Where to Put a Gallery Wall in Your Home, According to the Experts
Where to Put a Gallery Wall in Your Home, According to the Experts
There are several strong options.
Statement-making and timeless, a gallery wall is an easy way to inject warmth and personality into your home; they dress up cozy corners in small spaces or help you display large-scale art in bigger rooms. Ultimately, there are many ways and places to do this, but let's focus on the latter, which can be the most challenging aspect of this project. Where should you position your collection of photographs and art pieces? To find out, we asked two experts to share a few traditional and unexpected areas to arrange a gallery wall in your home. Ahead, their tried-and-true suggestions.
Related: How to Hang and Arrange Pictures
Consider frequently-used entertaining spaces.
If you love to entertain (and can't wait to host guests post-pandemic), hanging a gallery wall in the living or dining room is a surefire way to create an inviting space for a gathering. It's also a seamless way to tackle that big, empty wall behind the couch or fill that bare space surrounding the dining room table. In these areas, Tessa Wolf, the creative director at Framebridge, recommends selecting artwork that not only brings you joy, but that sparks conversation, too. "Consider curating a collection of pieces that will make you happy and tell a story you'll want to share with friends and family," she advises. The creative team at Artifact Uprising agrees—a gallery wall placed in an entertaining area should highlight your interests and hobbies. "Don't be afraid to go for a high and low style, mixing both professional images and art with your own photography," they say. "The different elements create depth and make for an eye-catching wall that invites people to take a closer look."
Don't overlook small areas.
You don't need to live in a big house with cavernous rooms to curate and display a gallery wall. "There are ways to be thoughtful with the design in a smaller space," continues the Artifact Uprising team, "such as above an entryway table, along a staircase, or even in a bathroom." Just make sure to avoid easily-overwhelmed areas: "While you do not need a huge space to work with, you do want blank space that's not competing with a lot of other design elements—near a busy rug, above a very colorful bookcase, or in a room where frames already adorn many of the walls," they say.
Choose a wall in your bedroom.
While entertaining hotspots are perfect for conversation pieces, Wolf notes that private areas, like your bedroom, are more suited to personal artwork and photos. "If you want to make a gallery wall of your wedding photos (we get it—it was the best day of your life, plus you have thousands of great shots and you looked amazing!), consider arranging them in the bedroom or another private space for just the two of you to see and appreciate," she says.
Dress up your home office.
Your office is often the last room on your decorating list—after all, you go there to get things done, not relax. But with so many of us continuing to work from home, now could be the best time to brighten up this area (which can actually increase your productivity!). Why not hang a collection of your favorite pieces there? "We love the recent trend of people freshening up their home office space and creating an eye-catching gallery wall background for all those Zoom meetings," says the Artifact Uprising team.
