The Best Tips for Hanging a Gallery Wall

Today I wanted to share some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way when it comes to hanging a gallery wall. I fondly remember the beautiful walls my dad created in our homes growing up. Maybe that’s why I’ve never been afraid to start hammering away to fill our walls. Just recently I moved a collection of nine frames from our powder room to our upstairs hallway. Sharing it on stories, many of you asked how it could be done so quickly. Here are my best tips for quickly and accurately hanging a grid wall.

GALLERY WALL TIPS

Of course you don’t need to hang your gallery wall quickly but I hope that these tips remove some of your trepidation. It really isn’t as hard as it seems if you methodically follow a few simple steps. For reference, this gallery wall consists of nine frames measuring 11″ x 11″.

WHAT YOU NEED

• hammer
• nails
• pencil
• measuring tape
• level
• post-it notes (helpful but not necessary)

LOCATE THE CENTER

I hung this gallery wall and then deconstructed it to show you the process so that is why you see all of the nails. But the very first step is finding the center of your wall (horizontally). Use a tape measure and locate the center. That is where your first frame will go. Rather than find the center vertically, I like the middle frame to land about eye level.

Once you have the center, hold the frame in place and simply mark (using a pencil the top of the frame. Be sure to mark it in the center.

MEASURE CAREFULLY

Here is the most important part. Because my frames were sent from Framebridge, the hanger were all positioned in the exact same spot and really did not vary. But I’ve hung walls where the hangers are off by as much as a 1/4″. Carefully measure from the top of the frame to where the nail will be. I am pointing to that with the pen.

MY BEST TIP

I like to use a post-it note to write that measurement on the back of each frame. It’s my foolproof way of making sure the frames are hung correctly.

MEASURE FOR THE NAIL

When you go to insert the nail, just look at the post it and use a tape measure to be sure your mark the nail at the right spot. So here I measured 7/16 from my original mark on the wall and placed a dot.

INSERT THE NAIL

Once you’ve marked the right spot, insert your nail and you are good to go.

USE A LEVEL

Now move to the right and left of your first frame. You’ll want to use a level to be sure they are straight. The same level will also help you space your frames two inches apart. Repeat the process: mark the center, find the measurement of where the nail should be, bust out your hammer.

WORK LEFT AND RIGHT

WORK UP AND DOWN

Next, hang the frames above and below.

ADD YOUR CORNERS

lace top | jeans | frames | bracelet

I always hang the four corners last By that time, they easily line up and you should have no problem getting them on the wall.

CHOOSING YOUR GALLERY WALL

This gallery wall consists of candid shots from our Instagram so they are a mix of colors and subjects. It’s more of a casual feel. If it’s a larger gallery wall or more formal look, you may want to frame photos that are all in the same color one (we did that in our master bedroom).

If your frames do not have a center sawtooth hanger, just adjust the measuring method accordingly. I have learned, however, that sometimes it is worth adding the center hanger to each frame. It makes hanging the wall so much easier.

our master bedroom

This is an example of the photos being very similar in subject and color. You can also easily achieve that with black and white photos.

If your gallery wall consists of two or four rows, you won’t have a center photo. Choose the top middle if your have two rows and begin with the second row middle if you are hanging 12 frames.

I hope these gallery wall tips remove some of the fear when it comes to putting holes in your walls. You’ve got this and you’ll love walking by your new gallery wall every day.