Gallery Wall Layouts That Work

A gallery wall is a group of pictures hung as one composition. Done well, it turns a long hallway or a blank stair wall into the most interesting surface in the house. Done without a plan, it looks like a noticeboard. The plan is mostly about choosing a layout first and keeping the spacing steady.

Pick the layout before the frames

There are four layouts that work almost anywhere. Choose one for the wall’s shape, then buy or frame to suit it.

Grid. Identical frames in rows and columns, all the same size, with the same gap everywhere. It is the most formal look and the easiest to hang, because you measure once and repeat. It suits a wall above a sofa or a sideboard, and botanical prints, architectural studies or a series by one artist.

Salon. A cluster of different sizes built around one larger anchor piece, the way nineteenth-century exhibitions filled their walls from floor to ceiling. Start with the anchor slightly off center and build outward. Keep one outer edge straight, usually the bottom or one side, so the group looks deliberate.

Row. A single line of frames along a hallway or above a long console. Line up the centers, or the bottoms, but not the tops: the eye follows the middle of a row, and a shared center line reads as level even when the frames differ in height.

Column. Two to four frames stacked one above another. A column fits the narrow wall beside a door or between two windows, and portrait-format paintings were made for it.

The spacing rule

Keep 2 to 3 in (5 to 8 cm) between frames, and keep it the same everywhere. Steady gaps are what make a group look like one piece. Closer than 2 in and the frames crowd each other; wider than 4 in and the group starts to fall apart into separate pictures.

Hang the block, not the frames

Treat the whole group as one picture. Measure its full height, then hang it so the middle of the group sits 57 to 60 in (145 to 152 cm) from the floor, the same center line galleries use for a single work. Above furniture, keep the bottom edge of the group 6 to 10 in above it, and size the whole group at about two thirds of the furniture’s width. The how high to hang pictures guide explains both rules.

Plan on paper

The steps below take an afternoon and save a wall full of extra holes.

1. Choose the layout. Pick a grid, a salon cluster, a row or a column to suit the wall's shape, before you buy or frame anything.
2. Lay it out on the floor. Arrange the frames on the floor with 2 to 3 in between them and photograph the layout you like.
3. Make paper templates. Trace each frame on kraft paper, cut it out, and mark where its hook sits by measuring down from the top to the taut wire or the D-ring.
4. Tape the templates to the wall. Tape them up so the middle of the whole group sits 57 to 60 in from the floor, or 6 to 10 in above any furniture. Live with it for a day.
5. Hang through the paper. Drive each hook through the mark on its template, tear the paper away, and hang the frames. Level each one as you go.

Mixing paintings, prints and photographs

A gallery wall can mix famous paintings with family photographs, maps and children’s drawings. It holds together when the frames match, or the mats do, or the pictures share a palette. Black-and-white photographs sit comfortably beside etchings and muted landscapes; bright snapshots beside a calm palette of greens and blues.

Where gallery walls work best

Hallways and stairwells are the classic places, because they are walls you walk past rather than sit facing. The hallway and entryway collection and the staircase collection are chosen for exactly those walls: small and medium works, portraits, paths and doorways. For matched sets that are ready to hang together, see the living room sets, each grouped by shape and palette.