Gallery walls are here to stay! So what's the best way to create a cool wall that reflects your personality? Here at Doodlemoo we love a gallery wall, and we think the most important thing about them is that it should express who you are and what you love. I recently finished my own gallery wall and, even though I design art prints, it took me a little while to go for it! For my studio/office wall I decided I would start by making the main focus around our 'Love shout' print and then build from there. I also really wanted to play with different sizes and types of picture frame (thick, thin, black, white etc) and also decided not to line up in a symmetrical style. I wanted my gallery wall to feel playful, airy and bright as it was to be the main feature in the place where I work but it was also important for it to display my prints well. I really needed to be able to visualise the layout before making holes all over my wall, so I took a photo of the bare wall and each of the framed pics and set it all up in photoshop. This allowed me to move the pictures around to exactly the right position and get just the style I was looking for. I am lucky as a graphic designer to have these programmes to hand but if you don't then you could try laying them out on the floor or cut pieces of paper to the pic sizes and stick them on the wall to get a feel of the space. I am designing new art prints all the time and it was important for me to be able to change some of the prints in the future and add more things to it as time goes by. Right now I am looking for a cool neon light so I always had in the back of my mind that I should leave some room for extra bits. Try working around a particular colour scheme, and consider if you want to go colourful, moody or monochrome. You can combine modern pieces with photographs and film posters and it can be effective to work around a piece of furniture or feature that you love. I think Leona from Lucky Dip Club has used our 'YAY and Sprinkles' print really well here. Her office is one happy rainbow room and what I love most here is her use of so many different shapes and sizes with all sorts of different wall hangings and colourful things. They all clearly mean a lot to her and her vibrant personality really comes across. I totally love this gallery wall from Interiors Eleven. Lesley has collected quite a few Doodlemoo prints and its great to see them in such a different environment. She has brilliantly combined cool moody images with colourful pictures and graphic prints, oh and of course those plants!! Lots of people have asked me "where do I start' or 'How do I plot the wall, mix matching frames and how do I style?' For me preparation is key. It's definitely better to have some idea before hand the sort of thing you would like so my advice is to collect examples of lots of different walls that have caught your eye. It is also really important to work with the space you have, and consider what focus you want - be it your sofa, a bed, or just one print that you love and then build around that. Play around with the design, try aligning some of the pictures and not others, just make sure they all have roughly the same spacing between them. If a picture is quite strong in colour or mood, you might have to think about the overall balance of the wall, you don't want one side looking too strong and the other less so. I have made some diagrams to give an idea of the different ways of creating a gallery wall but once again, the main things to consider are: balance, style, colour scheme, the environment and the space in between each pic. Here's a fab gallery wall by the amazing Lisa Dawson who styled our 'Te Amo' in her teenage daughter's room. I love the fact that she also uses different sizes and wall hangings. And they all balance nicely plus there is a bit of colour scheme which goes perfectly with the room decor.

I have used command strips for one picture in my home but I still prefer the traditional approach to hanging. When placing the frames on the wall take into account where the string or the attachment for the picture is as this will determine the height and level that it hangs. In terms of frames I have quite a few from Ikea as they have all our standard sizes, they have a wide variety and their prices are hard to beat. Some wood ones however tend to expand or change shape with time, so always use the wire provided. Their metal frames are my fave as they look quite sleek and are great if you are not using mounts (mounts can be good as they protect the prints from the being in contact with the glass). Most frames these days come with perspex instead of glass and tend to attract more dust as they are static so make sure you peel the cover and place your print as soon as possible to avoid getting dust inside. (perspex is great for kids rooms as it's light and doesn't break). If you are using glass always clean the glass with window cleaner so it is super clear and again, avoid getting dust inside which can damage prints over time. Other great options for picture frames are Habitat, Made.com, H&M home and frame.co.uk. We also stock some magnetic hanging systems which are good if you change your prints quite often. I hope you find this article useful, let us know if you have any other questions in the comment box below. We would love to see how you get on! share with us on socials. You can find some other gallery wall examples on our Pinterest board 'Gallery wall' and Instagram feed.

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