DIY Gallery Wall Tips on a Budget
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Truth: I love children’s artwork. Even before I had children, I was always inspired by the pure art forms that take place from a child’s paintbrush or pencil. The beautiful colors, and the willingness to just create without thinking too much about it always makes me smile. I have wanted to do a gallery wall featuring my children’s artwork for a long time. I was intimidated to start because I wanted it to be perfect. But then, I realized I could take a nod from my children’s artwork and just go for it! And, that is what I did.
Inspired by my children’s art, I wanted it to be fun and happy! The backdrop wall is at the top of the stairway that leads to the upstairs which is a multi-use space as a playroom, a craft room, and a theatre area. Now, it is so fun to watch my children as they walk up the stairs and stare at their art work with pride.
Gallery walls elevate any space. I love how they can transform and personalize a space. However, they can also be expensive and a bit intimidating. I have a stacked gallery wall in my children’s bedroom that I love, as well as a more unconventional one using vintage tea towels in our kitchen. I also have a more traditional gallery wall featuring some of my favorite family portraits in black and white in wooden frames on both sides of our hallway.
As I have said before, I am no design or DIY expert. I am just a curious person wanting to try new things and save some money along the way. That said, as I was putting this gallery wall up I kept thinking of tips that helped me along the way and I wanted to share my experience. Hopefully this inspires you to just go for it, and try your own gallery wall! Please let me know if you have any additional suggestions at elizabeth@countrypeony.com. I love hearing from you!
Step 1: Tools for a DIY Gallery Wall
Before you get started, here are some tools that helped me:
Step 2: Decide on the artwork that you want to use.
Thrift stores, antique malls, garage and estate sales are great places to search for fun, inexpensive art. You can always change out the frames (more on that in Step 3). The silhouettes are from antique and thrift stores. They help to ground the colorful space.
Invest in some key pieces to ground the space. Add those key, larger pieces in the middle then accent and surround those pieces with smaller ones.
Shop your Home. To keep costs down, you can always reuse pieces from around the house. I have had some of these pieces in storage from our old house in Houston. It was fun re-discovering them and using them here. Don’t forget about older pieces.
Children’s Art. As mentioned above I love children’s artwork, and it is a very inexpensive way to dress up a room with color.
Family Pictures. I love family pictures on walls. I actually have a gallery wall flanking my hallway that features some precious black and white family pictures in wooden frames.
Etsy. Etsy has some beautiful artwork made by wonderful artisans, as well as great vintage pieces that can add so much character.
Homemade Art. You can invite some friends over and have a fun paint party to create some beautiful art, or you can create your own like I did in my master bedroom using my children’s silhouettes (please see below), and the DIY heart art that I made for Valentine’s Day and added to my gallery wall.
Unconventional Items. A gallery wall doesn’t have to be just prints or pictures. It can also include more unconventional items like these tea towels that I purchased at Round Top a couple of years ago that dress up my kitchen (please see picture below). I also want to make a gallery wall for my husband’s beautiful antique hand woodworking tools (still trying to figure that one out).
Add Beautiful backdrop. I fell in love with Maggie Holmes designs: the perfect mix of pretty, whimsical and classic. So, to balance out and add interest to my kid’s pieces I added her pretty paper to the back of them.
Step 3: Determine what frames you want to use.
Decide if you want to go with a similar frame size, color scheme, or mix and match like I did.
Remember to save cost spray paint can be your best friend. You can always spray paint an old frame or matte from an old picture to give it a new, fresh look for a fraction of the cost and to fit your new gallery wall.
I love searching for frames at thrift stores because frames can get expensive. Truth, most of the frames in this gallery wall cost me less than $5 as I got them at thrift stores or from Wal Mart. Then I spray painted them with Rustoleum’s Paint and Primer Gold Spray Paint.
Step 4: Determine the placement of your frames.
You can keep a uniformed and structured look like I did in my kitchen gallery wall, or you can be more abstract with the placement like I did in my stiarway gallery wall. Some things that may help in this situation are:
1) Structure of the wall itself. I chose this abstract style placement for the stairway because the wall lent itself to being random with its tilted top. For my hallway gallery wall and kitchen gallery wall I went with a structured box setup because of the square space.
2) Style of the pictures. For my hallway gallery wall I wanted the family pictures to take center stage so I chose a very structured, grid-like placement. For the stairway wall I played off of the whimsical flair of the children’s artwork and honestly “winged” it, and it was so much fun!
3) Personal preference. Your personal style may not like the abstract approach and it may seek structure, so go with it, or vice versa. At the end of the day, you have to do what makes your heart happy in your home.
4) Trial and Error. If you can’t decide, it may be helpful to cut pieces of kraft paper that are the same sizes and shapes of your frames and attach the paper to the wall with painter’s tape or gaffer’s tape (please see below). Then give it a couple of days and decide if you like the placement, or change it around.
I hope this inspires you to create your own gallery wall, saving money in the meantime!
For your interest, I have included a full resource list below of items featured in my gallery wall.
I believe creating is more fun when we share our projects. Please email me at elizabeth@countrypeony.com, or please tag me @thecountrypeony or #countrypeony to show me your beautiful, custom creation!
Happy Crafting!
