In the world of social media Home decor one of the most prominent trends sweeping us in the last few years was the ‘BASKET GALLERY WALLS’. I don’t remember when & where I first saw them but it was unique , it was a refreshing change , it was novel , it was Boho Chic , it was earthy and utmost creative too. It did grab a lot of eyeballs don’t you agree. I had mostly seen & loved Ceramic Plates in Colonial homes for the longest time but Baskets never heard or imagined. But I don’t have Baskets yet on any of my Walls, what I do have are mostly old school conventional things.
Seen below is a Basket Wall I styled & shot for one of my Clients last year. If baskets are your thing you can check them out at Kari by Kriti. They have an extensive range of Baskets in different colors and sizes from neutrals to bright cheery yellows & reds. Wall Baskets by Kari by Kriti
You see only in the last few months, did we finally get around to hang some art on the walls almost after moving to this rental Home a year ago. Gallery Walls , Statement Wall is nothing but simply a collage of your collections, art , travel souvenirs , memorabilia’s hung on a wall.
Refer it as an interesting way to show your collection of memories and collectibles to brighten up a corner or make a drab white wall the real conversation starter.
The reason I held on & wasn’t sure was this rental space has pretty low ceilings and also a false ceiling something I particularly dislike about modern interiors. So we kept the walls bare initially to reflect more air and create space illusion but then that carton full of my art and picture frames sat staring at me some even catching mold during the extended monsoon season we have here. So we decided best was to hang them all up, if the rooms feel a tad bit smaller now.
Living Room Gallery Wall
I had been thinking about a Botanical theme for some time now and the living room seemed a perfect stage to begin with. From rustic hardwood frames that I thrifted few years ago to some pressed leaves, an old antique porcelain dinner plate thrifted from Goa , My cousins stunning botanical cyanotype art on a MDF board ( Find it here @TheCobaltcompany) , Vintage coasters I bought in Prague during our travels few years ago, a wall plate from Egypt that happens to be one of my favourite countries we have travelled to. The wall has bits and bobs from different places put together reminding us of those happy times. A travel gallery wall is probably the most common one , you could choose to frame your own pictures to create one or like us hand up souvenirs and trinkets collected over a period of time. Here’s how ours looks.
Also just for reference here’s how my Living Room Gallery Wall looked in our previous rental more on the Contemporary & Ethnic side I would say. And what you see above isn’t final , our Homes and spaces keep evolving with us so for sure more things would go up , many things would be shuffled around even 🙂
Dining Room Gallery Wall
This one took a little more time. The dining area here is pretty dark and receives zero natural light, I am also in the process of getting a new dining table , a crockery cabinetry for this space so I had to factor these things. Anyway the table should be here end of this month hopefully. And meanwhile I thought lets do up the wall anyway and we’ll change it around if needed later. It ain’t so difficult honestly all you gotta do is fill those holes with white cement and drill new ones.
The Inspiration behind the Dining Room Wall was evidently rustic country charm. No guesses there.
I had a few or quite a few inspirations saved to my Pinterest account. And hanging rustic chopping boards was one idea I was leaning heavily towards.
the simple process we follow
Place everything on the floor first to see how you like them in various positions, there is no rule you keep moving and switching the placement until you are happy. The trick is you have balance it out and try a few or many combinations if you are doing a gallery wall with objects of different sizes and shapes like us. Once you are happy with a certain placement take a picture of it on your Phone , and photoshop it on another picture of your bare wall to confirm you are happy with the setting and then finally move ahead with drilling the nails or using command hooks.
The winter vegetable art is from Richa who I discovered last year on Instagram. Richa is a gifted artist and her beautiful art reminds me of old school country charm. Her art fits into the farmhouse and country style decor perfectly reminding you of those old Tin Cans , Newspaper branding and Magazine advertisements of the 80’s & 90’s. It was perfect for what I had in mind for my Kitchen and dining room ideas. She did make it pretty tough to choose but I got a set of these Carrots & Turnips winter vegetables from her eventually which are all sorts amazing. Richa can also customise art if you have something particular in mind ( Find her on Instagram here Richasharma.artbook)
Adding my chalkboard here is no surprise, if you have followed me for sometime here or on the gram you would know my innate love affair with them. I have 4 chalkboards just to put it on records here. From small tiny table top ones to Big boards I so love them. They transport me to ‘ Sipping Coffee & having a Caprese Sandwich in a cute Italian Bistro‘.
Here’s how the dining room wall turned out eventually. I can also easily switch chopping boards and things here.
If you have been following along for sometime , last autumn we also did a simple Pressed leaf Gallery wall on a pillar to hide our horrendous red door bell with my Hat. Ha ha I think I should now replace the dry leaves with Flowers instead or some illustrations . What say !
How do you Figure out Placing Objects in a Gallery Wall ?
Well first and foremost there are no rules, even if someone tells you there are, really ain’t except for what looks nice to you and appeals to you. Remember someone put lots of baskets in a waterfall shape and now everyone wants to as well. So ya Ceramic plates , Baby & Family Photos , Bollywood Posters , Vintage Art , Baskets or Chopping Boards. YOU DO YOU ! Its basically nothing but a curative display of things you love put together in a creative fashion which you decide for yourself.
As for us we simply collect the stuff & play around on the floor first to figure out placement of different objects & their combinations. It’s just easier this way, shuffle them around and try different combinations, even angles, spacing, then take a good look or click a picture on your Phone until you finalise how you like them. Or you could also do this on certain applications like Canva or Photoshop specially if you don’t have the things physically with you to visualise how it would fit into your scheme of things and decor style. Try saving individual pictures from the internet and placing them on a blank background like a mood board or layered on top of the wall you eventually want to fix them on. EASY NO ROCKET SCIENCE. We don’t talk science on this blog here anyway Ha Ha Ha unless its Home Decor science.
Pro Tip – It doesn’t necessarily has to be all matching matching and perfectly aligned. I personally like mixing shapes and sizes to add interest. Rounds , Ovals with Rectangular and Squares. A small metal coaster next to a 15 inch wooden frame. A ceramic plate in between vintage oil paintings. Gold & Bronze frames with Black and so on.
The second gallery wall we did was in our Gurgaon Rental the ‘ Travel Gallery Wall ‘ one of my favourites till date , I don’t know why I don’t have many pictures of that except for this half shot where I am posing myself. Wait I know why, I didn’t have this blog back then to record and share my Home decor journey but now we do so I gotta put it out here.
That’s it for today all about our Gallery Walls , I actually now recollect the first Gallery wall I ever did was in my bedroom at my parents Home in Jaipur way back in 2009, It has all Black & White landscape photograph prints. I don’t have a picture of it and if I get someone to send me its going to be quite embarrassing but fun too so let me try.
Do you have a Gallery Wall or our planning to execute one in your space. I hope you found this blog helpful and it inspires you to create a unique gallery wall with your personal touch.
Happy Wednesday Folks !
Kamakshi
