DIY Photo Gallery Wall

A few weeks ago, Robbie and I visited IKEA for the first time.  I have wanted to visit an IKEA since I learned all about their awesome-ness...it just took me about 6 years to get there.  But I went, and it was AMAZING.  If you’ve never gone, I highly recommend it!  It was just absolutely amazing!  I can’t think of a better word to describe it!  Now, over the span of 6 years, I’d been formulating lots of home projects that required a trip to IKEA.

This one is for a photo gallery wall.  This project was a more recent addition to my mental list...it showed up about the time my boys did (go figure!).  Anyhoo, this is a really fun project, and by getting the frames at IKEA, it’s an affordable project as well.

So here’s how we did it:

From IKEA, we bought a collection of frames from the Ribba, Nyttja, Sӧndrum and Virserum lines.  I knew that I wanted an eclectic mixture of sizes and depths, but needed some way to organize the lines with a cohesive, linear feel, so we used a 1.5” thick ‘border’ through the middle of the gallery.  So the bottoms of the frames on the top row were against the same invisible line, and the tops of the bottom row frames  were against an invisible line.  (This sentence is where a picture really is worth a thousand words-see below)   I also had the frames end at the same points on the right and left.  

I had measured our living room wall before we left, and knew we had about 8’ of space to work with.  We laid out all the frames we wanted on the floor of IKEA, in a rough mock up to make sure we had enough to balance the top on bottom rows.  Nobody even blinked an eye at IKEA-did I mention it’s awesome?!

The most time-consuming part of this project was figuring out which 16 photos I wanted to use (it was a long process...days even...).

I did another layout, more specifically this time, on our bedroom floor, and took a picture, so I could line them back up in the right order in the living room.

So here’s my major tip for this gallery wall: use Command Adhesive Velcro strips!  Can you imagine the number of holes you’d put in your wall to hand all of these?  It’s too many to contemplate!  I came across this tip a few weeks ago when I needed to hang a super-skinny piece of canvas board in my son’s room.  My sister painted him a (Pinterest-inspired) really cute whale picture, but there was no way to hang it traditionally, with a nail/screw and anchor.  So Command Adhesive Velcro it was.  The instructions are on the box, but it’s a super-simple, peel and stick application.

It's really important, before you stick you first frame to the wall, that you use a level!  Once you have the first frame hung and it's precisely (or as humanly possible) level, then you can level the next frames off of that one.  There's nothing worse than getting everything hung up, then sitting down to admire your work and you realize it's crooked.  That would not be good.

So here’s the final layout; I ended up adding a few white frames that were on sale at Target, just to make it a little longer...I think I’m going to try and find a 3-picture-opening frame (like the one on top) to go underneath the last 3 frames on the bottom row (left-hand side).  I think it needs that little something right there.

(sorry for the glare...I tried taking this picture in the morning, mid-day and at night, but there was always a glare...the glare from the ceiling fan was the least offensive!)

Anyhoo-thanks for stopping by and come back soon!  (and if you’ve never gone to IKEA, plan a trip...you won’t be sorry!)