Ask Joshua - Art Gallery Wall Tips

Hi Joshua,

I love seeing art gallery walls in some of my friends’ homes, in magazines, and saw a couple of your works that included them. I recently finally got a place of my own. My living room has an empty wall which is perfect for an art gallery wall. The problem? I’m at a loss of where to start since I don’t own a single piece of art yet! I’m also not sure what size, type of art, and frames I should get. I’m wondering if there are any rules or tips that I need to be aware before I look for the right art.

Please advise.

Nicole - New York City, New York

Modern eclectic style living room with art gallery wall designed by Joshua Jones, JJones Design Co.

Hi Nicole,

Thank you for the great question on needing some starter tips get an art gallery wall going!

1. The art size isn’t matter - you can get any large to tiny art pieces and mix them up. As you expand the art gallery wall then you will know how much space you have left to add additional pieces to complete it so you will know what sizes you will need to get.

2. The frames don’t always have to be matchy-matchy. You can get any different frame styles from simple wood frame to carved frames. I included an inspiration photo on this blog so you can see how it would look with different kinds of frames but still looking great together.

3. Art is subjective and very personal as people react differently to it. For an art gallery wall - it can be mixed with different types of art like abstract, photography, print, fine painting, textured, mixed media, etc. Just select any art piece that speaks to you and makes you happy. Let your art gallery wall represent you. You can totally go thematic if you want too, e.g. all black and white landscape photography in black metal frames if that’s really your thing. Just please don’t do anything trendy or feel you have to buy pieces because they “go together”.

4. It depends on your personal design style - you might want to consider having an accent wall by either painting or wallpaper before you put the art gallery wall on it to make art pieces pop.

5. When you’ve selected all your pieces to start, I recommend placing them all out on the floor to see how they look together. You can move around and arrange all you want until you’re happy with how they all “fit” together before you start putting holes in the wall…it can really save you a lot of headaches! In general though, I recommend spacing art 2-6 inches away from each other. You can even notice from the above example that not all the pieces are even on the wall as propped up pieces on furniture or the floor can also be incorporated.

I hope that helps. Have fun shopping for your art and putting it all together! :)

Joshua

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