Welcome to the Monthly Creatives Blog Hop! I’m excited to participate this month along with these awesome ladies! The theme this month is DIY Wall Decor and I’m sharing an easy way to create a gallery wall on the stairs!
I’ve seen a lot of really great posts on Pinterest on how to make a stairs gallery wall where you trace the frames on craft paper and then tape the paper to the walls to get it perfect but #aintnobodygottimeforthat! So I did it my own way. And it all worked out!
How to hang a Gallery Wall in no time:
- I gathered all my frames and laid them out on the floor at an angle similar to my stairs. Start with your largest pieces. These will anchor your gallery. Also, see my tips below for creating a beautiful gallery wall.
- Once I had them roughly like I wanted them, I took a picture of the layout with my cellphone. This served as my hanging guide once I moved to the stairs.
3. Start hanging those anchor pieces! On my gallery wall, my anchor pieces are 11×14 prints of each of me with each of my girls when they were six months old. To center my gallery wall on the stairs, I counted the number of stairs on that wall and hung the center picture right above it. Easy peasy…no measuring tape required! And having a super cute assistant is key!
4. Fill in around these anchor pieces using your cellphone pictures of the layout you wanted. Try to keep the same distance between each frame. This will create a cohesive look…like all those frames are one giant piece of art!
5. Roll with the punches. I had to tweak my original layout from the floor due to the sconces on the stairwell. But it all worked out!
6. Sit back and enjoy your handiwork!
Tips for what to include on your gallery wall:
- Stick with one color of frame. To make the look cohesive, like on giant piece of art, I think you need to use one color of frame. If you want more of an eclectic look, different
- If you know you eventually want a gallery wall, starting gathering frames when you find these on sale. I hoarded several of these frames for years until I finally decided to pull this wall together.
- Incorporate different shapes. My favorite part of the gallery wall are the silhouettes of each of my girls. You can see how I DIYed two of them here.
- Non-photo items work great too! I have a ceramic tile with a “J” on it down near the bottom and had planned to add a large “J” cutout but I ran out of room. Arrows, family symbols, shadow boxes and mirrors work great too!
- You don’t necessarily have to stick to black and white photos. My anchor pieces are in color, but have a black background. They still work with all the other black and white pictures because of the black background. The color almost serves as a highlight on those photos.
- Don’t use a bigger nail than you need to hang each piece. Learn from my mistakes! When I hung my last gallery wall, I used whatever nails I could find around the house and they were far too large. They left huge holes in the wall when I took it down. So do yourself a favor, use a small nail for a small frame. It will be a lot easier to cover up when you switch things around later.
- Keep in mind how the gallery wall will look in the grand scheme of things. Here’s how mine looks from the family room. If I already had a lot going on on those walls, a gallery wall might be too much from that point of view.
So that’s my easy DIY Stairs Gallery Wall! Check out these other fun DIY Wall Projects from these talented ladies!
Welcome to Our Monthly Creative Blog Hop
Katrin | Kreativ K
Amanda | Life On The Bay Bush Blog
Toni | Small Home Soul
Sam | Raggedy Bits
That’s a lovely gallery wall! I always find it tricky decorating the wall going up the stairs, I also put up photos of my family, that always makes me smile, going up. Thanks for all the great tips too.
This turned out so great Amanda! I love that you started with the 3 big anchor pieces and worked out from there, everything is spaced nicely and flows well.
I’ve been wanting to do a gallery wall in my house for 3 years and my walls are still empty (eek). Thanks for the tips to help me get started.
Love how this turned out Amanda!! So many great tips too!! Adore those sweet silhouettes that you have also popped in amongst all of your beautiful photos of your family!
It looks lovely Amanda. I always struggle with gallery walls and yes on too many occasions I’ve left huge gaping holes in our walls because I didn’t plan properly and had to move things around afterwards 😀 Love your easy tips on how to do it properly