There’s a wonderful moment in life when you realise you have free will and can do whatever you want in your own house. I had this revelation a few years ago and have unleashed my inner child upon my house and have started creating a cosy, safe, fun and colourful home. Honestly, it’s been super healing, fun and walking around my home brings me so much joy; instant dopamine boost! As with all fun house projects, it can take time to finally get around to doing them; one such project for me was creating a gallery wall for my sewing room. Today’s post is all about creating the gallery wall of my dreams and the journey of creating my wall space.

Gallery walls are a decorative collage of mismatched art, wall decor and accoutrements all clustered together on a single wall or space. Generally, you can find them in hallways, along staircases and in central viewing areas of the home where they can be displayed and admired. Over the years, gallery walls have come and gone with trends and in various styles and aesthetics (remember those gallery walls full of black and white family photos being popular in the 2010’s?). For my own gallery wall, I wanted something that was a cross between grandma cottage-core, cosy retro and antique which means that I would be adding lots of floral prints, looking for gold and brass accent tones, and mixing in a few textures and fun items.

As always, a budget was strictly followed and most of my items came from op shops/second hand/thrift stores. For my gallery wall, I began collecting frames and prints over two years ago (back when the room was still pink) and would check out op shops for unqiue frames and other fun wall decor whenever I was out and about. I was more than happy to repaint, adjust and alter anything I found if I wanted it to fit my vibe a little better which helped the budget stretch. Most of my gallery wall, well over 80% of it, was thrifted with $10 being my maximum for any frame. My budget did get tested a few times but I also found some generally cool art along the way. It’s no secret but collecting the frames and art work for a gallery wall can be the most time consuming part.
Of course, if you set out and visit op shops frequently, you are bound to find all your pieces a lot faster. Back when I had more time to thrift, I found most of these frames on only a handful of trips, so it really is the luck bestowed upon you by the thrift store Gods. I also kept an eye out for mirrors that could be used for the frames and wall decor items.

If you don’t have a strict budget, you can buy heaps of cool and unique frames online on places such as Amazon but I’d also check out Facebook groups for weddings, home decor, Facebook Marketplace place and just general stores in your area. I have seen people sell 25+ frames in one listing as they were either getting rid of their own gallery wall, or used the frames for decor for events such as birthdays and weddings. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for frame bargains everywhere.

As well as op shopping, I did find a trio of antique Italian silk frames from an antique store, Down Memory Lane in Canberra. These were some of my favourite finds for the wall and they perfectly work with the new sage green wall colour, I particularly love the fact they depict ballerinas being an ex-ballet dancer myself. From a home decor store in Busselton, I found the sun burst mirror and the bursting velvet heart and then from my mothers house, I “borrowed” two small rounded floral frames and a minature of a fancy lady. With all my pieces ready to go, everything sat in my sewing room cupboard and waited patiently until it was finally time to adhere everything onto the wall.

Personally, I think the best gallery walls are those that aren’t too crowded, they have lots of visual interest which can be achieved through textures (such as frames but also prints) and have personality. Gallery walls with open spaces decored with items such as flying birds, keys, and even candelabras, will be much more visually stunning. As you collect pieces, feel free to grab some spray paint and make things wall decor no matter what it is; I’m personally tempted to spray a plastic snail gold and adhere it to the wall just becuase I can. Don’t rush the artistic process of collecting pieces as with taking your time, you can ensure a more cohesive and personal outcome.

It just so turned out that one Saturday, my darling husband waddled into my sewing room and as we got chatting, somehow magically* we decided that today was the day the gallery wall went up. And up it went! *I honestly have no idea what possessed hubby to offer up his weekend to create a gallery wall with no begging or pleading on my part; I have no idea how it happened, so I can’t offer any tips on roping husbands into helping, unfortunately. More research will be done on this matter, and I’ll be reporting back.

