanks for the IKEA recs, too!
This gallery wall looks awesome! So smart to do that stuff beforehand so it’s all lined up. I did one in our family room and I love it, even though it’s not perfectly straight (haha), which is so me. 😉
I do love gallery walls. We have one already going up our stairs but we’re hoping to extend our house in the New Year and so there will be opportunity to add a new gallery wall in the new half of our house then. Will pin this post to keep hold of your tips!
I love it so much.. I was in Ikea a few days ago and think I seen those frames, now I think I may have to go back for them:) Really good idea with the paper…
Love the wall! And the paint colour! Before we moved, I wanted to do a gallery wall above my desk/work area with motivational/inspirational pictures of good quotes, but it never happened. Hopefully it can at our new place because I seriously love the gallery wall!
Looks great! I love the cool colors and bright feel. IKEA frames, genius!!
I love it, and I love how you didn’t just do photos. I love the other aspects you added in there. Such a fun project.
This is awesome Julie! I love a non-designer’s take on how to do a gallery wall. Yours looks perfect, and your how-to is spot on.
Loving that white chair!
Thank you!!
Your office is so chic!
Love the photo wall–perfection. Also love the paint color. Would you happen to know the name of the paint–i.e., maybe Ben Moore and if so do you know the number or color name. Thanks.
I love the organization of this gallery wall. My sister and myself have ideas for an inspiration board above our desk but we haven’t put the process into play yet. She’s more of a stick-it-where-it-fits type of person and I’m a lot more analytical so that will take some compromise. Thanks for the detailed post–definitely makes it easier to gain ideas!
It looks great 🙂 I love how Sadie brought over her tennis ball to investigate how the project was coming along. 😀