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How to Create an Evenly Arranged Picture Gallery Wall

Have you ever seen a beautiful gallery wall?  An array of beautifully placed picture frames, perfectly spaced and even, arranged just right, maybe even perfectly?  I always thought it was luck, until I asked my friend, “How does this look so good!?” and she told me the secret.

At first I was skeptical that I would do it, because it required slightly more steps than one, a hammer and nail, but I thought, what the heck–why not?  I’ll try it the ‘real way.’

How to Create a Lovely Well Spaced Gallery Wall

1.  Start with a big roll of paper.  I used my kid’s Melissa and Doug roll from their easel.  Cover the wall area completely with the paper where you want your gallery wall to be.  As you can see, I used two long pieces on top of each other and taped them up.

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2.  Once you have the right size, cut and paste the paper together to make it one big piece that is the correct size.

Then move it onto an even, flat surface.  This is the fun part, start playing around with your frames!!  This will be the moment you are SO glad you took the time with this paper.  You’ll arrange and rearrange, and get things JUST right, without puncturing your wall repeatedly.

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(We got most of our frames from thrift stores or garage sales and either painted them or covered them in fabric–cheap option)

3. Step 3: TRACE!  When your frames are arranged just right, trace them with a pencil and remove that frame, one at a time, from the surface of the paper.  Also, find the exact spot with your finger where the nail will go for the frame, and make a little dot with your pencil on the paper.  Some frames may need two nails, mark them both on the paper.

 

4. Take all your frames off, your paper should look like a bunch of penciled boxes and rectangles with little dots in them.  Tape the paper back on the desired wall.  

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5.  Hammer and Nails: On each nail hole dot that you drew, hammer your nail–straight through the paper.  When you are done, slowly remove the paper, leaving the nails in place.

 

6.  This step is the BEST PART!  This is the exact reason you took this paper step:  One by one, hang each frame on the nail waiting for them.  No measuring, no worrying about spacing, no adding or removing nails, just hang each one up, one at a time.IMG_0428

 

In a minute or two, after you hang each up,  you’ll have a perfectly spaced and arranged gallery wall!  I was SO glad I took the prep time, perhaps I will learn prep in projects is a GOOD THING!

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Voila!  Even with the prep time, this process using the paper to prep was much quicker than winging it would have been.  With no frustration or damaged walls.

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Pin for later —> http://www.pinterest.com/pin/181762534936181050/

 

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  • K D August 14, 2014, 12:48 pm

    Amy,

    This is brilliant, I just pinned it. Thank you.