Show me your gallery walls and help me with mine, please!!

[GalleryWallHelp]

I have huge expanses of white walls in my hall and on my landing which I want to fill with a gallery wall. But I don't know where to start. I've trawled Pinterest and the like but the walls on their scare me - so well-curated and very Insta-read

I'd like to see normal people's gallery walls. So please show me yours!

I like quite eclectic gallery walls - a mix of photos, posters, art, different sorts of frames etc. And I like them to look 'full' rather than just 5-6 pictures hung on a wall which looks a bit naff.

If you did a gallery wall, how much do you think it cost you? I'm pricing up prints and posters etc. and it's looking like it'll be super-expensive. Is it?

I design stuff specifically for gallery walls and I’m just setting one up at the moment in my bedroom with the various types of wall art I make - paper cut maps, prints and now line art. Picking which ones to use is the problem I’m facing!

Having looked at about a million, I would recommend sticking to about 3 sizes of frames, some box frames and some thin, different types of moulding but all one colour, you can use different size mounts to accommodate different size items in those frames (I use a site called Brampton Framing for custom mounts and they’re lovely)

Would love to see yours when it’s done, will try to post a picture of mine if I’m ever happy with it!

I really like your white walls! I'm not into minimalism, but I wouldn't add much, maybe just one thing (or small group) on your landing. It looks like adding a gallery wall would just make the space seem very narrow (thinking of my parents's house which is similar).

Here's another of ours.....

And one more....

@Cocolapew

Mines music themed, its look actually that lopsided I took the photo from my chair

Oh that's so funky, I love it!!

@Hebeee

Here you go (apologies for the crap photo quality....need a new phone!).....

Absolutely beautiful and looks like it goes so well in your home. I love art deco/nouveau. My dining room is art deco themed

@JaninaDuszejko

We've had one up the stairs since we bought our first house in 2000. I love a gallery wall. When we did our first one we gathered a variety of arty photos by family members, pieces of art by family members (from a picture done by my artist aunt to a piece of paper handmade by DH's little brother at school), and original works of art we'd acquired one way or another (e.g. I'd worked in a shop as a student and a local gallery put up posters with small lino prints on them, after the exhibition ended I took the poster and lino print home) and got the lot framed properly. The framing was more expensive than the art in most cases, you could go down the IKEA route to save money. We deliberately made the frames all different which means when we get new fieces of art we don't have to worry about them frame matching the rest. Really glad we made that choice as we've moved house and added to it over time. All the images are meaningful to us in one way or another although some cost nothing (self portrait by DD aged 7) and some are worth a few grand now. It goes up 3 flights and there are over 40 pieces of 'art' so impossible to photograph.

Yep, I thinking different frames will be a must so that the gallery wall can be moved and shifted around.

Like you, I need to just start collecting bits and pieces. A trip to the charity shops might be in order soon

I did buy a couple of lovely pics from Home Sense yesterday but I'm keeping them for my living room (were intended as the start of my gallery wall).

@TattiePants

This is my gallery wall up the stairs which is all black and white photographs. I’ve had it since I moved in 15 years ago and just update the photos every few years. I also gave 2 smaller gallery walls in the lounge.

If you are looking for a large mirror without much of a frame then this is the Chiltern mirror from the White Company that might fit the bill.

That's a lovely mirror, thank you!

I really love your black and white vibe too but I think I'm after something more eclectic (mainly because I know that once I get going with it, I'll just keep adding any old shite into it which wouldn't go with the very clean and curated look of yours). Absolutely beautiful stairway too

I quite fancy one of these but with mirrors rather than pictures. Like this:

@ZoyaTheDestroyer

How about picture ledges? Makes it easier to switch the pictures when you want to update.

I did think of that but it has to go up the stairs and across the landing too. Our hall, stairs and landing are really narrow so I'm a bit worried about things jutting out too much. But I might go back to this option, actually

@Dotoallasyouwouldbedoneby

I prefer a 'less is more' gallery approach, by which I mean one very large carefully chosen 'chunky canvas' on each major section of wall. Also less of a dust magnet.

I'm not a fan of canvases (canvi??)

