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You are here: Home / STYLE / How to make a Gallery Wall (the impatient person’s guide)

How to make a Gallery Wall (the impatient person’s guide)

March 20, 2018 by Molly Leave a Comment

gallery wall

Gallery walls are still a thing, honest. I know this because I write for proper fancy interiors magazines and regularly interview people with nicer houses than my own (see a snippet of my portfolio here *shameless plug*). The thing about gallery walls, is that they can add colour, interest and personality to a space without actually having to do much work, which is why I love the one we have in our living room.

Anyway, one of the most random and repeated questions I get asked about on Instagram is my living room gallery wall. People seem to like it, and seem to think it takes a degree and a whole lot of planning to create. Newsflash: you need neither a degree nor a whole lot of planning to make a gallery wall!

In fact, the only thing you need is a few twitches of creativity, a bit of motivation and – potentially, although not exclusively – a theme.

Our gallery wall was put up for various reasons. Reason 1 being we haven’t gotten around to redecorating our living room in a while and wanted a quick way to give it a new lease of life / distract from the tired walls / add a splash of colour and interest without actually putting up any paint. And reason 2 being that our holiday photos (and some of our happiest family memories ) were just sitting forgotten on my computer hard-drive. And so, the Holiday Gallery Wall was born.

I made a video about our gallery wall which you can see below (hence the big shot of my face right there), but I’ve listed some of the main points here too, if this is an idea you might want to incorporate into your own home. By the way, if videos are your thing and you’re not already subbed to me on YouTube then now’s the time to do it – I’ve been busy in March making lots more content for my channel with around five videos a week!

So, the gallery wall…

1. Think about your frame colours

The quickest and easiest way to give a gallery wall a cohesive look is to think about the frames you’re using. Do you want a vintage style? Maybe you’re showcasing old prints and postcards? Then hunt down retro style frames in charity shops – you can always give them an upcycled chalk paint or spray painted finish.

We chose a monochrome theme for the frames on our wall, mainly because we wanted the colour in the photos to do the talking and because we knew we’d probably change the colour scheme of the room at some point (and couldn’t be bothered to do a whole new gallery wall).

2. Think about your frame styles and sizes

You might want a completely uniform look, in which case go right ahead and put all your photos or prints in the same size frame, spaced apart at exactly the same angle and distance. This is obviously going to be a bit more time consuming to do. Personally, I like a bit of experimentation on a gallery wall, so we opted for deliberately different sizes and styles of frames, some allowing us to display more than one photo. Doing it this way also means it’s easier to add to over time, if we want to put up more pictures of future adventures.

3. Plan your colours

You don’t need to create a bar chart and complicated diagram of your gallery wall before it actually goes up. My approach was far more slapdash, holding prints up side by side to see which ones looked good together and which colours worked well. We don’t have any kind of colour theme – and you can’t really when you’re displaying family photos from various periods – but if you wanted to create some uniformity then this is one way to go, using colour to make a statement through art or typographical prints.

4. Mix and match

I loved the idea of having a few typographical style prints dotted amongst the photos, to cement the theme. This is why I chose the “Adventure” print (from Etsy) and the Family, One Love and lips prints from Instagram pal and general queen Vickie at @inpolife – her shop is In No Particular Order.

And that’s it, really. As with anything to do with interiors I really feel there is no right way to do it – experiment, see what works for you and your space and keep in mind that if it all goes wrong, you can take it all back down again.

Filed Under: Interiors, STYLE Tagged With: family home, family living, gallery wall, home decor, home style, interiors

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Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

