Make your own Christmas gallery wall with fun family photos, a DIY project or two, and great wall decor from Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland! Since gallery walls remain a popular home decor option, you’ll want to make a Christmas version this holiday season.
In short, gallery walls first appeared in France in the late 1600s and were called salon walls. Salons filled their walls with a variety of art from top to bottom, moving away from the classic decor of the French court. Initially for the aristocracy, salons began opening before long for the bourgeois or middle class. Indeed, the everyday Frenchman’s growing animosity for the French crown was demanding cultural and political change and led to the French Revolution.
On a happier note, salons or galleries began to spread to other countries before long. In the same way, many folks around the world enjoy a gallery wall or wall-collage in their homes today. Let us inspire you to make your own Christmas gallery wall!
Tips to Build Your Gallery Wall
- First of all, keep in mind that today’s gallery walls have a natural feel to them. They’re eclectic but cohesive, not matchy-matchy. That is to say you should use art of various sizes and shapes, and frames of various materials. In addition, you should consider including something like a basket or shelf to add visual or dimensional interest. If your art centers on a natural theme, consider this DIY wreath or a basket for inclusion on your wall. Or a DIY pine cone wreath.
- Going along with that idea, you should make your galley-wall collection personal. You should live with what you love, be it pieces from loved ones, travel, or antique stores.
- Thirdly, mix your style or medium. For example, try a black-and-white photo with a color-filled, typographical print.
More Tips to Build Your Gallery Wall
- Now it’s time to hang your pieces! Measure and plan is the name of the game. In fact, I recommend you trace and cut out paper outlines of your gallery pieces. Then you can tack them on the wall and move them around to determine the best arrangement. All things considered, you won’t be stuck with an arrangement you’re not happy with because your picture-hanging hardware is already in the wall. As you place your pieces, you should start with a larger, more striking piece of art and make it the center of your gallery wall. Work your way outward.
I’m no artist so my sketch was rough but served my purpose. In truth, you may find like I did that you need to switch up your placement a little. You see, I ended up flipping placement of the vertical and horizontal framed photos on the left end of the gallery for better balance.
Indeed, this step was invaluable. You won’t want to skip it. Note that this is where I determined I needed to switch the framed photo locations.
- Also keep symmetry in mind but think of it along the lines of putting a puzzle together. Stay away from the look of evenly-spaced images on graph paper. This isn’t math class. 😉
- However, you do want consistent spacing between pieces. We recommend about 2 or 3 inches between your gallery art, give or take a little. Just be consistent.
Make a Christmas Gallery Wall
Without a doubt, Bronner’s in-store selection of Christmas wall art will set your mind spinning with gallery wall ideas! These two colorful “Merry” pieces caught my eye with their not-so-traditional, but bright and beautiful, colors. As a result, they became my inspiration for the entire gallery!
Then the rest was easy. The Santa face wink piece brought great color, dimension and a vintage feel to the gallery. And the metal-ornament wreath (#1230558, $43.99, available in-store or by contacting customer service) brought a different material and the round shape to contrast our rectangular and square frames and canvases.
Since “Merry” was clearly the theme of our gallery wall, we chose to frame photos of our staff (or in your case family and friends) having fun!
DIY Christmas Canvases
In any case, a gallery wall is not complete without a DIY project of your own as part of it. So I transformed the 16-by-20-inch canvases into show pieces and building blocks for our gallery.
First, I painted one of the canvases with two coats of school bus yellow acrylic paint, letting it dry completely after each coat. (In all transparency, I selected the yellow from the letter colors in the “Merry” wall art pieces. But it wasn’t a good choice for the canvas because it was so far from the other colors that were anchoring the gallery. For the purpose of the blog, one of our graphic artists Photoshopped the yellow canvas to a pink flesh color. Undoubtedly, in real life I would have had to scrap the canvas and start over. I learned to be very careful when choosing a paint color for a project like this.)
Next, I took our 48-inch garland with red, green and white pom poms and stretched it into a triangular Christmas tree on the canvas. Keeping the string tight, I put a dot of hot glue on each pom pom to secure it into place on the canvas. Furthermore, you’ll have some leftover pom poms that you can use for the tree trunk and interior filler if you wish. Voila!
What’s more, you can take that second canvas and wrap it like a present in more colors from your “merry” artwork. I went with a vintage blue wrapping paper and bright red ribbon, both core colors in the gallery. Need help making a bow?
Add a Plush Touch
Without a doubt, this snowflake pillow (#1243454, $28.99) invited me to sit down and enjoy the festive surroundings! Available in-store and by contacting customer service (800.361.6736 or customerservice@bronners.com) this pillow is a holiday trim that serves you all winter long.