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Create An Interior Photo Gallery
Now you know how to hang them
Thanks to our recent post you now know how to hang your photos and artwork. Now let’s talk about how you can create the arrangements you’ll want hanging on your wall.
The rules of the game
Let’s preface by laying some ground rules that will help your arrangements look their best:
- A general rule of thumb when hanging artwork is that the center of your piece should fall at about 57″ from the floor. This is to allow it to fall in the eye level of the average person.
- If you’re hanging a cluster of artwork, your center becomes the center of the arrangement and not necessarily the center of one particular piece. Just think of the cluster of pieces as one single piece.
- When hanging a piece above a sofa, it’s best to hang it so that the bottom of the frame is between 3″ and 6″ from the highest point of the sofa. Any lower than 3″ and it will likely interfere with guests sitting on the sofa. Any higher than 6″ and a viewer’s eye will go straight to the blank wall space between the sofa and the piece rather than to the piece itself.
- Be careful of your spacing between pieces. In most cases, your arrangement will look best with all the pieces closer together with a small gap between them. If you are attempting to cover a larger area with fewer pieces, you should consider purchasing additional pieces. At best, you should have no more than 4″ between pieces mounted in a cluster.
With that out of the way
We can now talk about how you can create an organic arrangement that will look great on any wall in your home. As with many things in interior design, your grouping can showcase your style. From the more traditional arrangement.
To the modern….
To the eclectic….
Or even a combination of any or all of the above….
The point is this
There really isn’t a wrong or a right way to put together a gallery. You just put together your favorite things and get them hung up! The photos above are a great place to start your inspiration.
Mix it up!
If you really want to impress your family and friends, heck even yourself, mix up several different sizes and types of frames and objects. You can mix a variety of different sizes square, rectangular, round and oval pieces into the same gallery arrangement. Try mixing framed work with unframed work, like a painted canvas piece. You can also mix in art objects and even a small shelf with an object sitting on top!
The photo below is a great example of mixing several different sizes and types of pieces into one cohesive gallery arrangement. This is a great gallery put together by the folks over at Our Humble A{bowe}d. She has some great posts about galleries she put together for her home here, here and here.
Another starting point
If you’re really struggling with where to start, try creating an arrangement around a theme. In the Our Humble A{bowe}d gallery shown above, she had a theme of bird, feather and tree art. At home, you can make your theme central around objects, a particular color, a period in your life or a recent trip you took (Paris, anyone?). I have a great friend who took a trip to Paris and turned her whole trip into a beautiful scrapbook. You can do the same thing, only on your walls!
More concepts for your gallery
Another great theme is to simply use a repetitive/common element. Take mirrors for example. You could create a wall of mirrors in various shapes, styles and finishes. It works because all of the pieces in the gallery are mirrors. You could also create a gallery using only round mirrors, or only square mirrors. By using the same shape or element, you are creating a cohesive design that will look effortless. Everyone will be asking you what designer you used for your home!
Let’s step it up a notch…..go BOLD
You’ve got the basics down, you know how to actually get your arrangement on the wall, now what? If you want to take the next step for all the bonus points, GO BOLD! Inject an element of surprise. Check out the little photo montage I’ve put together below.
In the photo above I’ve showed you how you can play with shapes, textures and pieces. Imagine an arrangement on a wall full of lots of different round mirrors. Splashed throughout the arrangement are those woven round plates, and as your eye wanders through the gallery……BAM…..a punch of fun and texture in the form of a round mirror fringed in feathers! It’s unexpected, it’s pleasantly surprising, it’s design and you can do it in your home too!
One more thought
Last but not least, I want to leave you with one more thought. To create drama and lose the worry of what to hang, just hang frames! Check out these photos below from Leslie over at The Design File. When done in an accent color to your wall color, they make a statement without any artwork at all. Paint them all the same accent color or mix up several complementary colors.
For even more drama, hang on to your seats kids…..paint them all the same color as your wall color! I know! It’s crazy! It’ll never work! Ah, but it will! Check out another photo from The Design File below.
By painting them the same color it actually makes all the little details of the frames stand out more. It also creates a reverse art effect. Instead of the frames being the art, the frames become negative space and the shadows they cast around them and in the detailing become the positive space. We’re saving this concept for ourselves at a future date for a future post. Let’s just say it will involve this concept and a lot of Goodwill and/or thrift store frames.
That’s it, that’s all we’ve got for this post. It’s a lot of information; but, we hope it has inspired you to get out there and start creating your own personalized galleries. Go now! Spread some design love!
Image Sources:
- Apartment Therapy
- Apartment Therapy
- Apartment Therapy
- Apartment Therapy
- Apartment Therapy
- Our Humble A{bowe}d
- An assortment of products from West Elm
- The Design File
- The Design File
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