How to Design a Gorgeous Gallery Wall

Four designer ways to style your fave snapshots, prints and canvases.

Grab your hammers and nails—and levels! An effortlessly-chic gallery wall is hard to master (trust us, we’ve tried), but these designer tips will make the task seem far less intimidating. (Photo: Tracey Ayton)

1. Play with Dimensions

A mix of framed prints and sculptural objects (a faux horsehead, antique mailbag and gilded wishbone) hang in designer Erica Cook’s living room, adding volume to an otherwise one-dimensional feature wall.Pro Tip: A grounded colour palette will keep the variety of shapes and sizes from looking too chaotic.

2. Break It Up

The gallery wall in this Nam Dang-Mitchell-designed basement breaks up the room’s expanse of drywall, adding intrigue—and a pop-of brightness from the all-white frames.Pro Tip: Avoid creating too many straight lines. The gentle arc of this gallery’s arrangement compliments the cozy, intimate space. (Photo: Sarah Murray)

3. Start with a Blank Canvas

If you want to display a varied art collection (like actor Callum Keith Rennie did in his loft), stick to white walls. This will allow the colourful artwork to take centre stage.Pro Tip: Build up your gallery around other furnishings. Here, the desk and adjacent shelf could have been obtrusive, but instead gave the actor the chance to get creative with placement. (Photo: Tracey Ayton)

4. Scale Down

A gallery doesn’t have to be large. The homeowner of this Gaile Guevara-designed space chose a narrow wall for his collection of snapshots.Pro Tip: Don’t overthink the layout. A mix of picture orientations may look haphazard, but the less-than-perfect arrangement keeps it from being too precious.

For more design tips, subscribe to the WL Daily!