Whether you’re on a budget or not, it’s possible to have a gorgeous gallery wall that you can be proud of. We started collecting our first paintings a few years ago, on some of the paintings my mom and I will go into together and for others I purchased on my own. Either way, it’s possible to create a beautiful gallery wall filled with pieces at various price points if you start saving for the artwork you really want now.
For those of you who have been following along for years now, you’ll know that we can often be found gallery hopping on Saturdays. There are several gorgeous art galleries here in the Charlotte area, and we picked up a piece or two at several of them in the past few years.
Creating a gallery wall has always been something I’ve wanted to do, and now that my writing studio is starting to come together, now seemed like a good time to go for it.
Most of the pieces on my wall are by artists who I’ve interviewed here on the blog, in fact only one of the pieces isn’t. I’ll leave it up to you all to figure out who. Some of the pieces were originals and others were prints. Prints will always be a lower price point than an original, but I love the idea of having as many originals as possible.
The first thing we realized when we got to the point where we were ready to start hanging the art was that it looks like it would be far easier than it actually is. So, here are some tips that I hope will be helpful if you are planning on creating your own gallery wall.
Lay everything out first
With our art pieces we were working with various sizes, color schemes and frames. Only one of the pieces that we’d purchased came already framed. The two gold framed Whitney Stoddard pieces and the Anne Keenan Higgins we had framed at Michaels during one of their 70% off events, because framing can be very expensive (sometimes even up to half the price of the original artwork!)
Measure, measure, measure
We did a lot of measuring, and then remeasuring and remeasuring again, because the last thing you want to do is have all the spacing off. This was one of the longest parts of the process for us.
Create Templates & Tape Them Up
Creating an accurate template of each of the pieces is essential, and makes the hanging process go so much quicker. It helps you visualize how the gallery wall is going to look before the first nail has been hammered. Plus, you can actually keep the templates up until each fixture is attached to the wall, and just remove the paper afterwards. If you don’t have brown paper on hand you can use grocery bags or wrapping paper.
Measure again…
It’s very important to measure how far the drop from the top of the frame to the wire/fixture will be. If you skip this step your artwork could be either higher or lower than you’d planned and you’ll have to remeasure.
Start hanging your art
Once you’ve completed all the steps above it’s time to start hanging up your art! This is by far the most exciting part of the process and the most rewarding!
From Clockwise from Top Left: Rutledge II (Whitney Stoddard), Figure #2 (Kristen Blakeney), Paris Scene (Georgianna Lane), Hollygolightly & Cat (Riley Sheehey), Annabet (Whitney Stoddard), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Riley Sheehey), 4 Girls (Anne Keenan Higgins), Blooms (Georgianna Lane), LBD (Anne Keenan Higgins)
Have you created a gallery wall? Tell me all about it in the comments below.
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