Like most projects, galley walls require some planning
Credit to Author: Kathleen Freimond| Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2019 13:15:25 +0000
One of the great things about gallery walls is there are no hard-and-fast rules. Inspired by the concept first seen way back in 17th-century France where ‘salons’ or shows featured framed art hung from floor to ceiling to maximize viewing space, more current arrangements are a way to group collections to create focal points or to decorate spaces like stair walls.
Like most projects, creating a gallery wall requires some planning, says interior designer Stephanie Hilton of Chilliwack-based Stephanie Hilton Design. Personal design style and the collection of art, photographs and objects make each gallery wall unique.
“There are so many different looks depending on your style. It could be clean and structured, using the same colour and type of frame; a more casual, boho look that uses a variety of frames; a vintage look that is inspired by thrifted and vintage-style frames; or a combination of old and new,” she says.
When she is creating a gallery wall, Hilton collects all the pieces – that may range from family photographs to prints, art and even sculptural items – and then creates a plan to scale.
For a grouping of family portraits, interior designer Stephanie Hilton suggests the wall of a staircase is a good location since it’s a place the family walk by many times a day.
Map it out rather like a floor plan, but for the wall, she advises, and suggests starting with the most important item in the grouping.
“If you know what can’t change – whether it’s a piece of art, a photo or a piece of family memorabilia – start there, and then arrange the pieces that can change,” she says. “Nowadays, photographs are digital so you can have prints made to the size that you need for your plan,” says Hilton, adding it’s important to scale the images appropriately.
“If the wedding photo is the most important item in the gallery wall, then make sure it is larger than the other photos. Also, depending on your stylee consider whether you want the photos to be colour or black and white,” she says.
While hanging a single piece of art at eye level – or as a general guide, at five feet – is often advised, for a gallery wall, place the most significant piece at this height or where it can be easily seen.
“It does depend on what you’re putting on the wall but also ensure that smaller pieces are not hung too high, you need to be able to see what is in the frame,” says Hilton.
Using the same colour and type of frame creates a clean and structured look.
To create a more organized look, she often hangs items to create straight borders and then decides on the placement within that framework. Using one style or colour of frame also results in a more structured approach and she suggests retailers like Ikea have a good selection. If you’re looking for single frames, HomeSense and Amazon have a good range, she says.
Gallery walls can also be problem-solvers, says Hilton, who recently completed a project to minimize the visual impact of a TV.
“Sometimes a TV becomes the focal point of a room because it is so big, and it can overwhelm a small space,” she says. Her solution was to create a gallery wall of prints, all in black frames, around the TV, thereby softening the influence of the TV.
Family keepsakes and memorabilia are often important components of a gallery wall, says Hilton, who included plates owned by her mother in her curated grouping. A guitar that had been passed down through several generations of a family anchored a recent gallery wall installation and another grouping included a print-out on vintage-look paper of Mystic by Van Morrison, the song played at a couple’s wedding.
Gallery walls provide a great opportunity for creativity, says Hilton. A grouping can often benefit from a different shape or injection of colour. Consider incorporating items like mirrors and clocks and framing fabric and wallpaper.
“Mirrors really work if you can place them on walls opposite windows, that way they create illusion that the room is bigger. Wallpaper is a wonderful and inexpensive option. You can sometimes get samples that are large enough to frame to inject some pattern into your gallery wall,” she says.
For a grouping of family portraits, Hilton suggests the wall of a staircase is a good location since it’s a place the family walk by many times a day. However, she suggests using the best-possible quality images, preferably taken by a professional photographer.
“Many times, those photos on your phone are just too low-resolution and the prints are not great quality,” she says.