Key measurements for a beautiful gallery wall layout

If you want your gallery wall to look superb, math is the key. Read more for the key measurements you’ll need for a beautiful gallery wall layout.

Flashback to high school. You’re sitting in geometry class, your last class of the day. It’s approximately 32 mins left of school and you swear you’re famished because you haven’t eaten lunch since like…two hours ago. Why is your teacher’s voice so painfully boring and monotonous? You just want to go home! Why are you even there? It’s not like you’re even gonna use this math again!

Famous last words.

All these years later, today is finally the day you’re going to use that high school math again to make your gallery wall look beautiful! Don’t say your teacher didn’t tell you! 🤭

If you want your gallery wall to look superb, math is the key. See, gallery walls, with their variation, color, and texture, require continuity and balance. Simply put, your gallery wall can be a mix of styles, but it has to look neat.

For a neat and balanced gallery wall layout, I suggest that you space your frames and/or wall sculptures evenly.

How far apart should I space my frames in my gallery wall layout?

This depends on what is proportional to the wall on which you’re hanging your gallery. For an example, see how I chose to fill my dining room wall with art. Therefore, you should:

Find the area of the wall

irstly, fFind the area of the wall by multiplying the length by the height of the wall (length x width x height). Fortunately, I knew the height without measuring because I knew my ceilings are standard — 8ft. high. Ceilings are usually 8, 12, or 16 feet high.

Once you find the area of space that you want your gallery wall to cover, you can fill it up however you please!

Plan and mark the area for the gallery wall layout

Then, plan and mark the area on the floor using small pieces of tape. That will create space to layout your frames.

Lay out your art on the floor

Afterwards, lay out your art on the floor and experiment with spacing for your gallery wall layout. Try 1 inch spacing versus 2 inches or more spacing!

Make a DIY spacer

Finally, create a spacer by folding paper and taping it together. Voila! You’re ready to hang everything in place on the wall.

Gallery wall layout spacing

I settled on 1 inch spacing between the smaller frames and 2 inches around my focal point, the large protea painting. The consistent spacing helped add balance in my admittedly busy gallery wall. As a result, each piece of art looks intentional among the rest.

Measurements for accurate hanging

Make sure you are measuring how far down your hooks are on the back of your frame. As a result, you will put holes in the correct place. Thus, your picture will hang at your desired height.

For example, these hooks on the back of my protea painting are 8 inches down from the top of the frame. However, I used a wire to hang this photo. Therefore, I measured  the highest point of tension of the wire to the top of the frame.

In conclusion…

In conclusion, measure everything twice and put holes in the wall once!

Intentional planning and simple math can help you achieve a gorgeous gallery wall layout.

Sincerely,

Felicia.