Question: I want to put a gallery wall in my home, but it’s too expensive. How can I make a gallery wall on a budget? 

Answer: There are tons of ways to keep costs for a gallery wall reasonable, but a few of my favorites are: thrifting your frames, using your kids’ art, framing your own prints, including important but seemingly inconsequential items from your life.

Gallery walls are all the rage

As you probably already know, maximalist design is on the way back in – and it has been for a while! We’re all scrolling on Pinterest through pics of moulding people have added to their hallways, and ornate design choices that mirror, for example, Victorian design, more than they do sleek modern grey. I mean, grey itself is out now, replaced with things like “color drenching,” where you put a single color on literally all the walls and ceiling of a room.

And with these more ornate changes to design trends, gallery walls have burst into the room hand-in-hand with gorgeous light fixtures and bespoke furniture.

There are tons of layouts you can use

And it makes absolute sense that gallery walls would come with these trends!! They’re maximalist, they’re engaging, they give your eye all kinds of things to fall on – and as a photographer, I’m obsessed with them, because they give you the opportunity to showcase your photos from sessions with the people you love. Whether that means a family photo session with your kiddos, or a gorgeous couples session with your partner, a gallery wall makes it easy to show those photos off, and remind yourself of your favorite people every day.

It also doesn’t matter what your home looks like, you can create a gallery wall that works in context. Yes, I’m talking to YOU, minimalists. Not all gallery walls have to be pure chaos incarnate!! You can create gallery walls that are simple, sleek, and still full of memories.

Outfitting a gallery wall can be expensive though

But… there’s a caveat here. And it’s a big one. Outfitting gallery walls can absolutely be expensive, so it would make PERFECT sense to want to put a gallery wall in your home, but not really know where to start, if you’re on a tight budget. Framing photos is expensive, ordering photos can be expensive, quirky art is expensive – I mean it’s 2026, pretty much EVERYTHING can be expensive.

Creating a gallery wall on a budget can include strategies like –

But I 100% believe that if you want to have a gallery wall in your home, you SHOULD GET TO have a gallery wall in your home, budget or not. So while some of the suggestions below might not sound like they come from a professional photographer, because you’d expect a professional photographer to be like “YOU MUST PRINT YOUR PHOTOS THROUGH ME” – I’m not about that style of business. I want you to have the things you want. I want you to get to actually look at the photos from your session. And I want those things for you whether they bring me more profit, or not.

So with all that being said… what do I suggest?

1 – Thrifting!

Let’s start easy. GET. THRIFTING. You know the section in the back of the thrift store, with all the old art? The one you definitely skip over when you’re there? Stop skipping it. Ignore the actual art (or don’t, because you might find other gems you LOVE that can ALSO go on your gallery wall!!), and pay attention to the frames. Having prints framed is expensive, just generally. But sometimes, you can find thrifted frames for far, FAR less, and if you’re there on a lucky day, they might even be higher quality than what you’d get full price elsewhere!! So consider thrifting your frames, if you’re creating a gallery wall on a budget.

2 – Using your own art, or your kids’ art!

One of the best ways to keep gallery walls engaging, is to include more than “just” photos – which means oddities, and artwork, too! But if you’re going for that “quirky” look, oddities and curiosities intended to hang on your walls can also be… expensive. I mean, the work has been done for you, so it tracks that they’d be pricier. And that’s where we get creative again – instead of art from local artists (though it does slightly pain me to say that) use your own art, or your kids’ art in your gallery wall! Frame them in those thrifted frames from point one, and you’re halfway there.

3 – Framing prints yourself

It might sound like “framing prints yourself” and “thrifting frames” is the same thing. It is not. When I say “framing prints yourself” I mean actually legitimately making the frames, with wood, and plexiglass, and cardboard. This is a GREAT option to fall into budget lines, if you’re going for a style of gallery wall that requires MATCHING frames, especially if you want them in simpler styles that are less likely to show up in thrift stores, and even MORE less (that makes sense, right?) likely to show up in numbers large enough for fully matching gallery wall framing. You can find all kinds of tutorials for making your own frames on Pinterest, and it doesn’t have to involve a ton of tools – you might even be able to get away with a mitre saw, no-more-nails, and trim from your local Lowes.

4 – Use small, seemingly inconsequential items from your life

Remember that thing about the curios and quirky items you might want to include in your gallery wall? Well, if you know where to look, those kinds of items are already a part of your life, and can absolutely be reused for your gallery wall! Anything from “the receipt from getting everything for your son’s birthday” to “disused toys spray painted in metallics” can go on your gallery wall, and presented the right way? They’ll look like you got them from your local curiosity curator!

5 – Go for a quirky look, instead of a matching one!

Finally, if you’re trying to create your gallery wall on a budget, I do have a style suggestion, and it’s pretty straightforward. Matching gallery walls are naturally going to be more expensive, especially if you’re buying frames. So if you’re trying to stick with a strict budget, try talking yourself into a more chaotic, maximalist, esoteric vibe! It’ll mean you can be extra cost conscious without worrying about everything matching 100%.

Gallery Walls don’t HAVE to be expensive!

I believe everyone deserves art, no matter what your budget is. It’s one of the reasons I offer mini sessions – so that there are affordable options, whether you’re on a budget or not. But beyond that, you don’t just deserve to have professional portraits taken, you deserve to ENJOY those photos, after they’ve been taken and sent to you. So hopefully, this set of tips on creating a gallery wall on a budget helps you achieve that.