It’s not hard to put together a minimalist gallery wall that elevates your home, but it does take a little bit of thought and planning. Before you start hammering a lot of holes in your walls, you’ll want to think about a few key things.

Here’s what you need to plan for, so you get it right the first time.

What’s your minimalist style?

What’s your style? If you landed here, you’re probably already considering a minimalist vibe. But that can mean a lot of different things to different people. Are you more of a black and white minimalist? What about monochrome colors that all reflect one hue? Is this gallery wall going to echo a pop of color you’ve added elsewhere?

Where will your gallery wall be hung?

There are a lot of great options for hanging a gallery wall, including above the couch, down the stairway, or above the dining room table. Think about where you’ve got the biggest wall space available. What wall is the most visible to you or your guests? There’s no wrong answer here, and there may even be more than one right answer. 

What’s your perfect gallery wall layout? 

There are endless options to layout your gallery wall. Here are a few of our favorites.

The Line Gallery Wall

If your pictures are all the same size, the line format can work exceptionally well. Simply hang each of your pictures in a straight line. Be careful to center it on the wall, or above your furniture. Another key is making sure that each piece is even with the same amount of space in between each. You’ll need a ruler or tape measure and a pencil to carefully calculate where each nail hole should be placed. The old “measure twice” adage works here too. Measure twice, hammer once!  

The Grid Gallery Wall

If you’ve got a large selection of items that are the same size, this might be your best option. Just like the Line Gallery Wall layout, you’ll want to make sure the space between each frame is consistent. The closer you are, the better your gallery wall will look when it’s complete.

The Free Flow Gallery Wall

If your style leans a little bit more eclectic, you might want to try a free flow gallery wall grid. With this style, you’re not looking to place the art with exacting detail. It’s more about making it fit together in a way that feels organic. This style works especially well if you’ve got art that is many different sizes. It takes a little bit more planning to make sure all of your pieces fit together, but the outcome can be gorgeous. To get the layout just how I want it, I like to lay all my art on the floor. I move it around and play with it to make the smaller pieces fit just right, keep the colors balanced, and make it look visually pleasing.

The Geometric Gallery Wall

Another option if you’ve got art of various sizes is the geometric layout. This gallery wall style tends to look more organized and give a cleaner end look than the free flow style. With this look, think of echoing what in a way that is complimentary. Here’s an example above.

What You’ll Need to Hang Your Gallery Wall

Art!

First and foremost, find art that feels like YOU. This gallery wall should tell your story, or an aspect of who you are. It might be celebrating your family, your love of abstract art, or inspiration.

Frames

For a minimalist gallery wall, we often like to use the same frame to keep a sleek look. You can get away with a variety of frames, but that lends itself to a more eclectic look. If that’s what feels right to you, roll with it!  

An Empty Floorspace

We like to lay out our art on the floor first to preview it. It takes a little extra time, but trust us, you’ll be happy that you did this step. You’ll really see what it looks like, and more than likely, you’ll move things around a few times before you find the perfect layout.

Large Pieces of Paper

This is another step that will be worth it in the end – especially if you’re going for a more free-flowing look. Gather up some large craft paper. Cut it to the size of each item you want to hang (tape some sheets of paper together, if you don’t have a large roll of paper.) Next, tape the sheets of paper on your wall exactly where they’ll go for the finished gallery wall. This will allow you to see your exact placement. Ensure the gallery wall as a whole is centered where you want it (i.e., above the couch in the central part of the room.)

Tools

You’ll need a hammer, picture hooks, nails, a tape measure, and scotch tape to get your art on the wall. This is the tricky part. Hang one piece and then measure, measure, measure, as you begin to hang the rest of the pieces. If you’ve hung pieces of paper on the wall, simply hold your piece up to the corresponding paper, check for where the hook will be as it hangs, poke a hole in your paper to mark the spot. Carefully remove the paper, scotch tape the whole, and then place your picture hook.

Your math teacher would be so proud after you pull it all together! 

Art Featured In this blog post...

Our Minimalist City Prints that can be found here.

The Cleveland Map print found here.

The Cleveland Suburbs print found here.

Our Black and White Joshua Tree Print available here.

The California Cities Print available here.

The Home Abstract print found here.

Our Mid Century Modern Collection available here.