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If you feel bad about your body you’re less like If you feel bad about your body you’re less likely to do nice things for it, including moving in a way that feels good and eating in a way that feels good. (FYI health is about more than just exercise and nutrition, but let’s get deeper into the exercise thing for a second...)
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Research shows kids who have low body image are less likely to get involved with sports and more likely to skip PE. 
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Want kids to move more? Stop teaching them that one type of body is better than another - because if their body doesn’t look like your version of a healthy / beautiful / successful body not only will they be more likely to feel shame over their body, they’ll be less likely to engage with the very behaviours you want them to do more of (or be more likely to engage with them in an UNhealthy way - compulsive exercise is dangerous).
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Instead:
💕Try talking about the intrinsic benefits of exercise over the extrinsic ones (ie. how it makes you FEEL instead of how it makes you LOOK).
✨Create opportunities for movement where ALL children feel welcome. 
💕Show children diverse representation so they can see sporting heroes with a range of body types and know that movement is for EVERYbody. 
✨Take a zero tolerance approach to appearance based bullying, body shaming and comments that perpetuate weight stigma (including even the hint that fat = bad). 
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(If you’re a teacher or youth leader interested in knowing more about this topic, a #BodyHappyKids workshop will help - follow the link in my bio 🥰❤️)
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[Image description: A multicoloured slide with an overlaid screenshot of tweet by Molly which reads ‘If your intention is to “get kids healthy” then you need to be aware of how weight bias, weight stigma and poor body image are active barriers to health. The end.]
Sharing this outfit pic with you because it’s a Sharing this outfit pic with you because it’s a crying shame only the piles of laundry got to see it, quite frankly. Finally, a pair of pre-loved jeans bought online that are true to size, consistent with the rest of the brand’s sizing and actually fit! 🎉 
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PS heads up - I’ll be doing a Q&A about body image and kids in my Stories on Friday. The Q sticker is up in my Stories now if you’d like to submit a Q! 💕 #BodyHappyKids
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[Image description: Molly is standing in front of the mirror looking very pleased with the fact her new jeans bought from Depop fit her. She is wearing pink patterned jeans with cherubs on them, a pink check jumper and pink trainers. There are piles of laundry on the bed behind her.]
Another photo of us on a walk, because it’s been Another photo of us on a walk, because it’s been our main form of entertainment this year. Anyone else? 
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I honestly now get excited about putting my boots on and being outdoors, even in the rain. I’m going to start hugging trees next and going on wild camping weekends that involve doing a poo behind a tree and making my own fire. Joke.... maybe. 
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Just another reminder that all movement is valid, exercise doesn’t need to have to be about burning calories or even tracking steps in order for it to be “worth it”. Hope everyone’s had a great weekend ❤️
#BodyHappyMum #JoyfulMovement
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Image description: Molly and her two daughters stand on a bridge in the countryside. They are all wearing hiking boots and outdoor clothes and smiling.
My body is good and excellent and my body only bel My body is good and excellent and my body only belongs to me ✨ (Words by Effie May, age 6 💕) #BodyHappyMum
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Image description: A close up of Molly’s bare skin as she hugs herself. It’s dark and part of her body is illuminated by light. She has her eyes closed and is smiling.
“Mummy I wrote a letter to myself,” she said. “Mummy I wrote a letter to myself,” she said. And my heart swelled. Maybe I’m doing an OK job after all 🤞❤️💕 #BodyHappyKids 
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I could leave this caption here but I need to make something clear: if you think it’s great that my daughter - a thin, white, nondisabled, cisgender kid - feels good in her body but you’re not here for the self-love of any kid who doesn’t look like her.... then you’ve missed the point.
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ALL bodies are good bodies, and without this important piece of the puzzle ALL children will be at risk of doubting their body. And what happens when they doubt their body? Well... hating our body doesn’t make us treat it with love, and the same is true of kids. 
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Great, now we’ve cleared that up, can we take a moment to appreciate the incredible phonetic spelling on show here?! 
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Image description: Effie, age 6, stands against a white wardrobe holding up a letter she has written to herself. It is spelled phonetically and reads “My body is good and excellent and my body only belongs to me.”
I used to struggle to buy stuff for myself if I ha I used to struggle to buy stuff for myself if I had any spare cash - not just treats, but basics like pants and tights that fit properly. I’d tell myself I didn’t need it, didn’t deserve it, couldn’t justify the expense. There’s still that little voice (the habit of putting everyone else’s needs first and my own last dies hard it seems) but I’m leaning into exploring why it still sometimes rears its head, instead of always listening to it. 
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I’m trying to buy as much as I can from pre-loved places or small businesses these days, which is why I’m very happy to share with you some of my latest finds: a star dress from Depop (£5), earrings from @kelzojewellery by @ourtransitionallife (£12) and the comfiest tights I’ve ever owned in Raspberry Pie by @snagtights (£6.99) 💕💕💕
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Have you found any great small brands lately? Shout them out in the comments so we can all support in the run up to Christmas. ⬇️⚡️
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Image description: Molly is smiling and sticking out her tongue to the camera. Her hair is freshly dyed a light shade of pink. She’s wearing a pink t’shirt underneath a black and white star patterned slip dress, with bright pink tights and black and pink earrings decorated with a boob design.
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