Creating Gallery Walls Might Seem Like a Job for an Interior Designer

Getting creative with your home decor might feel a little overwhelming, mostly because… well, you’re not an interior designer. But you don’t have to be (or hire!) an interior designer to have gorgeous gallery walls in your home, that look balanced, and bring MAGIC to every room in your home!

Even if you have a more minimal decorating style, gallery walls can make or break a space. It doesn’t have to look or feel chaotic, to remind you of your favorite memories with the people you love!

Highlighting Your Favorite Photo Sessions on Your Walls is a Must!

That’s why hanging photos from your photography sessions is absolutely a non-negotiable step after your session. I mean, you didn’t pay to have amazing pictures taken so that they could sit on an external hard drive on your computer, and only come out when you’re doing digital housekeeping, did you? No. (That was rhetorical, if you didn’t notice!)

You deserve to be reminded of all the different phases of your family – whether that means you and your CHOSEN family (because friends are family too!!) or it means you and your parents, grandparents, kiddos, or cousins. And gallery walls are an amazing way to do that!

Unique Gallery Wall Placements Don’t Have to Feel Like Rocket Science!

There are always the “easy” feeling gallery wall locations in your home, like “above the sofa” and “in the entryway” – and there’s inspiration for those all over the internet. Whether you want to go minimal or maximal with it, you’ve got options! But there are more unique placements to use, to really take advantage of the spaces in your home that maybe you don’t think about as opportunities for showcasing the people you love.

Minimal Gallery Walls

The first one I want to talk about is unique in that it can really be done anywhere you have a few inches of space! And when I say that, I mean it. Even the separating wall between two rooms can be used this way, for three (or more) images in similar frames stacked on top of one another.

Minimal gallery walls are all about balancing. Using similar frames or the same frame, creating negative space by using wide mats around the framed images – there are so, so many ways to make it work. But no matter the space you’re looking at, whether it’s your livingroom, entryway, staircase, hallway, bedroom… there are ways you can make those spaces full of memories, without making them feel too chaotic. And minimal gallery wall placements are the way to make that happen!

So if you look around any room in your home, and you think “huh, something feels like it’s missing”… maybe a minimal gallery wall is the solution!

In the Bathroom

This might sound weird, but I want you to stay with me. Bathrooms are the most underutilised spaces in our homes for art, even though, practically speaking, they’re a room we spend time in every day. Maybe you have a sassy sign in there, or a painting of a seascape. And that’s fair!

But there are other ways you can use that space, for prints! The biggest question I get about this though, is whether prints will actually survive a bathroom given they’re pretty… moist… rooms. But there’s a super simple solution to this problem, in the form of metal prints! If you’re worried about canvas warping, or frames degrading because of steamy bathroom problems, metal prints are a fabulous solution. They’re sealed so that they’re water resistant to begin with, but to top it off, you can just wipe them down if any moisture builds up on the surface! So instead of worrying about your prints getting damaged over time, you have prints that not only look great and change the feel of your space, but that are also well suited to the room you’re putting them in. So many birds with one stone!! And depending on how you arrange the gallery wall itself, you can still have that cheeky sign, or the sea-scape painting, too. It’s the best of all possible worlds!

On a Console Table or Shelf

Okay so I get that a “console table” doesn’t sound like a “gallery wall” because a table is a table and a wall is a wall. But just like that last one – stay with me!! Gallery setups in your home don’t have to stay on the wall, they can stretch down into the decor, too! And one of the ways I recommend doing this, is with furniture that sticks close to the wall. Think “the little strip table you can fit between the sofa and the wall” or “the console table you pop your keys onto in your entryway”. I’m not going to pretend that every surface in your home is an opportunity to display photos, because… ya know… you’ve got to have space on your dining-room table, otherwise the “dining” part gets rough. But decorative furniture that has less of a specific intended purpose, is totally fair game!

And there are shelves and console tables in nearly every home, that can be brought to LIFE. Imagine that bookshelf you’ve got stacked with books, slightly rearranged so that you can place framed photos every few spots on the shelf. Or the little ledge behind your sofa with expertly arranged frames, bringing a pop of color and fun to your livingroom! Those kinds of photo placements in your home are not only unique, but bring attitude (and love) into your spaces. And that’s the magic of decorating with your family photos!

Need a Little Support Creating a Gallery Wall?

If you’re struggling with how to bring photos from your family session into your home, don’t worry. You don’t have to go it alone, and you also don’t have to hire an expensive interior designer to make it happen, either! My team here at Jessica Strobel Photography is more than happy to set up a session with you after your photos have been taken, to look at your home, and help you design gallery walls (or photo displays in general!) that compliment your space, and remind you of your favorite moments.

Because like I always say – you deserve to experience your photo session again and again, every time you walk past the photos in your home.