Gallery wall design: Secrets & ideas from the experts

While designers are always coming up with new ideas for gallery walls, some tricks and guidelines remain constant. To create a great gallery wall of your own, you can consult common layouts and formulas to help keep your design cohesive and exciting. Here are some secrets to designing the perfect gallery wall:

Plan your layout

Save yourself time and energy by planning your gallery layout before you hang anything on the wall. One of the simplest ways to accomplish this is to lay everything flat on the floor. You can easily shuffle your pieces around until you find the perfect arrangement and transfer it to the wall. Alternatively, you can use collage apps and other virtual design tools to create a digital plan.

Keep colors cohesive

While it's not strictly necessary to have a specific theme for your gallery wall, the best gallery walls have a cohesive color scheme. You can build your color scheme around one particular piece, or use it as a guide for curating your collection. Sometimes all it takes is one single color in common to tie the entire gallery together.

Go big, then small

If you're stuck trying to figure out a layout, one secret is to start with the largest piece first. It doesn't need to be in the center of the gallery, but using the smaller elements to build around the largest piece is an excellent starting point. If you're going for a more formal approach and have pieces of identical sizes, choose whichever you think grabs the most attention.

Break up the grid

Formal gallery walls with perfect symmetry can be both elegant and bold. However, don't be afraid to break up the grid. Hang pictures and other pieces at different vertical heights to create a more interesting aesthetic. Using a mixture of shapes can also work wonders for making your gallery more dynamic.