Now, I am not a professional interior designer, I just wanted to share how I designed my favourite part of my bedroom, the gallery wall, and hopefully this will help others who want to create something similar.
My room’s theme colours are black and white with yellow accents, which I wanted to reflect on the gallery wall too. So, I have a range of black, white and yellow frames and some that mixed those key colours. Adding this gallery wall to the white wall added some brightness and colour and I would say it is the focal point of my bedroom (because I lay in bed and my eye is drawn to it!)
The images on my gallery wall are not only photos. I also have some postcards, artwork, drawings and slogans. I like having this variety of designs to give a good mix and break up the colours.
Many of these things I have collected over the course of a few years from places I’ve been or photos of significant events. For example, the top left drawing I bought when I first visited Lübeck, the city I would spend my year abroad in. The tram photos I found in Lisbon, when I visited my friend out there a couple of years ago. Then I also have my own photos, like the ones I took at my boyfriend’s and brother’s respective graduations last summer.
Another thing I did with my own photos to maintain the monochrome theme was printing them in black and white. This isn’t essential but I wanted to keep the colour scheme intact.
Also, I decided I wanted a variety of styles of frames. I wanted different depths, materials, sizes, patterns and colours. My favourite one is this white patterned one from Next. This was only £3, which I couldn’t believe!
I made a conscious effort, being the student that I am, to not spend an excessive amount of money on frames. I think the most expensive one that I bought was this yellow one, which was £8 from Next.
I bought my frames from IKEA, Clintons, Next, The Range, Dunelm, Hobbycraft and Tiger.
How to: design your own gallery wall
I think there are two different schools of thought for designing a gallery wall. 1. You start with all the images etc you want to put up or 2. You start with all the frames and create a layout that you like and fill them later. I did the latter, because I knew my photos would all be black and white, so I didn’t need to try a balance out colours or avoid clashes.
It’s up to you which way you want to go but I’m going to explain my method. If you prefer to start with photos etc, swap step 1 and 2.
Step 1: Lay out the frames. You can do this on your bed, floor or desk and play around with them until you find a structure you like.
I found that having a bigger item in the middle to work around was better, as this offered both a focal point to the wall itself and a starting point to building this wall. In my case, this was the two separate prints that made one image.
Also try not to clump similar colours and sizes together to make sure you create balance.
Step 2: Fill your frames. Find your favourite photos and get them printed the sizes you need.
You can do it at some supermarkets, Boots or I used an app called FreePrints, which lets you have 45 free 6x4 prints a month and you only pay for delivery or other sized prints.
Or simply put your collected postcards, posters or slogan cards in the frames.
Make sure the layout still works with the contents of the frames. You don’t want to have too many wordy things in one place, for example.
Step 3: Hanging up.
Spacing here is now important. Make sure your frames are in line around the main image and the same amount of space is between each photo. (You can see in my first photo that although the photos are different sizes, the ones closest to the main print are the same distance apart from the main print and in line.) I did this by eye, but if you’re not sure, measure and mark in pencil before you attach anything.
(Here you can see on my wall that the photos are all the same distance away from the main photo on their side and aligned with each other)
Also, here I would recommend the use of Command strips. They leave no residue or holes in the wall. This means that you can rearrange your wall if you want to chop and change things or if you don’t want to risk your deposit!!
Step 4: Sit back and enjoy the view you created! It is a statement on the wall and a beautiful thing to look at and enjoy.
Plus, you can continue to add to it, when you collect more things or take more photos. I still have a few more things from my travels to go up and that’s before I’ve printed any more photos!
(These are a few more pictures and frames yet to go up)
And, that’s it!
A pretty simple but really effective way to decorate a blank wall. Plus, you can really make it your own and add bits that you love.
Also, I love the fact that it never has to be finished. I will always end up buying more frames or printing more photos to add to the wall and that’s what so great is that the wall grows with you.
I hope it all made sense and perhaps you are inspired to have a go yourself!