Gallery Wall

A gallery wall is what happens when “I’ll just hang one thing” meets a complete lack of restraint.

Officially, it’s a curated arrangement of art, objects, and frames meant to show personality, taste, and narrative.

This is more of a maximalist memory hoard: clocks, frames, art of wildly different sizes, and symmetry.

The only real supplies you’ll need are wall anchors. I’ve lived in Japan for over 20 years and have items mounted on most walls without any problems. Even during a recent earthquake in my prefecture, nothing moved, only the clocks stopped.

These are three common drywall anchors, each suited to a different level of weight.

The metal hollow-wall expansion anchor on the left is installed in a pre-drilled hole and expands behind the drywall as the screw tightens, gripping the wall from the inside and providing strong, reliable support for heavier items (roughly 25–50 lb / 11–23 kg when properly installed). It is the most secure option because it can be installed at slight angles without losing strength and does not spin once set.

The self-drilling metal anchor in the middle screws directly into drywall and spreads the load through its threads, making it quick to install and strong enough for medium to moderately heavy frames (about 20–40 lb / 9–18 kg in typical use). This might spin when you’re giving it the screw, leaving a hole you’ll need to patch.

The plastic expansion anchor on the right is the light-duty option; it expands as the screw goes in and works well for small frames or decorative items, but it has the lowest holding strength (around 5–15 lb / 2–7 kg) and is best avoided for large or heavy pieces.

This video is a very good reference for creating a gallery wall. It’s actually not, but It gives a clear sense of how pieces relate to each other on the wall and how overall balance matters more than exact placement.

For planning, I didn’t use a detailed layout or templates. I started by eyeballing the wall and choosing one large frame as the anchor. Once that piece was in place, it became much easier to decide where everything else should go.

After hanging the main frame, I added the surrounding frames and clocks around it. I used a ruler to keep the spacing between pieces consistent. In my experience, spacing is the most important part of a gallery wall. Even simple or mismatched pieces look intentional when the gaps are even.

I tried not to overthink the arrangement. Small imperfections aren’t noticeable once the wall is finished, and most people won’t look closely at every frame. If it looks balanced from across the room, it works.

When choosing art, I focused on pieces I actually like rather than trying to follow a theme or trend. People usually only notice a few items on a gallery wall anyway. I’m drawn to birds and illustrations from old children’s books, so that’s what I used.

For sourcing art, I highly recommend Artvee. It’s an excellent resource for high-quality, free artwork and makes it easy to find pieces that work well in frames.

Once everything was up, I stepped back and made sure the spacing felt consistent overall.

I’ve been collecting old picture frames and clocks for years. At this point, there are probably close to a hundred frames around the house in small groupings, plus around fifty clocks. They tend to accumulate quietly. Finding a stack of large gold frames at a used shop was what finally pushed me to commit to doing this large gallery wall.

If you watched the video…the amazing one, you’ll notice that I modified the larger frames. These frames were originally made for canvas art, not paper prints. To adapt them, I cut pieces of plexiglass and added simple supports inside the frame so the prints would sit securely.

The frames still have their original glass, with the plexiglass placed behind it. This creates a subtle double reflection, which actually works in favor of the artwork. The layered reflection adds depth and helps the prints stand out more than they would with a single sheet of glass.

This small adjustment made the frames more flexible and allowed me to use printed artwork while keeping the look of large, substantial frames. It’s a simple modification, but it made a noticeable difference in the final result.

I’m telling you, Artvee is an excellent resource for artwork. This is not a sponsored recommendation, it’s simply a very well-curated site with a large selection of high-quality images. It’s also easy to spend a lot of time browsing once you start.

I love maximalist style, so a dense gallery wall feels natural to me. Maximalism allows many pieces to exist together without requiring each one to stand on its own. Instead of a single focal point, the overall effect comes from the accumulation of frames, colors, textures, and objects working together. Gallery walls work especially well with this approach because they turn individual items into one cohesive visual surface. I like the clocks the most.

If you’re considering building a gallery wall, the most important step is simply to begin. I think: maximalist layouts benefit from momentum rather than planning every detail in advance. Starting with a few anchor pieces and adding over time allows the wall to develop organically. Small adjustments are easy to make as the wall grows, and imperfections tend to disappear once enough elements are in place.

I gravitate toward gold frames, varied colors, and decorative detail; now big ol’ ribbons. Mixing materials and styles helps prevent the wall from feeling rigid or overly designed. In a maximalist gallery wall, consistency comes from spacing and repetition, not from matching frames or artwork. The result is a wall that feels layered, personal, and visually engaging rather than sparse or formal.

If you’re a minimalist, you’re probably throwing up now.