Gallery walls can be a timeless element if you do them right. Is mine perfect? No, but it’s perfect for our home.
Elegant. Interchangeable. Personal.
These were my three goals when creating the gallery wall in our living room. I always like to have a theme before decorating a space and I think it’s especially important in gallery walls, because they’re hard to design and almost always end up being the focal point of a room.
I sought elegance because my design style is traditional above all else and sometimes I’m put off by how cluttered gallery walls can look . I wanted something that had clean lines and as a whole, looked just as much like a work of art as the actual art it was composed of.
I wanted parts of the gallery to be interchangeable because the rearranging and redecorating struggle is real. Nothing has a safe spot in my home and I prefer not to put a million holes in my wall every time I want to switch out a frame or two. The last goal, personal, was especially important because too many times I’ve decorated a space that looked good, but didn’t have any meaning to my family. I’ve realized over the years that if something doesn’t have meaning or function, it probably doesn’t have a place in your home.
Okay, so those were my goals. How did I achieve them?
Elegant:
- Clean, cohesive frames
- Reflective elements
- Adequate spacing
Interchangeable:
- Picture Ledge Shelves (Found here)
- Wall Vase
Personal:
- Non-traditional elements (books, floral, natural pieces)
- Vintage & Custom art
Deep picture ledges make it easy to replace frames and use non-traditional elements like books, vases, etc. They also allow you to stack pieces.
A copy of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and a custom print from Echoes of Mercy make our gallery wall meaningful.
I adore the antique wall vase because I can change out the floral seasonally. You can bet it will be filled with cotton stems in a few months.
A vintage watercolor of Texas bluebonnets, gilded mirror and an open frame bring it all together.
We hung our gallery a few months ago and I’m still in love. I know at any point I can almost completely change it up (which will probably happen when autumn blows in!), but for right now I like it just the way it is.
What do you think? Do you like planning a gallery wall beforehand or going with the flow? Let me know in the comments below or join me sometime on Instagram. Have a great week everyone!
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