We created a little nook in our renovated living room for a small console table with lamps and an art wall. I sprung for a set of 12 Josh Young originals that I had been eyeing for a little while—they have such a fun moody modern look. And then I just grabbed 12 black frames with a gold trim on Amazon to frame them up (high/low decorating at its finest!). It adds so much character to the room—I just love how they look.
Paint Color: London Stone by Farrow & Ball | Chandelier | Picture Light | Floor Lamp | Géométrique 12-Piece Collection | Frames | Table Lamps | Console Table | Sofa | Swivel Chairs | Coffee Table | Flameless Candles | Marble Hurricanes
But the process of hanging a grid of art? Not my favorite task. Chris and I have very different methods when it comes to hanging a gallery wall. If it was up to me, I would eyeball the wall, grab a hammer and nail and be done with it. But with a grid like this one, he’s a perfectionist. He got out his iPad, mapped the whole thing out on the Notability app, and drew out a grid with the exact measurements on the wall.
In case you’re stuck at phase 1 of hanging a gallery wall grid, here’s how he figured out the exact placement of the nails for each piece of 10″ x 12″ art.
How to Measure the Horizontal Placement for Grid Art
Since this wall is more horizontal than it is vertical, I knew I wanted four rows of three paintings. The width of the recessed wall is 100 5/8″, but I rounded down to 100.5″ for easier math. The total width of a row of art will be 40″ (4 pieces of art that are 10″ each).
I want to be able to fit a lamp on either side of the gallery wall, so I measured the width of the lamps (15″ each) and added 5.75″ to each side of each lamp to create some breathing room. That means I have to allot for 30″ + 11.5″ + 11.5″=53″. Subtracting that from the total width of the wall, 100.5″, that leaves me 47.5″ for the gallery wall. Since each piece of art is 10″ wide each, I now know I have 2.5″ to spare between each picture (47.5-40 divided by 3, the number of spaces between 4 pieces of art.)
Since the center of the picture is 5″ from the edge and I have 2.5″ between each picture, I now know I need to put the nails 12.5″ away from each other. And I’ll need to start my horizontal placement of the nail 31.5″ from the right and left sides, calculated by using 26.5″(the width of the lamp space) + 5″(the middle of the first painting).
How to Measure the Vertical Placement for Grid Art
The height of the recessed wall is 56″. The total height of a column of art will be 36″ (3 pieces of art that are 12″ tall each). I want to have the same vertical spacing as horizontal spacing, so I will put 2.5″ between each piece of art, which makes the entire grid of art now 41″ tall.
That leaves me 15″ of room between the top and bottom of the wall (56″ wall height-41″ art grid height). Since I’m splitting that in two so it’s evenly spaced on the wall, that leaves 7.5″ space to the top of the first piece of art. But now I need to add in the distance from the top of the art to the sawtooth hanger (same for triangle ring hanger) on the back, which is 2.25″.
So I have to start the first nail 9.75″ down from the top of the wall, and then the next one will be 14.5″ down from that (12″ is the height of the art and 2.5″ is the height in between)
How to Hang Your Pictures Evenly (A Great Hack!)
I put a piece of painter’s tape on my level and measured out and marked a 12.5″ length for the horizontal placement and the 14.5″ length for where the vertical placement goes. That makes it so much easier to keep things even across the wall without having to juggle the level and a tape measure at the same time.
A Formula You Can Use for Each Nail’s Spot
If you love math and formulas, here’s a little way to find out each nail’s placement for your gallery wall. To find the exact spot for any nail, you just need to know its column number (counting from the left, 1 to 4 or more) and its row number (counting from the top, 1 to 3 or more).
If you call:
- Column the number of the art piece from the left (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th).
- Row the number of the art piece from the top (1st, 2nd, or 3rd).
Horizontal (Left-to-Right) Position
To find how far from the left edge of the wall a nail should be:
Nail’s Horizontal Position = Distance to edge of the wall+(Column−1)×(Distance from the center of a piece of art+Space between the art+Distance to the center of the next piece of art)
Here’s how it looks with my numbers above:
- Example for the 1st column: 31.5″+(1−1)×12.5″=31.5″+0=31.5″
- Example for the 2nd column: 31.5″+(2−1)×12.5″=31.5″+12.5″=44″
- Example for the 3rd column: 31.5″+(3−1)×12.5″=31.5″+25″=56.5″
- Example for the 4th column: 31.5″+(4−1)×12.5″=31.5″+37.5″=69″
Vertical (Top-to-Bottom) Position
To find how far from the top edge of the wall a nail should be:
Nail’s Vertical Position = Distance from top of wall to frame hanging hardware+(Row−1)×(Height of art+space between art)
Here’s how it looks with my numbers above:
- Example for the 1st row: 9.75″+(1−1)×14.5″=9.75″+0=9.75″
- Example for the 2nd row: 9.75″+(2−1)×14.5″=9.75″+14.5″=24.25″
- Example for the 3rd row: 9.75″+(3−1)×14.5″=9.75″+29″=38.75″
So, if I wanted to hang the art piece in the 3rd column and the 2nd row, its nail would go at:
- Horizontal: 31.5″+(3−1)×12.5″=56.5″ from the left edge.
- Vertical: 9.75″+(2−1)×14.5″=24.25″ from the top edge.
Hopefully, this helps you with your art wall grid! It’s a lot of math, but it’s worth it in the end for the impact it makes!
Wow, Chris, WOW. YOU REALLY NAILED IT!