How to Build a Gallery Wall That Doesn't Look Like Everyone Else's

Gallery walls have a reputation for being difficult, and I don't think they deserve it.

What makes them go wrong is usually one of three things: too few pieces, too much space between them, or everything matching too neatly. Get those right and the rest sorts itself out.

Here's how I'd approach it.

Start with more than you think you need

Three pieces is not a gallery wall. Three pieces is three pieces on a wall, and it usually looks like you ran out of budget.

Five is where it starts to work. Seven or nine is better. Odd numbers tend to sit more comfortably than even ones, though I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

You don't have to buy them all at once. Some of the best walls I've seen were built up over a year or two, which is also how you end up with something that actually means something rather than a set you bought in one go.

Mix the sizes, and mix the shapes

This is the bit people skip. A wall of identically sized pieces reads as wallpaper. What you want is one piece that anchors it and several smaller ones working around that.

Mixing shapes does even more of the work. An arch tile next to a rectangle next to a cross gives you an outline that isn't a perfect box, and that's what stops it looking like a shop display. The crosses are particularly good for this because they break up all the straight edges.

Keep the gaps tight

If I had to give one piece of advice, this is it. Most people hang things too far apart.

Aim for five to seven centimetres between pieces. It will feel too close while you're laying it out on the floor. It won't once it's up. Wide gaps make a group read as separate objects that happen to be near each other, rather than one arrangement.

Let colour do the connecting

Your pieces don't need to match. They need one thread running through them.

That might be a colour that turns up in most of them — a particular turquoise, or a warm terracotta. It might be that they're all from the same series. It might just be that they're all mine, which sounds like a sales pitch but is genuinely how it works: everything I make comes out of the same palette, so pieces from completely different collections tend to sit together without trying.

What you don't want is six pieces with nothing in common. That's when it starts to look accidental.

Lay it out on the floor first

Every time. Put the whole arrangement on the floor in front of the wall and move things around until it looks right.

The rule that helps here: heaviest piece slightly off-centre, not dead centre. Dead centre is stable, and stable is a bit boring. Slightly off is what makes a wall look like someone with an eye put it together.

Take a photo on your phone before you start hanging. You will absolutely forget the arrangement halfway through, and the photo saves you.

Where these work best

Hallways are underrated. They're usually blank, you walk past them ten times a day, and a narrow space suits smaller pieces better than big canvases do.

Above a bed or a sofa is the obvious one. Keep the group roughly the width of the furniture underneath, not wider.

Small spaces are where tiles really earn their place. Vans, tiny homes, rentals, a bathroom, the awkward wall next to a doorway. They're light, they're small, and they don't need framing.

And one more: don't only think about walls. Tiles lean beautifully on a shelf or a mantelpiece, which is also handy if you're renting and can't put holes in anything.

The hanging itself

All my tiles and crosses come with a hook already fitted on the back, so there's no extra hardware to buy and nothing to work out. A small nail or a picture hook is enough — they're not heavy.

Start with your anchor piece, get that level, and work outwards. Trust the floor layout you already worked out and resist the urge to redesign it mid-way up the wall.

If you're starting from nothing

Pick one piece you actually love, and don't overthink whether it goes with anything. That's your anchor. Everything after that gets chosen to sit alongside it, which is a much easier decision than choosing seven things at once from a blank wall.

Have a look through the art tiles, the Mexican crosses and the prints and see what grabs you first. That's usually the right place to begin.

And if you build one, I'd love to see it. Tag me on Instagram — seeing where these end up is honestly one of my favourite parts of the job.