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.

Spacing frames in a gallery wall
Spacing the frames

Today is finally the day you’re going to use that math again to make your gallery wall look beautiful!

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, I suggest that you space your frames and/or wall sculptures evenly.

DIY photo spacer for gallery wall
DIY photo spacer for a gallery wall

How far apart should I space my frames?

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

  1. Figured the area of the wall by multiplying the length by the height of the wall (Hint: I knew the height without measuring because I knew my ceilings are standard — 8ft. high)
  2. Marked the area on the floor using small pieces of tape
  3. Laid out my art on the floor and experimented with spacing (1 in vs 2 inches or more)
  4. Created a spacer using paper and tape

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

All about 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 amongst the rest.

Measurements for hanging a photo
Measuring where the hooks are!

Measurements for accurate hanging

Make sure you are measuring how far down your hooks are on the back of your frame. That way, you are putting holes in the correct place in order for your picture to 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…

Measure everything twice and put holes in the wall once! Intentional planning and simple math can help you achieve a gorgeous gallery wall.

Sincerely,

Felicia.

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