Creating a Gallery Wall & Some Tips

We’ve hung up some family photos.  It has taken a while and finally they are up!

I am so happy about this because there is nothing that makes a home feel like your own than when you are surrounded by images of those you love and happy memories.

We actually have been enjoying this family gallery wall for some time but still wanted to add more and fix a few things before sharing, but alas a few months have passed and those little things aren’t fixed.  So without further ado – our gallery wall –

Our upstairs hallway is quite long (30 feet) and when I first saw it I knew it would be the perfect place for our many family photos.  The big obstacle up here was to get rid of the original lights which didn’t suit our taste AND didn’t throw much light.  The walls needed to be repainted.

The original color was Garden Path Green by Benjamin Moore, but I found this color absorbed the light in the hall making it quite dark. Here you can see the color on our landing:

You can see the swatch taped to the wall and how much lighter it is from the green.  We switched it out for Muslin by Benjamin Moore which is a light and warm color.  It really warms up the dark woodwork too.

The school house lights are by Lowes and I kind of have a crush on them.  The runner and pictures were used at our old house.  The runner is a tad too short but works for now.

When planning a gallery wall it is nice to have an idea of what photos you want to use.  We unwrapped many of our photos, which were in large boxes down in the basement from our move, and placed them on the floor under where I thought they should go.

Once that was decided it was time to hang them up.  Luke is the one who measures and hammers the nails, I’m the place holder and in charge of placement.

Creating a Family Gallery Wall Tips:

1. Don’t just put up hooks. Figure out the height you want the top, or the bottom, of the picture and measure the position of the hook from there, unless all of the frames are exactly the same.
2. Spacing is important.  The center of the pictures should be about eye level.
3. For interest mix different colors and style frames – for our’s we did stretched canvas, Ikea white frames, and more ornate wood.  But a mix of metals and painted frames look nice too.
4. Break the rules!  Hang wedding photos with beach photos.  Mix casual and formal.

So here is our gallery wall! We’ve mixed frame styles from stretch canvases to ornate frames as well as simple white ones from Ikea.

This one of John is so special it was from our family trip to Florida and the color of the foam was so magical:

See that vibrant blue peeking out of the guest room?!?  That is another one of the things we want to change and it will happen eventually.

A photo from our wedding (this one is of me and my dad) hangs in a quite intricate frame:

Opposite is this image I found on Etsy and think it looks so much like our little Poppy:

I like how the modern frames pop against the walls and antique woodwork. I’ve also added sweet images of Scituate. This one was taken by a professional photographer of two swans in Scituate Harbor by the lighthouse. Two in love:

Isn’t that a pretty photograph?

Our bedrooms and bathroom flank this hallway and down at the end there is still some room to add more family photos.

I’m planning on getting these gorgeous images from our trip to Cornwall, England last year as stretched canvases.

To create a meaningful home one must live in the space before “decorating” it.  I’m so glad we’re taking our time deciding colors and living in our home before crossing everything off the “to do list”. There is still so many things & I’ll share the large and small projects with you.

Walking through this gallery of photos in the morning and on the way to bed at night really makes me grateful for the many blessings I have.

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Thoughts from Alice