5 Gallery Walls That Work for Type A People

Food52 on Yahoo

I enjoy a good gallery wall—I just don’t want the usual jumbled iteration of one in my house.

Related: 5 Ways to Refresh Your Home For Winter

That’s because, while I can appreciate the joy of a haphazard collection of frames elsewhere, in my own space, visual clutter turns into mental clutter: I like a little order in my disorder.

image
image

I could not live here (or there). (Photos: Pinterest, Pinterest)

Luckily, the solution is simple: Add a little order to your gallery wall.

With my arrangement (shown below) I used an imaginary horizontal line to break up the collection of artwork and create some organization—just a bit, not too much. You’ll notice that not everything lines up perfectly on that horizontal line, and there are a couple outliers to add interest.

Related: 5 Companies That Are Making Home Design Easier

image

Order, sweet order. (With an acceptable level of wonkiness with the “Bonne Nuit” lace crochet.) (Photo: Lindsay-Jean Hard/Food52)

If the horizontal line isn’t for you, there are a few other ways to give your gallery wall some sense:

  • Create a border to constrain the size and shape of your grouping. Use painter’s tape to mark off a rectangle or square on your wall and use that as an exterior border to neatly confine your grouping.

Related: Why Extra-Wide Matting Isn’t a Framing Faux Pas

image

(Photo: Melissa Oholendt via Emily Henderson)

  • To keep the arrangement really visually calming, stick with a similar color palette for all of the artwork and frames—bonus soothing points if the color is a neutral one.

image

(Photo: DwellStudio via HGTV)

  • Organize your gallery wall with a grid pattern, by using all the same size frames.

image
image

(Photos: Samantha Pynn via Mix And Chic)

  • Mount shallow shelves in orderly rows, then lean art of all shapes and sizes on them (which makes for easy re-arranging, too!).

image
image

(Photos: Vosges Paris, Pinterest)

More on Food52:

A Wintry Centerpiece That Takes 5 Minutes to Make

5 Ways to Freshen Up a Space Without Spending a Cent

The Best Easy Design Solutions That Make a Big Difference

By Lindsay-Jean Hard.