Hellobee Boards

@ladybee: I dont have a gallery wall per se...but from me experience hanging many picture frames it works best if you map out your hanging on the floor with a measured out space - i.e. make a mock up on the floor first to see how the layout works before committing to nail holes. I would also do frames of varying sizes and mat sizes. I think a mix of 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10 would be nice. In my house, anything 8x10 is not of people (just too big) or not very close up! Hope this helps!

@MediaNaranja: Love the idea of making a map you can hang on the wall - I guess I always stopped at the step before this (laying it out on the floor) but man it would be nice to have that road map! Totally stealing this idea for hanging my DIY project over LO's crib!

@runsyellowlites: That's how I planned ours out! I cut out the shapes of my frames in leftover packing newspaper, and moved them around till I was happy with the layout.

Here's the final layout:

We have a large gallery wall in our living room. I gathered up all the frames I wanted and made a list of pictures; then matched the right size pictures to the frames. I made a map on the floor and then cut out newspaper pieces that were the same size as the frames. I drew a map on a piece of paper and then taped the newspaper cutouts onto the wall. I rearranged it a few times and then nailed the holes through the newspaper (I drew marks where the hooks belonged). Then I ripped off the cutouts and hung the frames.

When deciding on the frames, I went with a range of sizes: 3x5 up to 11x18. I also used some round, but mostly rectangular. They are all shades of brown. I also put some twine with pictures hanging off clothes pins. You should check out Pinterest for some arrangements!

@runsyellowlites: it's kind of in disarray right now. The big empty space is where a cork board belongs (we hung our stockings there & I didn't put it back up yet). The small blank space is a frame I stole for the nursery and haven't replaced. Also, excuse the blurry night-time iPad image

We have a gallery wall downstairs off our living room. The frames are all different sizes and colors/ finishes. The only sort of rule I have is to keep the frames basically all the same distance apart, which isn't hard to eyeball. Other than that, I do have a picture leveler device, but I don't think that's necessary.

I started with a centerpiece picture, which is the guestbook fingerprint tree from our wedding, and built outward from there. It was easier to lay out several pictures at a time on the floor to map everything out.

Lots of good links with helpful tips! We also used the paper template/nailing trick that has been mentioned by a few people - it really works like a charm.

This is the little gallery wall from when we first moved into our place. There have been a few more frames added since then but this part of it has stayed the same.

@ladybee: Good im so glad!

@TheSwissWifeStyle: Yep. I have definitely seen that arrangement before. Love it. I also have a white star fish as decor

We have one in Lady M's room as well as in the living room. For her room, I used a mix of silver and cream frames - all different sizes. I just played around (a lot) with the configurations on the floor before I made my final decision on how to arrange them on the wall. I picked out some prints from Etsy and others were ones I printed myself or made color copies of images from books.

OK, so I just used up every bit of LO's naptime the past couple of days to do a gallery wall along our stairway. Love it, but I'm having trouble deciding whether to do all family photos, or mix in some other prints. Opinions? I have about 13 frames, including a couple that have space for multiple images.

I just bought all the frames I thought I needed And then traced the different sizes onto newspaper and cut it out however many times I had that frame. Then I used painters tape and taped them up and changed them around until I liked it. I let the paper stay up for a day or two to make sure I liked the placement before putting holes all in the wall.

Sorry about all the crap on the piano, it's cleaning day so maybe il take a better one after I get done