Gallery Wall: How to Make a Designer-Inspired Photo Wall

Learn the reasons why this gallery wall looks so elevated and like a designer-inspired gallery wall.

My gallery wall has gotten lots of interest on Instagram so I wanted to make a detailed post with all the information on my large gallery wall!

Get all the specs and details for this black and white gallery wall!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure.

Before I tell you about this gallery wall, it’s important to remember that it is a backdrop to a sophisticated room, which definitely helps elevate the look of it! This room is my sitting room and one of my favorites in my home. I love the black and white contrast, not only in the gallery wall, but also in the rest of the room. You may notice that my style includes lots of black and white furniture and decor. I think it’s a timeless look!

I added this gallery wall a couple years ago but recently updated it in a couple ways. First, I added two beautiful gold sconces on either side. These sconces are quite long and surprisingly affordable. I added white, battery-operated taper candles to them.

The second change I made recently was adding picture frame putty to the frame corners. Sometimes my frames would slant on the wall a bit. To combat this issue, I added a small, pea-sized amount of putty in each corner of each frame. I pushed the frames to stick to the wall, and they haven’t moved since! This is actually one of the reasons why my gallery wall looks high-end. Every photo frame is perfectly aligned and straight.

HERE’S WHY MY GALLERY WALL LOOKS SO HIGH END:

My gallery wall takes up almost the entire wall.

Unlike some gallery walls, my gallery wall takes up almost the entire wall. Lots of gallery walls tend to take up only the upper-half of a wall. Because my gallery wall is so large and covers so much space of the wall, it feels like a focal point. All of the specs are listed below.

The frames feel high end because of the slim frame and wide matting.

My frames are custom-made from Frame It Easy. I chose the frame style called Ashford, which has a very slim black edge. I also chose a thick white matting, which gives a modern, designer-inspired look. I’m a huge fan of contrast, and I feel like combination works so well together. If you’re looking for a more affordable, similar option, these frames are great! They’re a similar size and I own three of them for a different gallery wall. I posted more details on other affordable options below.

My photos are landscape photos printed in black and white.

Family gallery walls are wonderful, and I have some of those myself, but they are personal and don’t give off a designer look. For this gallery wall, I used black and white landscape photos of pictures I’ve taken over the years of our travels. Printing them in black and white makes the photos feel sophisticated. If you don’t have any landscape photos of your own, there are plenty on Etsy! You can either buy black and white prints of landscapes or get a digital download option and print them yourself. More details on these options are below!

The frames are perfectly straight on our wall and don’t move.

Many times, frames move around on a wall and end up looking crooked on the wall. This hinders the whole look and it doesn’t feel as elevated. To keep the photos perfectly straight, I used putty in each corner of the back of the frames to ensure the frames don’t move.

COMPLETE GALLERY WALL SPECS:

Frames are from Frame It Easy
Frame size: 27&3/16” x 27&3/16”
Art size: 10”x10”
Style: Ashford, satin black
Matting: 8.5”, smooth acrylic
Wall height: 8′
Distance between frames: 2.75” left to right, 2” up and down
Distance gallery wall is from floor: 19.5”
Distance gallery wall is from ceiling: 20”
Photos: landscapes, scenery and building from our travels
Photo printing: I had them printed as 11×14 photos in black and white. I have the photo overlap on the back side of the matting. I taped the photos to the matting. Amazon offers photo printing in 11×14!
I added picture frame putty to the corner of each frame to keep them from moving.

Save this to remember the measurements for this gallery wall!

SIMILAR AFFORDABLE OPTIONS

If you don’t want to buy custom frames, I’ve found a very similar option that’s a great price! These square frames are 25×25 with an 8×10 photo. My frames are 27&3/16” x 27&3/16” with a 10×10 photo. The sizing is quite similar! I actually own three of these non-custom frames and I think they’re a great, less-expensive option.

Another great option, though not quite as large, is this black square frame. This frame is about 21”x21” with a 5×7 photo.

If you’re looking for landscape art similar to mine, there are several options on Etsy. Here are some of my favorite black and white landscape print options:

You can still buy prints that are in a landscape orientation, even if you need them to fill a portrait frame. You just need to buy them in a bigger size so that the height of each print will fill the art cutout in the frame. You’ll have a lot of excess width of that print, so you’ll just cut it down a bit with scissors on either side. I always like to tape my prints to the matting so they stay put. For this reason, it’s a good idea to have a little larger of a print so it can have a bit of overlap behind the frame. This will ensure there’s no gaps between the art and the matting.

If you want to keep it super budget-friendly, you can get a set of digital downloads and once they’re emailed to you, print them out on computer paper! Just make sure you use the black and white printer setting if you get a set of colorful landscape prints.

SITTING ROOM DETAILS

Now let’s chat about the sitting room details! As I mentioned earlier, this room is one of my absolute favorite rooms in my home. My accent chairs are pretty affordable, and they’re great quality and a great size. They’re also a great designer dupe for the more expensive Neva chair from Six Penny. They even come in lots of color options. I have the color linen.

Next to it is this beautiful wood accent table which I love so much! I actually have it in black as well. I have this throw on top the accent table. This throw is very similar and another great option!

I have the 9×12 olive/charcoal area rug in here. I love the vintage vibe, design of it and muted olive tone it brings to an otherwise black and white space. One of my more recent additions is this round coffee table. It’s actually a nesting coffee table and you can pair it with a similar, smaller option.

We also have pinch pleat curtains in this room in the color ivory white, with no liner. You can use code MARLYDICE for 8% off your curtain order when ordering directly from their website. These curtains are also available on Amazon!