21+ Photo Wall Ideas (A Guide on How to Display, Design Tips)

Photo wall ideas – It is now the time to say goodbye to your boring plain walls. Today, you could spruce them up with turning them into your art gallery. Even though in this modern era we tend to keep photos in a digital form—neatly organized in folders in your computers or posted on Instagram with a bunch of likes—but nothing can beat the satisfaction feeling of seeing them hanging on the wall every time you walk in. They also make a beautiful interior decoration, with plenty of styles you can pull off.

There are many ways you can use to create your own photo wall gallery. You can create them to be able to reflect your personality. If you could style them properly, it would enhance the ambiance of the room. Not to mention the visual appeal it brings, adding a bit of life into the space. After all, they say a picture is worth a thousand words—imagine what a photo wall gallery would bring to the table. It is the time to roll up your sleeves, sort the photos that will make it to the wall, and explore the pretty arts and crafts supplies!

How to Display Family Photos on Wall – Photo Wall Design Tips

living room decorating ideas picture frames

Hanging the family photos on the wall will tell a story of the people of the house once a guest takes a glance. Wedding, baby photos, birthdays, graduations—these are beautiful memories you want to preserve, and they would make a great photo wall gallery for your family. However, some people might be a little overwhelmed about where to begin, and what are the do’s and don’ts to avoid creating a disaster instead of a beautiful gallery. You don’t need to worry, because a photo wall gallery could be a fun project to work on, especially together with your family. Here are some tips on putting together a family photos on the wall:

Planning Your Wall Gallery

photo wall ideas without frames

Take some time to decide on which part of the house you want to create the wall gallery. The room will influence the gallery and the way you put the photos together. Here is a protip for a starter: pick the first wall you’d notice when you walk into a room. Other than that, a large empty wall will cut too. When you have a decision on where to put the gallery, you need to determine the style you want to pull off. You can use the one that matches the style of the room, or instead of making it the center of attention. Last but not least, it is essential for you to estimate how much space you’re going to use. This will help you to decide how many items you’ll use to create the gallery.

Prepare the Hanging Layout

picture frame ideas for living room

This time, you need to figure out how would you hang the collection of your wall gallery. To prepare the hanging layout, you can do it in three ways:

  • Floor Planning

picture frame ideas for living room

If creating the layout on the wall sounds inconvenient, you can do it on the floor first. Create a frame in the same size as the wall area with masking tape. Then, you can start to arrange your collection inside the outline. If you’re done arranging, you need to take notes on the measurement of the distance between the items and take a picture of the arrangement. Then, transfer your arrangement plan to the wall one by one in the same spacing measurement.

  • Sketching on the wall

picture wall ideas for living room

If you prefer to plan the layout directly on the wall, you can use papers and tape to create the arrangement you’d be happy with. First, you need to outline the shape of each item on a piece of paper, then cut it out. Tape the paper shapes on the wall and start arranging them to find a layout you want, like creating a mockup before you start hanging the actual item.

  • Wall Gallery Kit

living room gallery wall ideas

The good news is you can ditch the bits and bobs on planning the layout all together and get a wall gallery kit instead. A wall gallery kit comes with the layout plan template and frames. All you need to do is to mark where to put the frame hooks on your wall. What’s left is inserting your photos into the frames, then hang them in according to the layout template.

Hanging Options

picture wall ideas for living room

Putting a lot of holes on your wall might not look pretty once you decided to change the gallery and put it on another space. There are other options to hang the items as the alternatives to nails, that includes:

  • Hanging Strips

picture frame wall ideas for decorating

If you’re familiar with arts and crafts supplies, you must have known the strips that are capable of keeping frames hanging on the wall. The backing of the strips is strong enough to hold your frames. Moreover, the velcro backing is also easy to be removed without abusing the wall.

  • Shelves

photo wall design ideas

Who would have known that floating shelves can be turned into an amazing wall gallery with the right arrangement? Here comes a more modern, simple, and sleek option for you. Floating shelves look contemporary that can complement a room perfectly. Other than that, it is also adding an extra display space for your clutter. Floating shelves will need a lot fewer nails to install, instead of hanging the items one by one on the wall.

  • Museum-like gallery

how to decorate living room walls with family pictures

If you pay close attention to the way the museum hangs its art collection, you’d see that they use interchangeable steel hardware and cables that hang from the ceiling. This way, you can have a more industrial look to the room with your wall gallery.

Photo Wall Design Ideas

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The photo wall gallery is perfect for filling and decorating awkward spaces that regular paintings usually won’t fit. The staircase corner or vaulted ceiling is only to name a few. The combination of your favorite art display, family photos, and the results of your photography hobby will bring the best of those spaces. We have compiled our favorite photo wall design ideas that can inspire you to create your own:

1. Family Photo Wall Ideas

picture frames for living room wall
Photo by Kasey Buick.

Who says photo wall gallery should be in a rectangle form with square frames? You can mix any shape you fancy, especially if you want to fill the awkward spaces. Get yourself a family photo wall gallery with oddly shaped frames that come with no glass. The black and white monochromatic photos are perfect to be paired with those vintage frames.

2. Photo Wall Ideas Bedroom

modern art frames for living room

If you opt for a minimalistic photo wall gallery, monochrome is the theme that will never go wrong. Try to combine different sizes of frames, and mix the photos with monochromatic artwork prints. This style complements white walls the best, serving you the beauty of simplicity.

3. Photo Wall Ideas without Frames

living room wall decor pictures
Photo by April Force Pardoe Interiors.

