If I have learned anything after living in 7 apartments since 2015, it’s that interior design is not my passion, and I don’t really have an eye for it. I haven’t lived more than 2 years in the same place since I was 18, so I never spend much money furnishing my room. In my most latest apartment, there is just a ton of empty white wall space everywhere, especially in my bedroom, so I decided to do a gallery wall for the first time. I think it turned out pretty decently, and it wasn’t too expensive.
I wanted my gallery wall to really represent me, and I think that put a lot of pressure on myself for no real reason, but it was enough for me to keep procrastinating looking for prints. It’s kind of like why I don’t think I would get a tattoo for fun because I don’t know what I’d want permanently on my body, even though these are just prints that can easily be replaced.
HOW TO MAKE A GALLERY WALL ON A BUDGET
1. CHOOSE YOUR FRAME AESTHETIC
I decided my bedroom this time would be bright and airy and don’t have much black in my room besides electronics. So I stuck with lighter wood, white, and gold frames for my gallery wall.
2. BUY FRAMES
Some may say start by finding the art pieces you want, but I think it’s easier to visualize your gallery wall if you buy the frames first.
I love thrifting, but I had a bad experience with frames on Facebook Marketplace and didn’t see any that I liked at a couple Goodwills and Salvation Army, so I bought new frames from Michael’s (on Rakuten!) and HomeGoods. Every time I went into Michael’s, there were sales like buy 1 get 2 free, 60% off all frames, or 70% off all frames, so DO NOT pay full price for frames. It may be tempting to buy frames on Amazon, but trust me, go to Michael’s because it will be cheaper and you’ll have a ton of options to mix and match sizes and colors. To get some unique frames, go to HomeGoods.
All my actual frames are wood, but I bought a mix of glass and plastic for the glazing (the transparent part). If I were to do it again, I’d get all plastic because they’re lightweight and perfect for apartment living when you don’t want to drill holes in the wall to hang up a heavy frame. Naturally, the plastic frames are also cheaper than the glass frames, but they still look nice on the wall and I honestly can’t tell the difference.
For this wall, I spent $60 for 11 frames (8 from Michael’s + 3 from HomeGoods). If you have a smaller wall and don’t want that many frames, it will be cheaper. Again, if you use all plastic glazing, it will also be cheaper. I also bought more frames than I needed and returned the ones I didn’t end up using.
3. ARRANGE FRAMES ON THE GROUND
My friend Katherine arranged the frames for my wall since I just do not have the eye for interior design and didn’t know how to make a gallery wall. We laid them all out on the floor and took a photo to remember. In general, I think more space between frames is better. You don’t want them to look squished together. I tried to put them at least 2-3 inches apart. Here is an article that gives you some inspiration for different gallery wall arrangements and layouts and here is a layout generator if you want to get fancy.
4. FIND ART TO FILL THE FRAMES
One thing about art is that it is subjective and so you may think it will be helpful for your friend or family member to look for art for you, but don’t do this unless you’re sure you have the same taste. My friend Katherine looked for some art, but we just have very different aesthetics (as in I don’t have one/have no way to describe mine but I’m very picky), so sorry to waste her time!!
To make sure the prints looked nice together, as I was searching for art online, I made a Pinterest board and pinned all the links of all the art that I liked so that I could find them again. This was done without thinking about if all the pieces looked good together. Then, I uploaded the photo of my arranged frames on the ground to Canva and took screenshots of all the artwork and placed them on top of the frames and spent way too much time re-organizing. Once I got all the art in the right frames, I was able to buy and print the art in the correct sizes.
5. BUY & PRINT ART:
If you’re on a tight budget, using your own photos is definitely a cost-efficient way to go for a gallery wall, and it’s sentimental and 100% unique. If you want prints, you could also make any quote prints on Canva and print them on your own. If you’re artsy, you could make your own paintings, drawings, etc. You can also look for art on Facebook Marketplace that could already come framed, but sometimes it actually is cheaper to buy the frame and art separately brand new.
I ended up buying a mix of physical prints and digital downloads from Etsy that I then printed on matte paper at CVS (on Rakuten!) or Staples (on Rakuten!) which was super cheap. If you have a printer at home, could definitely just print at home! Digital downloads were super nice because I could manipulate the size or colors of the print in Photoshop to get the exact image I wanted. I had looked at Society6 as well, but a lot of them sold prints in strange sizes that didn’t match normal frame sizes. They were also fairly expensive.
I ultimately spent $73 on the art and $29 on printing. CVS has printing sales all the time (30%-70% off), DO NOT pay full price for printing!! The landscape photos I took myself and they are available for purchase from my print store. For all the art I used in my gallery wall, scroll to the bottom of the post for the exact Etsy links.
