A Gallery Wall...Moore House Style
The gallery wall isn’t going anywhere! But do you know what changes? How designers approach it. Everyone adapts it slightly to their own style. We love art at Moore House and spend a lot of time curating our clients’ existing collections and finding beautiful new pieces to incorporate. While we don’t always immediately jump to a gallery wall set-up, here are some of our best tips and tricks for creating one that feels unique to your space—and best of all—looks beautiful too.
A little history…
Did you know that gallery walls got their start in 17th century France? It was a way for art students and more established artists to display their work, only instead of a small sampling there was literally floor to ceiling artwork. The best artists were given the most coveted spots, which were right in visitors eye line on the wall. Gallery walls gained popularity in the US during the Industrial Revolution, people had a taste for more luxury goods and the design aesthetic of the day was definitely more is more. Gallery walls offered a perfect opportunity to show off their accumulated art collections.
That brings us to today, the popularity of gallery walls doesn’t seem to be waning and they’ve been going strong for over ten years now. It’s a great way to add personality if you’re short on square footage but have plenty of wall space. Here are some great tips to get you started (and show off the versatility of the medium).
It takes time!
There are a lot of different ways to do a gallery wall and it may take quite a few nails, eye-squints, and head tilts to get it right in your own space (it takes us a good amount of time too). So don’t feel like you need to instantly have it all together, the beauty of a gallery wall is that you can keep adding to it over time.
Embrace your own aesthetic
While we prefer to make ours more organic in feeling, playing with the negative space around each piece, that’s not the only way to do it! If you have more modern style and love symmetry, make a perfect grid instead! Work with the space you have and do a little stack (great if you’re working with a smaller wall). If you’re looking for a little inspiration, this website has a great little gallery wall tool that shows off many potential layouts and arrangements.
Always keep color in mind.
Color is one of the most important parts of design—art selections should be a continuation of your palette and or add something that is missing or needed to your palette, whether or not that is a pop of color or something else to really enhance the mood of a space.
We love this stunning Insta account—@faringsohuset. It provides tons of inspiration so be sure to check them out and give them a follow.
Hanging in there…
It doesn’t need to be literal to tie in.
Just because your room is green doesn't mean your art needs to be. Think of the balance of wood tones and grounding colors in your space. If your light fixture has a pop of black metal in it, maybe you need a piece to balance that. A charcoal sketch or thin lined drawing might be just the thing to bring out the black accents in the room.
Lay it out before you pick up a hammer.
One thing we like to do when we’re deciding on the layout (if we’re working with pre-existing art and aren’t including new pieces), is to cut paper the same size as each of the framed pieces we’re using and arrange the paper squares all over the floor. We do this until we find and arrangement that makes our eyes happy. Then we tape them up on the wall and see how we feel. This process takes time! If this is your first gallery wall or you’re feeling iffy about how you want to arrange it, take the time, it’s easier than arranging all of the art and putting nails in the wall right away.
Be selective!
Go personal and be critical, only use pieces you truly love...after all it’s your home! If you have a piece you’re particularly fond of, or has some sort of significance to you, let that play the starring role. It helps if it’s a larger piece because it will anchor the whole wall. We always like to have a good variety of shapes, sizes, and styles in any given arrangement—this makes it a little more visually intriguing.
Feeling inspired? Here are some prints to shop if you’re looking to round out your own gallery wall:
Floral Line Print
Georges Rouault, Dancers
Charcoal Figure Study
Benson Cobb, Dune II
Lillian August, Golden View 1
Piazza Sketch Framed Print
Boulevard Montparnasse Framed Print
Vintage Etching
Classic Architecture Prints
French Ceiling Plan Art
Architecture Drawing Minimalist
Also! Shop Vintage Supply has a lot of great vintage prints at very affordable prices so check them out.
Header image: Erin McGinn
One of our favorite gallery wall inspo pics from a barn makeover by the crazy talented Emily Henderson. Photo by Genevieve Garruppo.
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