Creating a Perfect Picture Wall Gallery

You see them so often in design magazines and home decorating shows. Those lovely picture walls. Whether you use personalized frames photos or some other type of wall decor, picture collections can be the focal point of a room. They are also great for those hard to decorate areas such as stairwells and hallways.

For a long time, the advice was to organize all of your pictures in a square. It is a method that is really simple and effective. However, it might not suit your style or accomodate the pictures you have hang on the wall. The guide on the left was developed by Brenda Knight photography. It is a great resource, and covers most situations you might encounter.

Personally, I try to make sure there is a certain symetry to what I am doing. Although that can mean the size of the picture, that sometimes means your configuration is guided by the subject matter. I rmember the rules from my days as a page editor. Have the faces looking into the page, try not to cut off faces, and don't stack all the 'heavy' colors on one side of the page. The same goes for arranging your photos.

Before you put nails in the wall, organize them on the floor. See what they look like together. Another approach is to cut out the shape of your picture with brown craft wrap, write an identifier on it and hang them on the wall to see what the configuration would look like. Then, make sure to measure, measure, and measure again. Getting the photos hung at the proper height will make them look better. For me, it drives me bananas to know they need corrected. It is definitely worth taking the time to do.

The most important thing to remember is that you can experiment and move them around as you see them in your home every day. If something it doesn't feel right, trust that instinct and play around a little. You won't regret it.

Enjoy!

Linda @ Urban Cottage