We started by pulling out all the frames and art I had collected over the last two years and placing them onto the floor. I then rearranged all my frames into having some sort of cohesion, and many photos were taken to remember the frame placements. Each frame was then traced and cut out of newspaper or old Christmas wrapping paper to create a template that’s easy to move. By putting some Blu-Tack onto the back of these templates, we then arranged the wall until we were happy with it. By using Blu-tack templates, this meant that making changes and adjustments was super easy to do, and it’s a recommended step.

Tip: label everything if you are making a template. Don’t think that you’ll remember what each frame is because it can get confusing so grab a pen and scribble down what the frame is for eg. Small square gold frame for star photos.

If you have the means and the patience, using a laser wall level/grid can really help you space out your gallery wall but it’s ok to not use one if you don’t have the correct equipment. We didn’t have a laser level so a ruler and some faith was all we used.

With our template attached to the wall, we then discussed how we will be attaching everything to the wall. Our final decision was to use a mix of masonary wall frame mounts, screws and command strips. We planned on attaching anything large or heavy using the masonary wall mounts/hooks as these were the most secure and held up to 5kg which was more than enough for what we wanted. Most other frames would be attached with screws and anything really light can be attached with command strips. Although we could have used more command strips, we didn’t want to possibly compromise the back of the antique pieces as they were all backed with fabric and I didn’t want to damage my pieces. If you are renting command strips are incredible and really easy to use incase you can’t just take a drill to the wall whenever you feel like it.

It’s worth nothing that we also originally opted to use picture frame hooks. After our first attempt resulted in a hole in the wall and chunks of plaster falling away from the hole we just made. We realised the picture hooks just weren’t working. Although we lined them up and hammered correctly, they just took out chunks of wall, bent out of shape and then fell out as soon as they were touched. Not wanting to waste time, we tested another patch of wall and had the same result so we ended up deciding not to use the picture hooks. With the wall now sporting two holes, I made up some spacfiller and patched up the walls. The next morning when it had dried I gently sanded the patches and then painted over the wall and honestly, you can’t even see where the holes were anymore. This also meant that we could go ahead and just keep adding screws to the wall instead.

When we finally started attaching screws and hooks to the wall, we did this by marking where we wanted our hooks/screw to be and starting to drill a hole straight through the paper templates. Once marked, we used a vaccuum to keep the drilling process clean and my husband went ahead and drilled all the holes we needed into the wall. Every hole got a screw plug for extra stability and then we attached either the picture hooks or screws. This process took only about an hour but we did do some the next morning as we decided to go back to Bunnings for more wall hooks. In the mean time, we attached what we could with command strips and let them cure before putting up the frames.

The next morning, my husband spent his morning finishing off the gallery wall, which didn’t take very long at all. I was mainly left to tidy up as he went, as well as organising a few things that were disturbed in the garage. I also took this time to spray paint two frames gold, which turned out terribly as the can was mostly empty and would squirt more than spray, but for now, it is fine. As you will see, most of the frames didn’t have artwork to fill them yet, as I was worried about buying art that didn’t work for the space until I had created the space. In order not to have empty picture frames hanging up, I also spent this time cutting up some leftover wallpaper from the room to add to the frames as a temporary solution. I really liked how it looked and feel free to take my time finding the right artwork over the next little while. This is a process that I don’t want to rush, as I can now peruse at my leisure many independent and incredible artists. My goal for this gallery wall is to be cozy, cute and soft in feminine tones.

It took me two years for my gallery wall go from an idea to finally being an executed concept but I couldn’t be happier with the result. I purposely left room above some of the frames for future additions but I also left gaps to add future finds and treasures to the wall. I’d love to find more brass wall decor so I’m excited to keep thrifting and hunting for pieces. I am so grateful to my husband for taking on this project as a whim and taking such an active role in the process. I loved being able to chat with him, have a giggle and enjoy time with him as we just worked on a space together.

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. There are no affiliate links and I do not benefit from any link clicks or purchases made.