THE FRAMING LIBRARY | FRAMEWORKS NORTHWEST

Gallery walls are one of the most personal and creative ways to decorate your home. They allow you to display artwork, family photos, travel memories, and meaningful objects all in one place.

But while gallery walls can look effortless, the best ones usually follow a few simple design principles.

At Frameworks Northwest in Port Townsend, we help customers plan gallery walls all the time. Here are a few professional tips that will help you create a gallery wall that feels balanced, intentional, and beautiful.

Every successful gallery wall begins with a visual anchor.

This is typically the largest piece, or the one that carries the most visual weight. It becomes the starting point around which the rest of the arrangement develops.

Place this piece first, then build the surrounding layout around it.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is hanging frames before planning the full layout.

Instead, start by arranging your frames on the floor.

Move the pieces around until the spacing and balance feel right. This step alone can save you from making unnecessary holes in the wall.

Here’s a trick framers recommend all the time.

1. Trace each frame onto kraft paper or newspaper
2. Cut out the shapes
3. Tape the paper templates to the wall using painter’s tape
   

Now you can stand back and evaluate the layout.

Move pieces up or down until everything feels balanced.

When you're ready, simply hammer the nails through the paper templates, remove the paper, and hang the frames.

This simple trick makes gallery wall planning much easier.

Consistency is what makes a gallery wall feel intentional rather than random. A good guideline is to keep spacing between frames around 2–4 inches. Closer spacing tends to make the arrangement feel more cohesive.

Gallery walls look best when they include variety in frame sizes.

A balanced layout might include:

• One or two larger pieces
• Several medium pieces
• A few smaller accents

Spread larger pieces across the wall rather than clustering them in one area.

Not at all.

Some gallery walls use matching frames for a clean, modern look. Others mix different frame styles for a more collected feel.

The key is to create a visual thread that ties the wall together.

That could be:

• Similar mat colors
• Frames in related tones
• A repeating design style

A common mistake is designing the frames around the room instead of the artwork.

Professional framers always start with the same philosophy:

Frame for the art first.

When the artwork is presented well, it naturally becomes the focal point of the room.

Gallery walls often combine many different types of artwork: photographs, prints, paintings, and meaningful keepsakes.

Custom framing helps unify those pieces while still allowing each one to shine.

Sometimes it's as simple as adjusting mat spacing or frame width so everything works together visually.

If you're thinking about creating a gallery wall, feel free to bring your pieces into Frameworks Northwest.

We’re always happy to help customers plan layouts, choose frames, and design arrangements that will grow over time.

Because the best gallery walls aren’t built all at once.

They evolve — piece by piece — telling the story of the people who live there.