I’m an art lover and firmly believe that hanging art in your home will give it more character and personality than just about anything else. But how many gallery walls can a home really handle, you know?! Another point to consider is mixing different types of displays of art in the same space. For instance, our main living space (kitchen, dining, living) is all open and connected with multiple blank walls. But even in our smaller bedroom–I wanted to mix up how we displayed art so it wouldn’t feel redundant.
If you look around your home and see one framed piece on multiple walls or are a gallery wall addict–here’s a few ideas to diversify your arrangements.
1. Art Ledge
When we DIYed our art ledge back in 2014, we had no idea it would become so popular! It’s still one of my favorite ways to display art. It’s easy to swap out frames whenever you want, I love the depth layering art creates, and when you have a large wall to fill up, it’s a little less overwhelming to fill it with a bunch of smaller frames rather than finding (and buying!) a huge piece.
We mixed black, white and one light wood frame on our ledge and it’s a good idea to mix large, medium and small frames, too. From left to right, our frame sizes are:
2. 1 piece of oversized art
Ready to make a statement? A large piece of art is my favorite way to fill a wall because it still feels simple and non-cluttered while making a big (literally!) impact. Tip: When you’re hanging one large frame over a piece of furniture it should take up about 2/3 or 3/4 of the length.
Find our living room sources here.
3. Grid of frames
I love organization and symmetry and a bunch of frames all the same sized lined up perfectly. I’d go with similar tones in all the photos on the wall. For the grid in our dining room (see above), we did 9 of these 16×20 acrylic frames with black and white 8×10 photos floating in each. If you don’t want to do black and white photos, run all the photos through your favorite filter or preset to unify them.
Find our dining room sources here.
4. Column of art
Have a narrow slice of wall begging for something?! We had a narrow wall across from our bed that we recently hung three pieces in a column and it was so impactful!
Find our bedroom sourceshere.
I also love Nicole’s column of art above found here.
5. Row of frames
A long hallway is the perfect opportunity for a row of frames. This is most impactful when the frames are all identical while the art varies.
(Art below is from eTuHome )
6. Oversized portraits
A modern way to display photos of your kids or pets is oversized with lots of white space. This also translates into objects like scissors or shoes that could relate to the nature of the room. See the full tutorial on how we created ours here!
7. Objects hung on the wall
Art doesn’t always have to be a framed piece. Maybe it’s an object like hats, a dough bowl or serving boards, instruments, a flag, macrame, some faux taxidermy.
8. Gallery wall
You can’t go wrong with the tried and true gallery wall. My only advice is to use it sparingly. We have one in our whole house (in the upstairs hall bathroom), but my all-time favorite is the one we featured in my sister Victoria’s art-filled house–it’s a work of art itself!
9. Mixed into a shelfieÂ
Do you have open shelving or a bookcase in your home? Don’t forget the art! I love leaning a few pieces on shelves to add interest and create special vignettes. I’ve even seen excellent examples of art hanging on the front of shelves, too, if you really want to go bold!
Find the sources to our reading room here.
10. In a pairing or triptych
This could be one large piece cut in half (or three) and framed for impact, spacing or to save on frames. This is a great way to create a triptych vibe in your own home. In our laundry room, we don’t have the same piece divided into multiples but we do have two drawings that are meant to go together–a his and her getting dressed. A lot of artists sell prints in multiple versions and displaying both or multiple will create such a bold impact in your space, like the three prints from Juniper below:
And here is the pair of prints we used in our laundry room.
I Â hope this gives you lots of ideas if you’ve been staring at a blank wall. Let’s fill them up!
The three pictures in your bedroom…horses…the source is joss and main? I don’t remember the name thought it was different when you originally posted..would,like to buy..thanks
I really like some of your suggestions to mix it up. I’ve tried to subscribe to your blog multiple times but I still don’t get an email when there is a new post.
Very good! I’m trying this again, for some reason my comments don’y stay. Please help!
How do you like your plexiglass gallery wall? I was surprised to not see it on here. Regardless, I want to do the same but worry the glare will be annoying. Thoughts?
It actually is on here. Check out the grid gallery section. Love it so
The photo of the dining room didn’t upload. Thanks for the roundup!
Love this post! I have many blank walls that need filled! I agree with other recent commenters that all your posts lately have been very helpful for giving me lots of good ideas for small changes/updates for my house.