do you struggle with wall art? do you have lots of random pieces that you don’t know how to arrange? well this is the perfect blog post for you! i’ve learned lots of tricks when it comes to perfecting the gallery wall, and many of them will save you tons of money! (everyone loves saving money!) the first thing you must understand is that unique gallery walls take time to curate. you might have a piece of art you bought on vacation, a random mirror you grabbed at goodwill, and maybe a wall-hanging you found on clearance, that when combined help create the perfect space!
*a quick tip before actually hanging anything, lay it all out on the floor in the amount of space you’re trying to fill.*
let’s begin! first — mix it up. unless you’re creating a really regal, fancy schmancy space, mixing up colors, black and white, and wood will help create a visually pleasing arrangement. focus on small accent parts of each piece and use it to your advantage. below you will find a picture of the space above my sofa. the elephant canvas print i scored at goodwill for $4! in the watercolor painting above, i chose to use a turquoise color that was present in the elephant canvas. in the bottom right, i painted an abstract to add more color, since i also wanted to include plain black & white, as seen in the large print on the top right (things all about the south by methane studios!) and in the “welcome y’all” sign in the middle. i also love adding mirrors into gallery walls. this one was a snag from a friend who moved to australia and gave me SO MANY of her awesome things. (shout out to kristin!)
here are a couple of close-ups!
onto gallery wall number two! this one resides in my bedroom on a stenciled accent wall. (yes, that took FOREVER to do with a 6″ x 6″ stencil! but worth it.) you will notice i also threw a mirror into this one. there are also three original pieces of art – one i got at a warehouse sale, one i scored off the streets of new orleans, and one i commissioned a sweet friend to make. the large pineapple was a major clearance from tjmaxx and the three underneath i literally got as a pack out of the dollar spot at target! (but you would never know!) i also threw my guitar up there for added warmth.. natural wood is always a good choice. and let’s be real, plants make every area better! (PS – i also built that shelf!)
lastly, my newest gallery project, also in my bedroom. a quick tip – hanging artwork all the way to the ceiling will give the effect that your room is bigger and your ceilings are higher! just making this change made a HUGE difference. (this is also good to do with your curtains!) here i started with the large middle piece that i scored on clearance at homegoods. i then worked everything else in around it, trying to balance the sizes! there’s another mirror, this time oval! the canvas wall-hanging adds nice texture. again, some simple black and whites.
but here is a HUGE money-saving tip! if you have some old books lying around that you don’t mind ripping a page out of, or if you want to go snag a couple from your local thrift shop, you can cut them to size and FRAME them and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than ordering a print online or buying one in-store! the painting in the black and white frame (a score from goodwill) and the top right painting in the simple frame were BOTH sheets i pulled out of a van gogh book. (luckily i have like six of them so i wasn’t worried about screwing up a few pages!) no one would ever know!
i hope these tips have been helpful. moral of the story is, go treasure hunting at goodwill and other thrift stores for frames, prints, weird canvases, mirrors, etc! also scour the clearance aisles of every store BEFORE you look at the regular priced items. keep it funky! mix up the colors! give your guests something to admire when they swing by. it really becomes a statement piece once it’s all finished! and the best part is, you can switch it around or change pieces at any time without having to buy all new art.
happy hammering, friends!
cheers!
Chelsea Takes Shots 