How to lay out a gallery wall (without regretting it)

A gallery wall works when it reads as one composition rather than many small decisions. Three rules get you most of the way: keep 8–10 cm between frames, treat the whole arrangement as a single artwork with its center at about 150 cm from the floor, and lay it out on the floor before a single nail goes in.

Pick a layout logic first

Random-but-balanced is the hardest look to pull off, so choose a structure:

• The grid. Same-size frames, equal spacing, straight rows. Calm, modern, forgiving — and the only layout where matching frames is mandatory. Works best with a consistent art style across pieces.
• The line. Different frame sizes, but all tops or all centers aligned along one horizontal. Great above a sofa or sideboard.
• The cluster. Mixed sizes arranged around an invisible center point, growing outward. Start with your largest piece just off-center, then balance big against small on opposite sides.

Spacing is the whole game

Frames closer than 5 cm feel crowded; further than 15 cm apart, the composition falls apart into scattered pictures. Stay at 8–10 cm and keep it consistent — uneven gaps are what make a gallery wall look accidental.

The paper-template trick

Trace each frame onto kraft paper, cut the shapes out, and tape them to the wall with masking tape. Live with the paper version for a day, shuffle until it feels right, then nail straight through the paper. This is the difference between one set of holes and five.

Keep the art coherent

A gallery wall tolerates variety in frames more than variety in art. The easiest coherent recipe: one shared palette across all pieces, or one style in different compositions. A set of pieces generated for the same room does this automatically — Placed reads your room's colors once and every style it generates draws from the same palette, so a pair or trio hangs together naturally.

Sizes that work

For a cluster above a sofa, anchor with one 60 × 80 cm piece and surround it with 50 × 50 or 50 × 70 cm pieces, keeping the full arrangement at two-thirds to three-quarters of the furniture's width. For a grid, four or six 50 × 50 cm prints with 8 cm gaps is a proven formula.

Want to see a wall's worth of options before committing? Upload a photo of your room and preview pieces on your actual wall, at scale, before printing a single one.