The photo wall gallery is giving you a chance to explore as many styles as you might, including options of which medium you would like to use to display the photos or artwork prints. Indeed, commonly, people will use frames with different materials and styles, but you can also get a custom photo wall display to match the interior design of the room. Take a look at this living room in Baltimore. The gallery can be a great photo wall ideas without frames.

4. Photo Wall Ideas with Frames

modern wall decor for living room
Photo by David Michael Miller Associates.

If you want to fill a large space on the wall, do not hold yourself on how many frames you’re going to put on. The easiest way to do it is to get the same style of frames with different sizes and arrange them to cover the center part of the space. This style might look simple, but also quite effective to decorate such large spaces.

5. Picture Wall Ideas for Living Room

living room picture frame ideas
www.shutterfly.com

The symmetrical arrangement is always winning anyone’s heart and easy to replicate. Get the frames that the color will match the wall paint, and size that can be arranged perfectly on the space you’re desired. This style is perfect to be your living room’s wall decor ideas.

6. Creative Picture Hanging

picture hanging ideas without frames
Photo by SLADE ARCHITECTURE.

There is no certain rule on how to put together your photo wall gallery. If you want to go over the top, you can install a big magnetic slate on the space you want to fill with photos. This way, you can put the photos with magnets—as easy as it is! You can also put other things besides photos that make a great decoration on the wall.

7. Modern Art Frames

where to hang pictures in a room
Photo by Bertolini Architects.

You can get the photo wall gallery that will fit your Scandinavian style bedroom. It is essential to note that to get it right, the gallery should be minimalistic yet elegant. The thin frames make the whole gallery look modern and straightforward.

8. Dining Room Wall Photo

living room picture hanging ideas
Photo by Life on a Wall.

If the room you want to decorate has lots of color combination, you can complement it with a colorful photo wall gallery to match the style. This photo wall gallery in the dining room is also a great inspiration for a picture hanging ideas without frames.

9. Rustic Decor

living room wall decor pinterest
Photo by Urban Rustic Living.

Pulling off a rustic style photo wall gallery is quite easy to replicate. Instead of using frames, get your photos to be transferred onto canvas to have an art gallery ambiance to the room. Canvas is a great picture frame alternative. The size of the canvas should be measured to match the space you’ll want to decor.

10. Home Office

wall art ideas for living room diy
Photo by Change of Art®.

There is no need to worry if you’re ever going to feel overwhelmed with the juxtaposition of plenty of photos or art prints to put up on a wall—you can go on with rather simple and small arrangement. Get a few large frames with different sizes, and get a dramatic look with pairing them with a smaller size of photos.

11. Rustic Dining Room Wall Art

decorating wall ideas living room
Photo by Alan Mascord Design Associates Inc.

Get creative with the way you hang the photos on the wall. If you don’t feel like putting nail holes on your wall, you can use a small pole to hang your photos with connected hooks. This way, you can get a rustic look effortlessly to decorate your dining room.

12. Staircase Wall Photo

living room wall decor ideas
Photo by Stairs Designs.

Staircase wall is maybe the most awkward wall space to fill with just regular framed photos or art prints. However, this space provides you a blank canvas that allows you to explore as many inspiration as possible to create a photo wall gallery. You can also use different sizes and styles of frames.

13. White Frame Photo

living room wall decor ideas pinterest
Photo by Kelly Brown Interiors.

White frames on a white wall is a great idea, especially if the room filled with colors. This way, you can decorate the empty wall without making it looks busy and overwhelming. Keep the photos in color instead of black and white to complement the wall.

14. Contemporary Hall

wall decor ideas for living room
Photo by Alykhan Velji Design

Small piece of frames all together will create a stunning contemporary style of photo wall gallery to decorate your empty wall. Do not limit your options when it comes to frames—try combining different shapes, styles, and colors to create a beautiful wall decoration.

15. Kids Room Wall Photo

If you want the photo wall gallery to also play the role as a perfect backdrop for your kids’ bedroom, this style can be an excellent choice to replicate. The black and white family photos look comforting and less-chaotic, applied to the wall like wallpaper.

16. Mediterranean Wall Photo

The combination of black and gold is spelled as luxurious. Complete the Mediterranean look of your room with the wall filled with photos in decorative frames, like this powder room in Denver. Put together your old family photos to get the historical yet stunning wall gallery.

17. Mid Century Dining Room

how to display family photos on wall
Photo by Sarah Greenman.

If you’re a collector of art prints, do not leave them to get dusty by not hanging them on the wall as they should be. Putting together art prints are quite easy, as they don’t have to be in the same style. The combination of different styles of art prints will create a colorful and chic wall gallery, like this dining room in Dallas.

18. Kitchen Wall Photos

picture wall ideas for bedroom
Photo by Kenneth M Wyner Photography Inc.

Another pretty and useful magnetic wall! It is perfect for decorating that awkward space on your kitchen’s wall. Other than putting up photos, you can put on notes or even recipe on it. It is serving you both looks and function!

19. Floating Photos

picture wall collage
Photo by Margaret Donaldson Interiors.

No walls, no problem! Get creative with the way you’re putting up the photos, like this inspiration from a living room in Charleston. Instead of putting them on a wall, the photos take part as a divider between the kitchen and the living room.

Conclusion

There is no limitation and laws when it comes to creating a photo wall gallery to fill the empty walls of your house. You get the freedom on how to put up together the photos, art prints, even other items you desire. We know you can’t wait to start planning the layout of your photo wall gallery!

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