The Modern Minimalist Gallery Wall Guide for Beginners

Gallery walls. We all love them, but where do we begin? It all seems a bit mystifying. Everyone approaches creating them differently and some would rather not even attempt it. For my part, I decided to keep it REAL simple for my gallery wall. Clean lines, minimal colour variation, and a method that I could duplicate elsewhere without much thought. After hanging the prints up and loving the results, I decided I’d share my approach with all of you in the hopes of inspiring you to give it a try (if you haven’t already) or at the very least, to arm you with another way of creating a gallery wall in your home. So today I’m sharing my approach: The Modern Minimalist Gallery Wall Guide for Beginners.

Let’s get started!

~ The following contains affiliate links at no extra cost. See my full disclosure policy here ~

The ‘Before’

So, this was my wall before getting the gallery wall treatment. I loved this DIY Ombre Garland With A Macrame Twist, but I always thought of it as a temporary measure.

Until very recently, I hadn’t a clue about what I was going to put in its place. The truth is, I wasn’t inspired enough to make a change.

That is, until I happened across an advertisement in my Facebook feed (hand on heart, as they say) showing some beautiful prints from a Montreal-based store called Opposite Walls. I hadn’t heard of them before, but boy-oh-boy, I loved their selection of modern, minimalist prints as well as their price points. And, the best part? They create print sizes that fit IKEA Ribba Frames which meant even more savings for me – yay 🙂

So, I went ahead and decided on my design, selected my prints, and purchased the corresponding IKEA frames. Once everything arrived, I removed my yarn wall hanging and any accessories from the console table.

And then the real work began!

Modern Minimalist Gallery Wall Guide – THE MATERIALS

These are the supplies I used for this minimalist gallery wall guide project:

Frames (I used IKEA Ribba Frames, 2 in 8X10 inch, 2 in 12X16 inch, 2 in 19X27inch, all in black)
Prints (I purchased my prints online at Opposite Wall. I’ll include the full source list at the bottom of this post).
3M Hooks (I purchased 4 of these for the 4 smallest prints and 2 of these for the two largest ones).
Picture hanging wire kit with eye screws for the 2 larger prints (like this kit).
A level like this one.
3M Postal Paper
Tape, pencil, scissors.

Modern Minimalist Gallery Wall Guide – THE STEPS

Step 1 – Simple Design

So what makes a ‘modern minimalist’ gallery wall anyway? I’d say it all starts when you create a very simple layout or design.

Perhaps the simplest is the Grid Gallery Wall: like this one or this one. Grid gallery walls each use the same size frame, often square or rectangular, and are displayed as a grouping.

The next simplest design is the Mirrored Gallery Wall: like this one, this one, or this one. What makes this a simple design to follow, is that one side of the gallery wall is a mirror image or reflection of the other side, more or less.

There are plenty of variations of modern minimalist gallery walls, but you get the idea: a clean, simple design.

The design I chose? A Mirrored Gallery Wall.

I decided to go with 3 different sizes of prints on one side that mirrored 3 prints of the matching size on the other side. All that separated them was an invisible vertical line through the center.

Of course, as you’ve probably noticed, in this design the ‘mirrored’ image on one side is flipped vertically on the other. Makes things interesting, no? Well, at least I thought so 😉

Step 2: Simple Aesthetic

Creating a modern gallery wall that’s also minimalist can often (though not always) mean choosing:

1) a simple style of frame

2) the same colour in all your frames

3) minimal colour variations in your prints

To keep things simple, I chose to do all three of the above.

This doesn’t mean that you have to do the same! You may want to have 2-3 variations in your style of frames and 2-3 variations in the colour of your frames, but the idea is to keep things simple, clean and minimal in the overall aesthetic.

Step 3: Measure, Measure, Measure

I spent a LOT of time choosing the right sizes of prints. This meant measuring my wall space, finding prints that fit the space, and making sure that there was the right spacing between each print.

Measuring Tips:

1) About 6-12 Inches Above Furniture: The lowest point of any print or artwork – whether it is a singular print or a gallery wall – should be about 6-12 inches above any piece of furniture it is hung over. Prints or artwork should appear as part of the overall vignette and not floating so far above your furniture that the whole space feels disconnected.

2) About 2-4 Inches Between: Your gallery wall should feel as though it ‘reads’ as one large piece of art. Each piece should feel connected to the other. If you’re not sure how to accomplish that, then make sure each piece is no more than two to four inches apart from the other.

Step 4: Laying Out Your Design

First, using postal paper, trace and cut around each frame.

Then, take a moment to rest 🙂

Next, begin hanging each piece on your wall. To make things fool-proof, I would suggest starting on one side first…

…and then add the other to complete the ‘mirrored’ look.

Pro Tip: By hanging your paper cut-outs first, this will allow you to make any final adjustments (whether to hang your lowest print 6 inches above your furniture or 12 inches, for example – it can make a big difference once you see it all hung up).

Now, it’s time to play around with the layout of the prints themselves. Although the actual placement of each pair of frames was pre-planned, I still had to decide which pairs of prints would go where. The best way to do this part is to lay them on the floor.

This is the design I ultimately decided on.

Step 5: Hanging Up Your Prints

There are several ways to physically hang your gallery wall. I could do an entire post just on that! Suffice it to say, everyone – including me – has a preference that works for them in their home. I am not a fan of creating too many holes in my walls. Instead, I prefer using 3M strips and 3M hooks whenever I can.

(NOTE: Each of the IKEA Ribba frames comes with a sawtooth hanger already attached to the back, which makes it easy if you wish to hang your prints using either hooks or nails.)

For the two pairs of smaller prints, I used 4 of these 3M Toggle Hooks.

For the largest pair of prints (i.e., the two largest on either side), I used these 3M Large Hooks. (I couldn’t use the toggle hooks because they could not bare the weight of the two largest prints).

Because of how thick these plastic hooks are, I couldn’t simply hook them into the narrow space between the sawtooth hanger and the backing of each frame. So, instead, I attached a hanging wire on the back of each of the two largest prints using a kit similar to this one.

(For some tips on adjusting wire or to see what a hanging wire looks like, check out my post: How To Adjust A Mirror, Art or Picture Hanging Wire).

In hanging my gallery wall, I decided to first go about hanging up one side…

…and then the other.

I found this to be the easiest way to approach this project, allowing me to make it as symmetrical as I could.

The ‘After’

Once my gallery wall was in place, it was time to add the accessories on my console table and enjoy the fruits of my labours!

(To see how simple it is to style a narrow console table like the one above, check out How A New Task Lamp Inspired a Console Table Style Refresh).

Well, I hope this modern minimalist gallery wall guide for beginners has whet your appetite for creating a gallery wall in your own home. I know how intimidating the process may feel (I’ve been there!), but I think the best place to start is with a simple, minimalist approach. It provides a solid foundation and can give you the confidence to experiment on other walls down the road.

If you enjoyed this post or have questions about any aspect of designing or hanging up a gallery wall, let me know!

Happy designing 🙂