A month or so ago I set up a grid style gallery wall on my landing. Inspired by the beautiful home tour of Leoma, from Style The Clutter, I’ve wanted to do this for absolutely ages.
I will hold my hands up and say I’m a bit of a stickler when it comes to gallery walls. As much as I admire an artfully curated collective with higgledy-piggledy placed frames, it will make me feel a bit antsy if it were on my own wall. I know. I’m just so uptight.
The wall in question has a right-angled corner round to our bedroom and bathroom. Any thick frames would protrude off the wall and were likely to be knocked so I went as thin as I could go. Thankfully The Range had some dirt cheap A4 numbers for less than 3 quid each.
I went to a local framer to make custom mounts. They were only £2 each and I think each frame looks like it cost far more than it actually did. I had the apertures made at 4 inches to fit the height of a regular 6×4 photograph. Once the photos were in place then I was ready to mount on the wall.
Grid Style Gallery Wall Tutorial
What’s about to follow is a very contrived tutorial for an evenly spaced grid style gallery wall, should you to wish to be a tad OCD too.
I think if you were some form of Superwoman you would be able to do this with one pair of hands but a second person is more than helpful.
You Will Need
FramesTape MeasureSpirit LevelCommand Strips
What To Do
Position your frames on the floor beforehand so you can check you’re happy with the layoutApply command strips to the back of your frame. I’ve done a gallery wall with nails before and find this so much easier.Measure the distance from left to right of the chosen space, and then measure the width of an individual frame. Multiply the frame width by the amount of frames (in this case, 3) and subtract from the overall wall width. (You still with me?!) This will give you the total amount of space between the edge of the frames and walls.Divide this by the number of frames + one (So if you have three frames, then divide the total number by four). This results in the distance you need from the edge of the wall to the first frame, and so on.Use the same principle above to measure height. Alternatively, do what we did, and use your eye.You’ll probably find it easiest to firstly put in place the middle frame of the top row. Use a tape measure to measure halfway along the wall, mark lightly with pencil and then secure the frame in place using the command strip application instructions. Use a small spirit level to check the frame is straight.
Then using the distance calculated above measure the gap to the next frame. Roughly position the frame in place then peel off the film and guide into the spot. We found it was easiest if one of us held the tape measure and the spirit level while the other took charge of the frame. Before you press the command strip to the wall use the spirit level to bridge the gap across the two frames to ensure they’re straight. To double-check, also put the spirit level vertically against the height of the frame. When you’re comfortable the frame is in the correct position, hang in place.Use the same steps above to hang all frames and then step back and admire the view.
Landing Before and After
As you can see from the before picture, the landing wasn’t the most inspiring of places to start with. It was also the site of the gone off paint incident and so when it was finally painted (Dulux Super Matt White if anyone’s interested) and carpeted we left it for a year or so. Before Felix was born we ticked off loads of jobs on the to-do list, and one of them was to find something to fill the blank walls. The wall above the stairs is ridiculously bumpy. I had wanted picture ledge shelves there but it would have been impossible. Instead, my dad papered one wall with John Lewis & Partners Ipanema Heritage Wallpaper in Plaster Pink. I’m told palms and botanicals are on their way out but I love how the paper transformed the space.
The stool is a vintage one I found in Market Harborough many years ago and the lift up lid has really handy storage inside. The lamp is an old one from one Felix’s room was a guest bedroom and the faux sheepskin rug is from Ikea.
