How to Create a Modern Eclectic Gallery Wall

Do you have a blank wall in your house and you're not quite sure what to do with it? You've toyed with different ideas of what exactly to put on display there. Perhaps you were considering mounting television there but somehow it doesn't feel quite right, it doesn't feel creative enough. Well, maybe what the room needs is a gallery wall. A gallery wall is a collection of photographs, art pieces, and many other things that you can put on display on a wall. It's a great way to express your personality through your home. It is the perfect avenue to display your favorite pictures and your favorite pieces of art. It allows you to find things that represent your likes and interests and put them somewhere you can see and appreciate.

It can be quite intimidating to choose things to put on your wall, especially if you are going for a more eclectic theme. However, it is pretty simple and extremely doable. The followings are some loose guidelines that can help you create the perfect eclectic gallery wall.

When it comes to creating regular gallery walls, there are typical images that you can often find. There are images of our family during important milestones and memorable moments like weddings, birthdays, graduations, special vacations. You can find family portraits, baby photos, and many more images like those. You can still have that in eclectic gallery walls but you want some variety in terms of the composition of these photos. They can't all just be simple headshots. You also want a bit more color and an overall more joyful energy. People want to put images of their families in their homes because they want to be surrounded by the things that they love and good memories they've had with them. However, portraits and photographs aren't the only ways to show off your family's personality. You can also show off your personality by displaying things that represent your interests. So, you can put up the album artwork of your favorite records, you can put up framed posters of your favorite movies and TV shows, or you can have typographic prints of quotes from your favorite books. You can even have prints of your name or initials. To be able to compose a well-rounded gallery wall that is especially quirky, variety is definitely the key.  

Although we talked about the importance of variety, we mustn't go into the composition of our gallery walls without some thought put into it. You want diverse pieces of art and photographs displayed on your wall; however, you also want there to be some cohesiveness. One way to ensure that your choices in the things you want to display make sense is for there to be some sort of color scheme. This does not mean that all the pictures have to have the exact same colors. You can still have multiple color schemes within your gallery wall. But try to think of a loose color scheme that you can follow.

 Perhaps it's just one specific color that you see within many of the photographs you put on display. It does not even have to be featured in all of the artwork; it can just be some of it. However, you have to make sure that the selected pieces with those colors are spread throughout the gallery. This way, you can see the flow of thought that went into it. The common color doesn't even have to be exactly the same in each piece. It could be different shades of blue, for example. It could be certain color combinations that you see.

 Also, note that your color scheme should also be cohesive with the existing color scheme of the room that your gallery wall is in. Consider the color of the furniture, the color of the walls, consider if there's an area rug in front of the wall. What colors can you find in those things? You do not want to have to redo an entire room just to fit the color scheme of your gallery wall. It should be the other way around. So, take a look around and observe what the dominant colors are. Take notice of what you think you have too much of already and what colors you want to highlight even more.

Aside from having a color scheme, you can try another approach. You can try to curate pieces that have the same message or have similar visual themes to each other. You still have to keep variety in mind because it is supposed to look eclectic. For example, you choose the theme of flowers. You can have a picture of a rose on its own, then you can add a photograph of your daughter wearing something floral. You can include an ornate mirror with carvings of flowers, or perhaps the mirror itself resembles the shape of a flower. You can have typography artwork with the scientific names of your favorite flowers.

The thing doesn't have to be so in-your-face. Perhaps you want a theme that is more of an idea rather than a kind of visual imagery. Perhaps you want your gallery wall to evoke the message of female empowerment. You can display pictures of the strong women in your life like your mother, your grandmothers, or your sister. You can include prints of paintings by famous women artists like Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe. You could include quotes from your favorite feminist writers like Maya Angelou, Simone de Beauvoir, Audre Lorde. Or you can simply include images of famous women you admire such as artists, actors or musicians.  

There is a world of possibility when it comes to choosing a theme for your gallery wall. Another example of a theme is your favorite animal. It could be a vibe you want to give out. For example, you want the gallery wall to look cooler and more relaxing, so you include images and references to water. Another thing could be your favorite vacation city. perhaps you've been to Paris and loved it. So, you include images from that specific vacation. You can also include artful pictures of both famous and underrated tourist spots from that city. These pictures can be taken by you or they could be purchased prints. You can also include a map of that city and typography art of common words in the language that people from that city speak.  

There are many ways to arrange the pieces on your wall. Some people follow the grid, and this usually works when all your pieces are the same size and have the same frame. This gives it a very clean and modern look. It is also a more minimalistic way to do a gallery wall. However, we are talking about how to make it look more eclectic. Therefore, you have to play with the leveling, sizes, and shapes of the artwork. You have to play with the kinds of frames you use. They could have different colors, sizes, designs, border thickness, etc. Not everything on your wall has to be something that can be framed. You can include tapestries, mirrors, faux taxidermy mounts, plants, and many more. You want large prints, small prints, and in-between sizes. You want square frames, rectangular frames, circular frames. The more diversity you have in design, the more eclectic it's going to look. Think of your gallery wall like a puzzle and you're finding spaces that need to be filled and you fill them with unexpected pieces.