Making a gallery wall for the living room

Finally! I think this is the first word that comes to my mind, ha! If you have been reading the last (dozen) posts in this blog, you may remember that in numerous times I have been teasing about the fact that I was adding a gallery wall in our living room and that I was going to share the results soon. Well, it may (or may have not, I won't confirm, ha!) have passed 2 years in the making *wink* but we are now ready to share an initial result that makes us happy. Tuut!! Never too late, right?

From left to right (& top to bottom): Yanaka shop by Mateusz Urbanowicz, Custom Juno portrait from Meow meow by Cat, Woven wall hanging by Twill Hill, Kinkakuji temple (our photo), Bubblegum girl by Emily Windfield (super old, not available), Onion girl embroidery hoop by LanaPelana (not available), our ticket entrance from Kinkakuji temple, photo from Hakone torii, photo of the sakura & deers in Miyajima, Girl with cats risograph print from Giulia Sagramola (not available), Juno's peg board. Not in the picture but also in the gallery wall: Yellow sweater girl with a black cat by Coco Escribano (not available), and Yule Ball print by Windowshopgal

Of course you can think, really 2 years for...that? I'm kidding! I love how it turned out, but of course we haven't been intensively working towards finishing it, we have been gathering some pieces and buying the frames for them. The actual work took around 2 days, counting the design of the shape (in photoshop), and nailing all together in the wall, plus final touches. Let's see some of our tips in case it may be helpful to design your own personal wall art too! This of course, is our humble & rookie opinion, I am no home stylist whatsoever, just an enthusiast. Let's go!

Choose a color palette

I think a gallery wall works better when you are able to select pieces that have a cohesive look, not by style (I like hectic) but in color, giving an overall sense of belonging together to which color helps heaps. We decided that the main color would be pink, with some hints of colors already present in other parts of the living room, like for instance turquoise or yellow. The gallery wall in itself is making an impact big enough, so this color tie helps blending into the living room more easily.

Select pieces you love

It may sound contradictory somehow with the first one, but this is really important for me. Since we are adding a big bold addition to our living room, it has to resonate with our passions. I have a drawing of a real shop from Yanaka in Japan, the first print we bought together with Daniel (the bubblegum girl), cat related artworks, a Harry Potter inspired piece and even a big blown-up photo of our own (of course from Japan, of course with sakura, ha!). I do have beloved pieces all over the house that represent our loves, people we love or both.

The hand was a lucky find! I had been looking for a nice wall hook to hang a basket with dry flowers (I would add fresh ones or plants, but Juno is obsessed with them and I don't want to be stressed about it). Fortunately while browsing Anthropologie I stumbled upon this one and I fell in love about how delicate is is. I think it matches so well with everything else!

Do a digital design

This sounds fancy, but it is not at all! It's quite straightforward in fact. I recommend using Photoshop to play with the different shapes your gallery wall could have depending on the pieces you have selected. The other way round is easier, you can first decide on a standard wall art shape (check this graph for references) and then try to find the pieces that will fit in. However, since for me it's more important to have pieces that really call my heart, I collect the pieces and then make a puzzle with them. (tetris style).

To do the digital design just take a picture of your wall, do a photo of every piece of art you would like to include in the gallery, cut & paste them in the wall photo. If they are available online you can just download the shop image. I started taking a pic with one of the big pieces (50x70cm) in the wall (I had nails from the previous decor) to use it for sizing references, then I resized the rest of photos considering it.

This tip is very helpful, not only you will be able to better see how the gallery wall would look like, but also be a good reference for you to add the nails to the wall to hang the pieces.

Just as a fun thing, you can check here the picture of my design! - excuse the mess in the table, ha! If you have any questions on how to do this design, let me know!

This is also a new decor item in our living room! I got this sweet little alien fella for my birthday (thanks to the hubby!), he is a cutie, isn't he?

Enjoy your new living room!

So, that's mostly it. You can choose only prints or mix and match with objects, textures and shapes (I prefer that!), but above all get things that make you happy.

If you've read through here, thanks! hope it was quite interesting. Now I'm curious, which piece is your favorite? Ohh and yes, for those with a keen eye, I have moved the sakura & deers photo from our bedroom because I get to enjoy it more this way, and I have substituted it temporarily with a mirror.