Raise your spirits with a gallery wall

I agree with London interior designer Abigail Ahern when she says, "The worst thing in my book is to enter a room and feel nothing. No joy, no raising of spirits – nothing"

Do you have a room in your home with a whole lotta nothin' goin' on? Want to make a big visual impact yet can't afford to buy a stunning new piece of furniture, renovate or even repaint?

I suggest you create a gallery wall. Our gallery wall sparks my joy every time I walk by it.

Gather all the pieces in your home meaningful to you, the things that express who you are or who your family is, and curate them on an entire wall (floor to ceiling if your collection is large),

going up a staircase,

around and above a piece of furniture,

or on two adjacent walls.

Consider anything and everything significant to you - art prints, paintings, photographs, drawings, sketches, children's art, maps, concert posters, mirrors and plates. Anything.

Don't be intimidated. Peruse pinterest to find heaps of ideas and inspiration to help you decide what to display and how arrange it.

There are two schools of gallery wall layouts: the cohesive collection and the eclectic collection.

A typical cohesive collection would be all black and white photographs or any collection in the same medium. If you belong to this school you feature a series of similar prints in identical frames, of identical material, hung evenly with equal space between them, most likely in a grid pattern.

This process is more challenging but this video simplifies it.

For me, the mix-it-up, free hand, eye balling it method is the way to go. It results in a more dynamic arrangement that has movement and allows your display to be a work in progress. Add a new piece to your collection as it arrives in your life or subtract pieces as you like.

This school says mix your mediums; colour with black and white, oils with water colours, frames in a variety of sizes - some with mats others without.  Mix vintage with modern, established artists with children's art, paintings with photography. Throw mirrors, wooden letters or plates into the mix, as well as clocks and other items of varied texture, size, and shape. The main thing is no piece should outshine the other.

My advice is there are no rules, no specific formula. It's really up to you what you display and how you curate it. Then your collection is as unique as you are, which is how it should be.

xo