Creating An Eclectic Gallery Wall

Gallery walls can be anything you want them to be. They can be designed in all living spaces – from the living room to the office, the stairwell to the children’s room, regardless of how large or small your space is. The art that you incorporate into the gallery can be anything from vintage movie posters that you have collected, your own artwork, your children’s artwork, book covers you love, personal wedding, vacation or baby photos, postcards, you took away, etc. art you bought. The collection will of course reflect what appeals to you, what makes it so personal.

Gallery walls don’t have to be limited to media in frames. This is where you can let your creativity run wild and mix in objects, be they ones with sentimental value, ones that look cool, or pieces that help develop a theme. It can be jewellery, antlers, mirrors, paddles, ceramic plates – you name it.

When looking for items to add to your collection, thrift stores, flea markets, independent artists, flea markets, and antique stores are good places to look for one-of-a-kind items. Etsy is a great place to find small artists, who often sell both originals and prints. While I like sites like Desenio and The Poster Club for a wide variety of prints, I don’t recommend buying all of your prints on a whim. A gallery wall should look like each piece has been carefully put together. So take your time when choosing and be very picky.One of our favorite pieces of art was bought in Rome in front of the Pantheon, painted by a woman who chose old cardboard boxes as canvas.

We first met her five years ago but didn’t buy anything as we were on a major European trip and were afraid to ship it back to the US – which we later resented. When we were back in Rome last year we went to the same place not having high hopes that she would be there but delighted to find her there. Back then we bought an artwork painted on a piece of a bright orange Aperol Spritz box that we wanted to frame above our bar – there’s always a good story behind an element on your gallery wall.Other pieces on our gallery wall that I love are – an outline of a camel with the Arabic word sabar meaning patience, from a gallery in Dubai, the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York subway map printed on Manhattan bought Blocks of wood, and a Rajasthani silk painting from Udaipur – all combined with so many memories and stories that they make more than just art on my gallery wall.