It’s due time to talk gaaaaallery walls! Friends and I have been having conversations regarding this topic since signing our own leases. As we move or rearrange, we’re usually left wondering what the haaaail to do with that one blank wall. You might be, too! Disclaimer: though my friends seek and often trust (?) my opinion on how to fill their space, I have yet to actually nail a hole in The Yellow Room after living there for almost a year (commitment, u know). So, as always, these thoughts are my own and I’d love to hear yours.
Back to the question…
For the people in the back:
Gallery walls are quite literally an arranged collection of art/things/stuff arranged and hung on a wall. So, rather than wondering if the idea of a gallery wall is out, I think we’re actually just asking if we’re doing it right. Which - spoiler - is also a mostly-irrelevant question as it relates to making your space (or wall) yours.
Sure, some technicalities exist in hanging art and maintaining balance in a space. There are a million tips and masking-tape tricks to spacing out a wall before executing. I, for one, do not know much about this precision or forethought when measuring. Mrs. Google or your type-A friend can help you with this.
Under the tool-technicalities of it all, you get to the ‘good or bad’ thought process. It proves difficult to have g-wall discourse without touching on ~taste~ for a moment. So many of us are worried that our taste in decor/design is good or bad, outdated or trendy, cheap or overpriced; the dichotomies go on. The seeming approval or disapproval of design preferences is heavily influenced by consumer culture (big box design, tik tok, ig, paid ads, etc.) and more than enhancing, I think it is crushing individual style. Just because somebody (who probs doesn’t even design their own home) swears that they would never mix wood tones doesn’t mean that you can’t hang your birch frame next to your walnut frame.
Your taste is nobody else’s but your own. At its best, I think taste is the imaginary closet that resides in the back of our minds; housing the sights, smells, textures, sounds, and literal tastes that we’ve stored up over the years; filled with things that fit us just right and make us feel like us. This is the place that some pull from when dressing up their spaces! I meaaaan I first discovered my aunt’s affinity for New Mexico through an Aztec mask hanging in between her family photos on her wall.
In short, gallery walls are neither cheugy nor ‘out’. They’ll never be! Using your wall space to create a space that feels like yours will always be relevant.
According to one of my friends, the term gallery wall might be out though.
The rule is that there are no rules. You might just need some more inspiration! I’ve included some lovely gallery wall spaces below for just that. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be working on a wall proj myself using some funnnnn prop sale finds!
Have a lovely fall weekend. Feel free to send any and all gallery wall inspo my way! Also - does anybody have recommendations on how to hang vintage skis on a wall in a very non-functional, cute way??? LMK.
WFIM,
Josie