I’m a big advocate for printing your pictures and not just letting them live in your computer or phone. A few weeks ago I had an idea for a black and white gallery wall for this large blank wall near our fireplace – the blank wall was driving me nuts! I love the look a grid style gallery wall and this seemed to be the perfect wall for a gallery wall so I had some photos printed and went from there.
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Grid Style Gallery Wall Tutorial
I had nine 11×14 prints printed from Mpix.com (my favorite photo printing service) and framed them in these 16×20 frames with 11×14 mats. I recommend using frames that are at least 11×14. Otherwise, the frames will look too small for the wall. If you are considering a smaller scale gallery wall, like above a table or a bench, then you may want to use smaller frames like an 8×10 or 8×8.
The tricky part about a grid style gallery wall is getting the frames levels and evenly spaced.
My trick for getting the frames level isn’t much of a trick but it does require a super handy tool: a laser level. You can see in the image above, this level suctions to the wall and you can rotate it to get that perfectly straight line.
I started with the middle top frame – I measured the wall – found the center and that’s where placed the first nail. For the height, I determined the best aesthetic was to have the frames be level with the opening to the left of the wall.
Side note – can you see the mat on the top right picture is like an off-white color? It’s driving me nuts – I got all of the frames at the same place but obviously, one of these things is not like the other! I have to swap it out.
After the first nail was in – I used the laser level to get a nice straight line across the wall – then measured 17 inches from the nail on both sides – that’s where the other two nails went. I did this on all three rows, started with the center frame, then did the two outer ones. This created a perfectly straight grid style gallery wall.
Gallery Wall Frames For less than $20
I went around the perimeter of the gallery wall with my level to ensure everything was nice and straight. To keep everything perfectly straight you can use these around the corners of the frames so prevent any movement if say you’re one year old was to bump them 😉
This gallery wall is one of those transformational projects that takes little effort but has HUGE rewards. If you have a blank wall – consider trying a grid style gallery wall. It’s a great way to hang and display your photos while also adding visual interest to an otherwise blank space.
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Kenyatta Harris says
May 20, 2017 at 3:04 pmHi Chelsea, I absolutely love your wall. I’m guilty of not printing and using all the pics on my phone and camera. This post will give me a kick in the pants to do some printing. I especially like the black and white that bumps up the style factor.
Before you go buy a new frame, try flipping the matting around. Depending on how the matte is made, it may be the right shade on the other side. Hope it works out.
Thanks
Chelsea says
October 30, 2017 at 8:57 pmHey Kenyatta! Clever lady! I did exactly that – worked perfectly!
Kelsey says
May 22, 2017 at 9:28 amI love these picture frames- where did you get them? Your gallery wall turned out beautiful!
Ashley says
May 22, 2017 at 3:45 pmChelsea, I absolutely love these frames and have gone a little crazy with them in our home. I had to laugh a little bit because I made design plans for our living room on Friday and had the exact same frames in a grid above our sofa! Great minds think alike right? 🙂 You did a great job, it really looks gorgeous and thank you for the spacing tips.
Marly @ A Brick Home says
May 24, 2017 at 2:22 pmLove this gallery wall. And those frames are beautiful!
Kayela says
May 25, 2017 at 1:47 pmYes!!! Where did you get your frames?!?
jill says
May 28, 2017 at 2:37 pmI would love to know where you got your frames! Thanks!
G says
June 5, 2017 at 9:22 amLove what you did here! it’s gorgeous! where did you get the frames?
Allie says
June 12, 2017 at 12:48 pmLooks great! May have missed it but where did you get those frames? Thanks!!
Elizabeth says
July 29, 2017 at 3:02 pmHi Chelsea!
May I ask what size this wall is? Thanks!
Stacy says
August 6, 2017 at 11:37 pmBeautiful! Have you ever tried Persnickety Prints ? Better than Mpix and cheaper
Chelsea says
August 8, 2017 at 4:42 pmI haven’t tried them – I thought they only did Instagram prints? I’ll have to check them out.