And there are loads of sections of wall to cover so I think we'd end up with it looking like random canvi just kinda dotted here and there.

@FatCatThinCat

I quite fancy one of these but with mirrors rather than pictures. Like this:

Oh yes, I saw one of these once (I can't for the life of me remember where or even if it was on TV or in person) and it was absolutely stunning. I love mirrors, antique mirrors especially so I think I could fill my house three times over with them never mind just a few walls!

@SinkGirl

I design stuff specifically for gallery walls and I’m just setting one up at the moment in my bedroom with the various types of wall art I make - paper cut maps, prints and now line art. Picking which ones to use is the problem I’m facing!

Having looked at about a million, I would recommend sticking to about 3 sizes of frames, some box frames and some thin, different types of moulding but all one colour, you can use different size mounts to accommodate different size items in those frames (I use a site called Brampton Framing for custom mounts and they’re lovely)

Would love to see yours when it’s done, will try to post a picture of mine if I’m ever happy with it!

This is such useful advice, thank you so much!

@MindyStClaire

I really like your white walls! I'm not into minimalism, but I wouldn't add much, maybe just one thing (or small group) on your landing. It looks like adding a gallery wall would just make the space seem very narrow (thinking of my parents's house which is similar).

Thank you, you would probably hate the rest of my house. My living room is dark blue William Morris paper - very non-minimal

But I kept the hall, stairs and landing very clean in blue and white because its small and narrow. And because I didn't want to divert attention from the tiled floor with bold wallpaper. But I feel like its too minimal, it doesn't look like anyone actually lives there now!

@Hebeee

Here's another of ours.....

This is what I want. How do you fancy moving in with me for a while and helping me to stock the wall?!

It's lovely and I love the green paint, beautiful colour.

‘Victorian Adventure’ on Instagram have some lovely picture ledges on their landing / stairs.

I realise I've just done a massive reply-a-thon but I'm so grateful to everyone for sharing their thoughts and especially their photos. Thank you. It's so wonderful to see actual gallery walls in the wild (not Insta or Pinterest bullshit).

THANK YOU but keep 'em coming... I'm after all the inspiration I can get!

@ZoyaTheDestroyer

‘Victorian Adventure’ on Instagram have some lovely picture ledges on their landing / stairs.

Oooh, I've not heard of that account but I'll be sure as hell spending all of tomorrow looking at their stuff. Thank you for sending that on.

Ohh- it seems I have a picture ledge. Lived here 20 years and just thought it was an annoying but of wood half way up the 3rd set of stairs.

Thanks @GalleryWallHelp 😄😄😄
Your William Morris wallpaper sounds fabulous too.... we've recently put some indigo Strawberry Thief pattern on our newly created upstairs landing/hallway area. Great minds and all that, lol!

we're moving soon and I have so so many mirrors...the 1930's 40's 50's type tall ovals, hexagonal, square(ish), round...you know the type, wooden backs, facetted edges, chain hangers. I am pretty set that they are going to go all on the stair walls.
Used to be able to pick them up for pennies at charity shops/car boots, usually around a tenner now, last time I spotted a couple in the charity shops.

either that or I have a small jigsaw habit, and currently have the Mona Lisa ongoing, so I might go fake jigsaw Art Gallery and get more classic paintings in jigsaw format. But that might be the bathroom plan!

Oh one more thing - have a look at IKEA for frames. They have some really deep box frames called Sannahed in two sizes which add lots of depth - you can take them apart and reassemble them so the Perspex and mount are right at the front or at the back, so you can add some variety. They have lots of styles of black frames so you can mix things up. I also really like their small square ribba frames for tiny items (I use them for my smallest maps and either leave the back off or buy two and use a second piece of Perspex at the back - very useful if you want to have something like a little paper cut.

@Tooembarrassingtomention

Ohh- it seems I have a picture ledge. Lived here 20 years and just thought it was an annoying but of wood half way up the 3rd set of stairs.

LOL

If you like mirrors then look at some of the Peruvian mirrors on etsy. Not cheap but gorgeous and you can get sets of little ones that would be great on a gallery wall.

I love a huge canvas too. We’re house hunting and I’ve seen this look in a few houses and it’s wicked.