6. HANG FRAMES ON YOUR WALL
Since I am living in an apartment, I didn’t want to put a ton of holes in the wall and I decided to use picture-hanging Command Hooks. You probably should do a lot of measuring and math and use a ruler and such to get all the frames perfectly straight, but I do not have the patience for that and I chose not to have all my frames line up perfectly with each other because I’m artsy and fun like that. I started by hanging up the biggest center frame. I saw a video on how to dab a little toothpaste on the picture frame hook and then pressed it against the wall, and it worked. I then used a pencil to mark it and wipe off the toothpaste from the wall, then I traced around the frame so I could see how far away to place the other frames. I stuck all the various-sized Command Hooks on the wall, and then after a few hours, I mounted the frames. I didn’t have an issue in my room, but one of my frames in my kitchen was too heavy for the Command Hook and so it fell and the frame broke, so that’s another reason why I recommend the plastic glazing.
- Frames: $60
- Art from Etsy: $73
- Photographs: Free
- Printing: $29
- Command Hooks: $37
TOTAL: $199
As I mentioned above, there are definitely ways to do it cheaper, but I’m going to tell myself that $200 isn’t that bad. First gallery wall, done!
MY GALLERY WALL ART REVEAL
Prices listed are what I paid, but the prices fluctuate all the time on Etsy with various sales per shop! The photo on the left is from my gallery wall and the photos on the right are screenshots from Etsy.
I definitely wanted to incorporate France or the language in my gallery wall somehow since I grew up going to French immersion school. At first, I was searching for French quotes, but there isn’t much on Etsy besides “J’adore Paris” and “C’est la vie.” I realized there wasn’t really any French quote that had sentimental meaning to me so I just looked at any French prints. I’m not really sure how I found this one on Etsy, I think I searched for “turquoise French prints” or something. Piscine means pool, and I also think it’s fun given that my last name is Claypool. I do really wish I got the 11×14 size because there is a white border on it and I wanted it to be more of a statement piece. I also think it would look better in a wood or gold frame, but this is how it worked out.
None of my favorite Taylor Swift songs (Cornelia Street, All Too Well) had lyric prints that I liked, but Taylor Swift had to be on this wall somehow. I found this print with lyrics from her song Daylight and chose it just because I liked the design. I also do like the idea of being able to change and evolve your perspective of love and other things. The print looked darker than I wanted, so I made it brighter in Photoshop, and I definitely think I could’ve gone a lot lighter.
I truly had never seen this painting before and I don’t know the story behind it, but I just really love how colorful it is. Bonus points that it’s by a French painter.
I have been following Morgan Harper Nichols on Instagram for a few years. She is a Black female creator that makes illustrations with words of inspiration and encouragement, and they’re all very aesthetically pleasing. This one matched the aesthetic of what I was going for for my room, and I think it serves as a good reminder to myself to stop stressing about things and take a moment to be in the moment.
I do think Starry Night is my favorite painting, but something about it just didn’t feel right to have it in this gallery wall. I had a laptop cover sticker of Starry Night Over the Rhone on my first laptop and it’s just one of my favorites, so I wanted it on my wall.
I initially saw this artist’s Women Reading Books print, since I wanted to represent my love of reading, but then I went through her whole Etsy shop and found this one. I like the vibrant colors, how the woman is reading outside, and that there’s a garden with someone picking apples (ode to WA). It just looks like an ideal scene (minus the butterflies).
I originally found this quote on Society6, but it didn’t come in the size I wanted, so I searched for it on Etsy. I wanted the background to have a color, so I added a light peach solid background in Photoshop. I definitely thought about making this on Canva, but I couldn’t find a font I loved or figure out how to curve each line a different way.
This was the last print I purchased, and it took me several more months to find it. I had an empty frame on my wall for 3 months because I couldn’t figure out what I wanted. To balance out the other side, I wanted something with yellow and red, but I didn’t want the words to be in capital letters and I wasn’t sure what I wanted it to say. I finally found this one and I’m not 100% on it, but I know I am way too lazy to change it. I can be super stressed and negative sometimes, so this print is in reference that not all my thoughts reflect reality or what is likely to happen.
I took this photo from the top of Petrin Tower in Prague in the fall of 2016 when I studied abroad. I liked the colors and none of my pictures inside Gothic cathedrals really fit the vibe of my room so this worked.
I took this photo at Blue Lake in the fall of 2021. My mom and I got up early to go hike and see the yellow larch trees. The trail was beautiful and not too steep or too long, and it’s probably my favorite hike in Washington.
I took this photo in the winter of 2020. My friends and I were taking a road trip up to Monterey and stopped at Bixby Bridge for golden hour and it was such a glorious time. The view of cliff was absolutely stunning, I’d love to experience seeing that for the first time again.
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How to Make a Gallery Wall on a Budget
