How to create an art wall

Creating your perfect Art Wall.

Creating an art wall is a great way to bring your home to life. Whether to group together an eclectic collection of posters and artworks, or used it to enhance your minimalist style, an art wall creates a cohesive and captivating centerpiece for any space in your home. Although creating your own art wall can seem like a daunting task, Paper Collective is here to help. Here you will find a step-by-step guide on how to create an art wall that suits you, your home, and your artwork.

1. What you will need

Before you get started on your art wall, make sure you have the following tools ready. These simple items will make creating your art wall as simple as can be.

- A pen or pencil

-Grided paper

-Measuring tape

-Nails or screws

-Wall plugs

-Hammer or drill

-A spirit level if required (Paper Collective’s frames do not require a level when hanging.)

2. Choosing Artwork and Frames

The great thing about creating your own art wall is that you are free to mix and match as much as you like. Combining one-off artworks with prints and posters, antique frames with new–anything goes. If you are after a more ordered approach, choosing a single frame finish across all artworks can help bring your art wall together–such as Paper Collective’s solid wood frames available in a range of sizes.

Inspiration.
Before starting on your own art wall, it is a great idea to see how others have gone about it. Instagram, Pinterest, magazines, retail shops and restaurants are all great destinations for inspiration. Better yet, Paper Collective has created a series of art wall inspirations to get you started – simple check out the Explore section of our website.

3. Layout

Although the possibilities are endless when it comes to composing your art wall, there are some tried and tested layouts that just work.

A simple grid is a great way to bring a sense of order to your art wall, with all frames matching in size. If you have a variety of frame sizes but want to keep a level of order, using a midline or bottom line helps to create a sense of harmony, allowing the eye to rest.

Another approach is an organic layout without a supporting line. This approach is great for incorporating a range of artworks and frame sizes and is often the easiest way to create an art wall – simply trust your eye and keep trying different layouts – see step 4 below. If you would like to see some examples of these different art wall layouts, Paper Collective has created some examples for you to get started.

4. Measure and Test

It is important you create some to-scale mockups of your art wall before you hang up your frames. There is two ways to go about this:

- Use grided paper to draw to scale the wall you will use, along with the artworks you wish to hang. A good start is to make each square equal 10cm, so a 50 x 70cm frame is 5 x 7 squares on your gridded paper, and so on.

- Another great way to measure and test your art wall is by using tape on the floor to mark out all frames and the size of the wall you are using. This approach works best if you have some space, or if you have just moved into your home or workplace.

5. Hang

Now you have arrived at the final step, hanging your art wall. To make sure everything goes as planned, make sure you have checked the points below.

- Check your wall. Do you need plugs and screws, or will nails work just fine? Do you need a drill, or can you screw straight into the wall?

- Check the hanging point on each frame. For a Paper Collective framethis is in the middle of the frame, approximately 7cm from the top side of the frame. For frames with two hanging points, you will need a spirit level.

- Always measure from a single reference point. This could be a corner of a room, a door or window.

- While you are building up your art wall, check that the distances between the frames are correct. Painters masking tape is great to use, as you can measure and draw directly onto it.

6. Enjoy

Now you have your art wall in your home, you can sit back and enjoy your new centerpiece. The great thing about creating an art wall is that it is easy to update or change in the future. If you have a simple gridded art wall, feel free to move around your artworks or change them. If you have a more organic art wall, you can play around with different frames and artworks into the future.