The Ins and Outs of Gallery Walls

Gallery walls come in a wide array of styles and are a creative way to decorate your home.  They’re very personal and can be molded to fit the size and needs of any space.

If you’re looking for a great statement piece in your home consider a gallery wall.  They can be installed in an entryway, a hallway, or a staircase.  Best of all, once you’ve established your form, you can switch out the photos or media anytime you’d like to refresh the look.

Let’s take a look at our gallery wall options.

Organic/Free Form Gallery Walls

Freeform or organic style gallery walls are really cool.  They maintain their cohesion based primarily on the spacing between elements.

Symmetry is not a requirement for organic gallery walls.  In fact, the goal is an asymmetrical shape that creates a focal point for your space.  In addition to the overall shape being irregular, the size of the frames is often varied.

If you like a more whimsical room design, you may want to go for a free form gallery wall.

Structured Gallery Walls

The structured gallery wall is the most common.  It displays images in uniform frames and takes on a specific, often symmetrical shape.

Squares, rectangles, pyramids, step, and “X” shapes are the most common shapes for structured gallery walls.  The spacing between elements also takes on a regular interval in this installation type.

Far Set Gallery Walls

Far set gallery walls refer to the wide distance between elements.

This installation style often goes hand in hand with the structured wall mentioned above.

Why?  Because, any exaggerated spacing must be counteracted by uniform elements, or uniform shape in order for it to read as a gallery wall.

Otherwise, you’ll just have items that feel as if they’re floating on your wall with no real rhyme or reason.

The example below shows frames of varied size, but the layout in a regular, rectangular shape.  The far set spacing is emphasized by the white matting around the photos and the white frames hiding on the white wall.

Near Set Gallery Walls

The flip side of the aforementioned rule holds true here.  Organic or free form walls need a closer spacing in order to be recognized as a single unit.  Near set gallery walls display their pieces compacted together with narrow channeling between them.

Photographic Gallery Walls

Photographic walls are those made up of photographic images only.  Many people like to use this style to display family or travel photos.  If you want a sleek, timeless look to your wall; print everything in black and white.

Mixed Media Walls

Installations that are composed of a variety of elements such as monograms, signs, photos, paintings, and other wall art are considered mixed media.  These can be really cool to look at and often take on a free form style.

Since it is unlikely that you will find a variety of unframed items of the same proportions, an organic layout is the best approach for mixed media.

Conclusion

For more gallery wall inspiration check out my Pinterest Board.  If you liked this post, please share it with a friend and follow Dianne Decor on Bloglovin’ for more content.