Creating a Long Gallery Wall

Last weekend, I stopped by to see my friend Kristin who just moved into a great new house a few miles down the road from me. She's my friend with the grey dining room that I was helping search for drapes (no idea what I'm talking about? see the post {here}). The drapes were for her old house (which sold soon after that post!) - now she's in a new house with a lengthy list of things she wants to do that will help make her house a home.  One of those things is filling up all of the empty wall space! When I was visiting her, Kristin showed me some sketches she has of Cincinnati that were passed down from her grandparents and asked if I thought the long, empty wall in her family room would be a good place to hang them and, if so, in what arrangement.

First of all, I love the sketches and the sentimental value they hold so absolutely they should be proudly displayed in her home. However, the wall she would like to place them on is a pretty long one (13 feet) and these four framed sketches are too small to hang alone on such a long wall. For a few pieces of small art and a long wall, here's what I'd do:

1. Pimp out the sketches with wide mats, which will make the art look more substantial and impressive, and reframe them. Mats do wonders for any art that you would like to draw attention to but they are especially useful for smaller pieces!
2. Find several more art pieces to hang with the sketches.  One inexpensive option is to take some neat photos of architectural details around your town or your favorite vacation spot and place them in standard sized matted frames. This would work perfectly for Kristin's art grouping that already has a Cincinnati theme! I prefer to stick with either all color pieces or all black and white pieces for a cohesive look.  Since Kristin's sketches are black and white, I would keep all of her images black and white but add some interest to the art grouping by using a variety of different frames.
3. Arrange all of the pieces of art together into an attractive gallery wall.  Creating a long gallery wall can be pretty overwhelming so it helps to have some visual inspiration to guide you - here are some of the long galleries that I find most inspiring: 

Anisa Darnell of Milk & Honey Home created a gorgeous long gallery wall, keeping all of her images in either sepia or black and white but mixing things up with unique frames.  I love the use of a large decorative letter to break up the monotony of the square and rectangular shaped frames (some great sources for decorative letters can be found {here}).

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I also love this gorgeous arrangement of art that has the perfect balance!  Again, an unexpected piece (in this case, a convex mirror) was added to the grouping of frames for visual interest:

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This long gallery wall is a great example of a more contemporary, streamlined look, which was achieved by using similar mats and frames for each piece of art:

{Dumican Mosey Architects}

Another option is to do a gallery-esque wall of picture ledges holding mirrors or art.  Not only does it look cool, but it's totally practical as you can change out your art whenever the spirit moves you without having to worry about patching nail holes.

{Country Living}

Even with some visual inspiration, it can take a bit of trial and error to get a large gallery wall to feel balanced. Instead of ending up with tons of holes in your walls before you get your gallery wall arrangement just right, trace each art piece on kraft paper (which you can find at office supply stores and hardware stores) and cut it out. Then use painter's tape to secure your cut-outs to the wall and play around with different arrangements to figure out what works best. Leave the kraft paper up on your walls when you measure and mark for hangers so those marks go on the paper instead of your walls! 

{source}

I'm working on creating a gallery wall myself for over our sectional in the family room. I think that finding art you love (and that is affordable) is one of the most challenging parts of decorating, don't you? Hope you all have a great weekend!