How to Make a Gallery Wall

Happy Thursday everyone, today I’m finally sharing the home decor post you’ve all been waiting for…my framed photo gallery wall.  It’s been almost a year since I last updated our family photos. I have to say I’m really happy with our new photos!  When I was growing up my mom would always have our family pictures displayed everywhere around the house.  In a way, I feel this reminded us of the good times and special moments as a family.  So when I would come home after a bad day at school or work I would look around and it gave me a sense of happiness + grounding.

Gallery walls are such a nice way to display your favorite photos – they don’t necessarily need to be of family.  The photos can be of your travels, friends, your wedding, or college life!!  And they don’t have to be placed in a formal living area like mine.  You can literally do a gallery wall in any room or hallway in your house.

BEFORE
BEFORE
BEFORE

How do you decide what photos to choose?

My goal with my gallery wall is to display our family having a great time.  This is also something I like to switch up once a year with new photos we usually have done around the holidays.  Typically, it’s closer to Thanksgiving because it gives me enough time to edit, and choose one for our Christmas card too.  The process is easy + I’m not rushing around trying to do the process and everyone is always happy to receive our holiday card.  My family loves it because they get an updated family photo once a year to frame + display in their homes.

What frames did I use?

The old gallery wall had brass, 11×14 frames with an 8×10 ivory mat which is nice because it makes it look luxurious.  Since this gallery wall is in the formal living area (even though we are not formal people) a touch of glam + elegance is a good touch.  I tried gold before but thought the brass worked out better in that room.  For the updated gallery wall I chose brass, 12×12 frames with a white 8×8 mat.  There’s just something different about the layout when using the 12×12 frames vs. 11×14 frames.  I also feel that using the 12×12 frames gives me an option to add one or two extra rows of photos if I choose to do that in the future.

How did I hang all the frames??

It was so easy to hang all of the frames because these frames came with a gallery wall template.  I used blue painter’s tape to hang the template, then, I grabbed another template (one came with each set of 3 frames) and placed it right beside the first one.  A level comes in handy with this project, I used it to see if both templates were leveled up.  I hammered in the nails where it had a red dot on the template.  I removed the template and the nails were ready for the frames all in the right places. Literally, one of the easiest things I ever!!!

What tools did I use?

I swear you probably have all the tools you’re going to need to hang a gallery wall.  I used Windex wipes + Swiffer cloth to wipe and clean all the frames before adding the picture inside.  To hang the frames, I used blue painter’s tape, a template that came with the frames, a hammer, small nails, and a tiny handheld level.  That is it!

You see in the top-left frame??? There’s a photo missing…that’s because I still need to choose one of Todd + me and I’m finding it hard to pick just one.  They are all so good!! I may just add a couple more rows after all…

Here are some other gallery frame sets I saw online and think they will work perfectly!!  They are also so affordable and come in various colors.

 

 

 

 

 

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