Creating Personalized Gallery Walls in 5 Easy Steps

creating a personalized gallery wall

One of my favorite aspects of decor in our home are the two gallery walls I have. There’s one in our living room and and one on our stairwell and I just love how personalized I can make them.

Here is how my stairwell looked before:

stairwell before

Overwhelming with character, huh? I only had three of my kids’ pictures on the wall, and I’m pretty proud that I even had the 4th child’s picture taken! When I got ready to put his picture up, I decided to go ahead and add some fun touches that would personalize the wall.

One thing I’ve learned over the years- which The Nester  reiterates- is “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”  Seriously. Make it look good, and then stop! I used to drive myself crazy if something wasn’t “just so”, but then I wouldn’t do anything because nothing in life is perfect.

Here’s how to create your own gallery wall!

1.) Gather everything you would like to be on your wall. This can include framed photos, prints you like, art you or your kids have made, fun little knick knacks our souvenirs. If it can be placed on the wall and you love it, it’s fair game!

collage Collage

In our gallery wall, included the handmade Texas Collage the older kids and I made. You can see how to make it here. I also have a personalized print from A Royal Daughter on the wall that has special meaning for our family, as well as other items I “shopped” from other parts in my home. The iron doorknob came from Hobby Lobby for about $4 and the beautiful wreath was made by my friend Kristi.
I’m also a big fan of letters (go figure, I’m a writer) so I also included our last name with each letter in a different style.
2.) Lay everything out on the floor and play around with it until you figure out a layout that you like.
collage on floor
Sorry for the awful iPhone pic, but it’s what I’ve got! As you can see in the “after” picture, I ended up totally changing the layout of the gallery, but I at least had an idea of what I had to work with and how everything fit together.
3.) If you feel that you have a few “empty” areas, “re-shop” your house and then if you still can’t find anything, make a trip to Hobby Lobby or even Dollar Tree for a few pretties. The only things I bought specifically for this wall were the doorknob and one of the letters for our last name- everything else I already had!
4.) Get to hanging! I seriously didn’t measure much- I just eyeballed it. I had to get my husband to help a few times because there were some areas on the stair well I just could not reach. Here’s what I ended up with. (I changed our last name for privacy reasons!)
The lighting in the entry wasn’t allowing a good picture for some reason- it looks much better in person!
gallery 2
5.) Add items as you travel or find them around your home! The great thing about a gallery wall is that it is not perfect, and therefore adding items here and there will only make it look better and more personal to your home and family.
Do you have a gallery wall in your home? I’d love to see pictures! I’m always looking for new ideas.
About Kelli Hays

Kelli Hays is a wife, mother, writer, and friend. She has been blogging since 2008 and loves sharing inspiration for the everyday woman!

Comments

  1. I love this! It came out so nice. You did a really nice job.
    ~FringeGirl

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