blogadmin Frames are the best ways to tell your story through visual glory. The uniqueness of decorating your walls with the best pictures from your life enclosed elegantly in various frames is a must to do once every year, or in a lifetime.
Our beloved customer Preeti Parti is an enthusiastic memory cherisher & a wonderful photographer. When she sent us pictures of her gallery wall, we were in tears of joy. Here’s a sneak-peek to her gallery wall built from pictures since 2010 and also in her words – how to create your gallery wall from scratch.
Life is everything you save, build, and cherish….these are our assets, relationships, and memories! It was in 2010 that I stumbled upon Zoomin’s website and ordered my first photobooks and prints. Since then I got into collecting photo prints. Over the years, zoomin gave me my collection of 4×6, 5×7, square prints, and ultra-large prints.
When the time came to move into our new apartment, the white walls were a perfect canvas for us to display it all. While the covid pandemic took away our travels, it gave us time to invest in something we always wanted…our gallery wall. This also was a perfect opportunity to mix and match our travel photography with personal portraits.
Start by painting the wall ( completely optional)
We googled how to paint and ideas on how gallery arrangements could work and finally ventured out to get the painting gear. Take out your last year’s Holi clothes to wear, an old slipper you may want to discard later, and definitely move your fine furniture away from the task area. Cover everything adjacent with plastic sheets including the floor unless you have help to scrub off the paint from the floor! We picked the frames from Zoomin & reused a few old frames.
The best thing about getting your frames from Zoomin is that the impeccable picture quality & ready to hang luxury. If you have old frames, you can make them new with your other Zoomin prints. Try a frame with 6 polaroids or a 5×7 print.
You can get your partner, friends, and even children to join the DIY project, the more the merrier memories you will make in the process!
The key to a high contrast wall is the finish that comes with masking tape on the corners. Apply tape on skirtings and edges and double it on the ceiling as the roller could smudge the ceiling. 2-3 coats of a good silk finish water-based paint is perfect, it dries up quickly and you are set for the final bit – hanging the frames.
Selecting your frames
We had a combination of very light and heavy frames, so we chose to use nano tape for the light ones and nails for the heavy ones. You can get them all of the same orientation and size and equally space it, or create a collage effect as we did. The frame color and photo border can dramatize the photo or take the focus towards the frame, both are choices you can decide on.
The stencil work
Draw before you nail. Straight lines are key, so some stencil outlines on a large paper are a must. We finalized our layout on the floor, cut the frame marking on paper with the cutter and the paper was ready to go up on the wall. Distance between the frames also play a key role, we spaced the frames at least 2-3 fingers apart. If you are going to nail, remember the mark the distance point from the border to the nail on the paper. Nailing is easiest as you could put the nail point marks on the paper and when the paper is on the wall, you can make nail holes at exact points and then tear down the paper.
Choosing the photos
This is definitely your personal choice, but don’t hesitate to apply the rules and then break a few. Ask for opinions when in doubt. Think of themes, what do you want your wall to represent, what mood should it create, what colors in the photo go with/contrast with the wall, and the photo adjacent to it. With portrait photos, it’s good to mix landscape and portrait orientation of the frame. Keep your focus point/person at the intersection of 2/3, in the center.
Choosing the layout
While putting the photos on the wall, it’s important to note that your brightest photos will catch the viewer’s eyes first and most of your photos must stay on the eye level. To best gauge the area you want to cover, think of the tallest person in the family, the photos could spread from their waist height all the way up to the tip of their fingers when their hands are stretched upwards. You may also want to move the photos a little upwards if you have children. It’s good to leave wall edges clean and leave 4-6 inches of a gap.
The lighting of the area has a big impact on the frames and both, the photos and the frames with the glass or plastic protection could reflect more or less, depending upon the light source. Got other walls? Play different or same! Up to you. If your feature wall is family portraits, your other walls could be your travel escapes. Large photos go well stand-alone and single walls go well with no more than 2-3 frames.
A little more from @Preeti’s Collection.
