Gallery wall above sofa advice
We have been planning a gallery wall for above our sofa in a south facing victorian tenement flat in Glasgow.
The room is very neutral with grey walls, walnut wooden floors, brown leather sofa and a large light area rug.
So far we have no real pops of colour in the room other than the red tiles from the fireplace and lots of greenery from the plants.
We are in the process of getting some new cushions with different shapes and textures to take the eyes away from the large sofa.
The wall above the sofa is currently empty and crying out for some attention. We have made some rough plans of gallery walls but cant seem to get anything that looks right. I think the issue may be that we are mixing too many styles (photos, words, graphics) and perhaps there pops of colour in the prints are not working?
Our attempts with some art we quickly picked out:
We are not tied to any pictures massively or are we tied to the layout.
The room:
Comments (29)
E D
3 years agolast modified: 3 years ago
Jules Mc
3 years agoRelated Discussions
How to do a Gallery wall eclectic style?
Comments (6)Types as and colours of frames will depend on the style of your room, for example if you have a contemporary room the frames need to be angular and plain, for a traditional/classical room they need to be a little more elaborate and perhaps with a metallic theme to reflect the period. if the room is brightly coloured /retro use frame colours to mirror the colours in the decor. If your chosen colour or colours are unavailable to buy, paint them your self 'blue peter' style. Make sure they are sanded first to give a key for the paint to adhere to....See MoreGallery wall...?
Comments (6)Thanks for all the comments! Now you've mentioned that I agree the TV would be better disguised on the blue wall - I hadn't really thought about that! Unfortunately the room layout won't work with the TV on the blue wall - we could potentially paint the wall with the TV on too but that would mean three blue walls which might be a bit heavy. With regards to the furniture under the TV - it is actually just a radiator cover. In hindsight I agree, it would have been better to get an extendable cover so we could have balanced it a little more but another one will probably set us back another £100 so we might have to make do with it for the time being unfortunately. Thanks so much for the tips on the gallery wall....See MoreHow to arrange furniture in living room and art above couch
Comments (2)If you're keen to keep the existing furniture then the couches need to stay as they are - you can't block the opening or the cupboards. So the only option would be to change he actual furniture....See MoreDo I paint this wall or not? Advice/Ideas would be greatly appreciated
Comments (4)Nope - I think it's a fab idea!! What a pop of colour! It's behind the sofa so it won't be in your face (like it were the wall the TV is on) or distracting but it will be seen as soon as you enter and will really bring everything together - with personality and style! Great idea - go for it!...See MoreJules Mc
3 years agoYves St Laurent showing us the days when the gallery wall was much less of a faff 😂
minnie101
3 years agoI like both too. Great spot from Jules! I prefer the 2nd with the Glasgow street above the black and white Glasgow one. I also prefer the orange/brown/pink tones. I’ve mixed them a little and cheekily added 2 other Glasgow prints that I found from this guy on Etsy.
I might try moving both sofas and rug down a foot so there’s some space away from the tall unit for your gallery wall.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KieronOnTheSide?listing_id=764992684&ref=related&page=1#items
Ellie
3 years agohedgehog99
3 years agoJules Mc
3 years agoOh I'm loving Kieronontheside Minnie. You've just cost me £23.50 and i'm not out of bed yet 😂
Absolutely love this Ken Robinson quote. I was so sad when he died last year. I'd urge anyone who's not familiar with him to watch his Ted talk sessions - brilliant but also hysterical.
minnie101
3 years agoJules Mc
3 years agoJonathan
3 years agoI don’t think pictures have to match but I think frames have to look like they have come from the same imagination ..... so don’t mix a plain thin black frame with a rococo ornate gilt monster of a frame.
Secondly I think the trick is to build the pictures with a plan in mind. You need to decide if you need symmetry, the corners to all be lined up or if you want the pictures to line up with some axis’s.
Juliet Docherty
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoBen
3 years agoThanks everyone for your replies they are super helpful!
I think you may be right that the fact a large part of it is generic is making me not love it.
KieronOnTheSide has some great prints. Great find we will definitely include a couple of these.
Yeah I think the alignment could do with a bit more work as you point out. It seems difficult the keep it neat while fitting in landscape and portrait prints. Time to get some paper and get it up on the walls I think to see if we can get any improvements.
Regarding frames we are planning to just get simple metal ones from IKEA (LOMVIKEN). They offer these in black, white and gold. Should we play it safe and go all black or do a bit of mixing and matching?
The light fitting is from Alliexpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32965969827.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.22094c4d4DPqrG). I have to say it was far from straightforward. After taking weeks to arrive it was missing parts and didn't have a transformer. So we had to source some parts and get an electrician (friend) to make it safe.
After a bit more searching on Etsy here is where we are at so far:
We have Glasgow/Scotland prints as well as a print of Morecambe and Belfast (where me and my wife are from). We are still looking to see if we can find a different Belfast print.
Any more feedback welcome :)macbroom
3 years ago
Leslie Tamani
3 years agohedgehog99
3 years ago
Sonia
3 years ago
Carolina
3 years agoJules Mc
3 years agoE D
3 years ago
Patrina
3 years ago- PRO
JK
3 years ago Sonia
3 years agoBen
3 years agolast modified: 3 years ago- PRO
JK
3 years ago Pat Auld
3 years ago
BenOriginal Author