Katherine says
September 3, 2017 at 2:49 pmWhere did you those frames?
Chelsea says
September 4, 2017 at 9:14 pmThey’re from Target 🙂
Autumn says
August 20, 2017 at 1:02 pmLove your gallery wall! I keep coming back to take another look as I plan out a wall in my bedroom! I have ZERO pictures of my kids hanging up and we just had pictures taken, so no better time!
Chelsea says
August 21, 2017 at 9:43 pmyay!! Print those pics!
Cassandra Veillon says
September 14, 2017 at 12:17 pmI purchased these frames for my babies room, I attempted to start handing them. Do you have any tricks for measuring where to put the nails for each frame. Since these frames have 2 hooks and unfortunately they are not all perfectly aligned. Do you have any tips on hanging these specific frames? Did you use the 2 hooks or did you just put a tail in the middle and hang it from the metal frame? Any advice would help. I have a second set of these photo collage going in my living room and dreading the project.
Chelsea says
September 14, 2017 at 10:03 pmHi Cassandra, no I didn’t follow the 2 hook guides. I just used one nail in the center (like I showed in the tutorial) and hung them on the ledge of the frame. They don’t get touched so it’s not an issue but you could also use some command strips to secure them to the wall. If you want to use the 2 hook guides you can just measure between the hooks, and use a level to make sure they are even. Hope that helps!
Emily says
September 25, 2017 at 2:14 amHi Chelsea! This is beautiful! I was wondering if having say 12-16 of these frames on one wall would be too heavy for dry wall without putting them in studs? Or would it be fine since each individual frame is 4 pounds and the weigh is being spread across the wall? Thanks!
Chelsea says
October 30, 2017 at 8:59 pmHi Emily, the weight shouldn’t be an issue at all!
Courtney says
October 26, 2017 at 5:47 pmI noticed you measured 14 inches from the nail on either side, but what about up and down?
Kim Oberman says
October 30, 2017 at 4:49 pmSame Question! I am totally using your tips for a Gallery wall I am working on in my newly remodeled home!! Thanks so much! Kim
Chelsea says
October 30, 2017 at 9:03 pmI measured 1.5 inches down from the bottom rim of the frame. You’ll only have to do that once per row since you’ll use the laser level to get them all even.
Chaitanya says
November 13, 2017 at 12:39 pmHi, love your wall. I’m thinking of doing something similar. I have a big wall almost 14 feet x 7 feet. If I follow this grid, I may have to do 15 or 18 (3 horizontal rows and 5 vertical rows) my Q is—> is that too many photos?
Also how do the photos from your iPhone come out with enlarged prints say 11x 14 as in your post?
Thx so much
Chelsea says
November 14, 2017 at 5:52 pmHi there – I haven’t tried printing any iphone photos this size so I’m not sure. If you have a more recent model iphone I suspect that the quality will be good enough for a 11×14 print. I think I might stick to a 4×4 grid, I think anymore might just be too many photos. Is your ceiling 14 ft? Or is that the 7 ft. If your wall is only 7 ft, you won’t be able to fit that many rows.
Kyle says
January 12, 2018 at 2:57 pmThanks for the suggestions, I’m going to have to get that laser level. One question. If the frames are 16×20 that means there’s 8 inches of frame on either side of the nail, at least 16 inches between nails if the frames are touching. So how are the nails only 14 inches apart? Typo? or what am I missing?
Chelsea says
January 12, 2018 at 10:54 pmHi Kyle, you’re right – not sure why I put 14 inches – I just measured again – the nails are 17 inches apart. I’ll edit the post. Thanks!
Amy says
July 2, 2018 at 12:24 amHi there,
Love the gallery wall you created! Also, LOVE your rug!! Do you mind sharing where it’s from/name? Thank you!
Chris says
August 20, 2019 at 5:16 pmWhat is the distance between frames?