Are you using your picture frames so you can see and remember those great family moments, life events, those in your life past and present who add meaning and purpose? Or are you just using your frames for home decor?
You can have both, but if you’re just lining up dozens of 6” x 4”, 7” x 5” and other smaller sized photo frames, chances are, your side tables, coffee tables and any shelving units, and the wall shelves too… are looking a bit cluttered.
The Gallery Wall is Your Easy Fix to Present Your Photos Clutter-Free
It doesn’t have to be all on the one wall. If you have too many photos, feel free to go all out on various walls. The only thing you need is a measuring tape, nails and enough hanging equipment. Some masking tape and brown paper for planning your layout too.
Measure the wall space you have available before attaching any hanging equipment. The reason being, you need to have some breathing space around each frame. Don’t hang them right up together. Leave a couple inches gap between the frames so it’s easier on the eye. An inch or two should do.
Theme Your Photos Where You Can
Not all of your photos are going to fall into the one theme. You’re likely to have wedding photos, school photos, holiday snaps and maybe even some framed quotes too. Putting them altogether into the one grouped display would be rather random. Instead, group your photos together to different themes.
- Holidays
- Family
- Events or special occasions
That’s just three themes you could run with.
Think of the Best Way to Arrange the Groups of Photos You Have
There’s no rule for creating a gallery wall. Most would put one theme per wall, but if you have been framing your photos for years and need to somehow make your collection more presentable and less cluttered, there’s nothing to say that using a row of photos or wall sections can’t be used.
Divide your groups of photos and you will know how many rows or columns you need on your wall, then mark out the spaces you need.
Brown paper or card is ideal for mapping your display layout on the floor, with accurate measurements. Another way you could go is to use decorators tape to create the layout on your wall. Just be careful if you have wallpaper that it’s not going to rip the paper off the wall when you remove it.
You would be surprised at the number of photos you can get on the one wall in a way that doesn’t look cluttered, and that’s just for the simple reason that you have an entire wall to play with. Not the size limitations of a side table or shelves.
Have a look around your home and count out how many framed pictures you actually have. You will probably find you have more than a few that’s perfect for displaying together.
Beyond that though, when you start putting dozens of photos together on a side table, what generally happens is there winds up being some at the front and others behind so they’re obscured. That’s likely not what you had in mind when you decided to frame your photos.
Go back to your intended reason for framing them - so you can see them. And get them displayed on your walls using a gallery display layout and you will be able to get a great looking feature wall and more decor space for plants and ornaments.
Take a look at our sister website www.picturegallerywalls.co.uk for inspiration on various layouts.