Use 5-8 cm between frames, treat the whole cluster as one rectangle, and put that rectangle's centre at 145 cm. Keep the group inside 50-70% of the wall width so it reads as a composition rather than wallpaper. The gaps are what make a gallery wall look deliberate; uneven gaps are what make it look like a accident.
Shop the pieces in this guide
Spacing: 5-8 cm, or 8-10 cm for big frames
The gap should scale with frame size. Frames under 40 cm on the long side take 5-6 cm; 40-70 cm frames take 6-8 cm; anything over 70 cm takes 8-10 cm. Pick one figure for the whole wall and use it everywhere, including between rows. A gallery wall with 4 cm gaps at the top and 9 cm at the bottom looks broken even when every frame is level.
| Layout | Frames | Wall width needed (with 6 cm gaps) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 x 2 grid, 40 x 50 cm | 4 | 92 x 112 cm |
| 3 x 3 grid, 30 x 40 cm | 9 | 102 x 132 cm |
| Row of 3, 50 x 70 cm | 3 | 162 cm wide |
| Salon style, mixed | 6-9 | 120-160 cm wide, 100-130 cm tall |
| Single statement, 100 x 70 cm | 1 | 100 cm wide |
Pick the grid before the frames
Grids work because the eye reads the outer rectangle first. A 2 x 2 of identical frames is the easiest to hang and the hardest to get wrong; a 3 x 3 of identical frames needs a wall at least 1 m wide and reads formal. Salon style — mixed sizes, one straight baseline and one straight outer edge — is the forgiving option: keep the bottom edges of the lowest row aligned, keep the outer left and right edges aligned, and let the middle do what it wants.
Anchor rule for mixed layouts: one large frame (the anchor) takes about 40% of the group's total area, placed slightly off centre. Everything else is 30-60% of the anchor's size. Three sizes maximum, otherwise it reads as clutter.
The paper template method
Do not drill first. Cut kraft paper to each frame's exact outer size, mark the hook position on each sheet, and tape the sheets to the wall with painter's tape at your 6 cm gaps. Live with it for a day, then drill through the marked points and peel the paper away. This costs 20 minutes and prevents 12 holes in the wrong place — the average gallery wall needs 2-3 attempts without it.
Height, sofa and ceiling
Centre the whole group at 145 cm on an empty wall. Over a sofa, keep the bottom row 15-25 cm above the back, which usually puts the group centre at 135-145 cm. Leave at least 15 cm between the top row and the ceiling; on a 240 cm ceiling with a 130 cm tall group centred at 145 cm, the top lands at 210 cm, which is fine — at 250 cm ceiling height it starts to look crowded.
Above a sideboard or console, keep the bottom row 15-20 cm above the top surface and let the group's width stay within the furniture width. The wall art height guide has the per-furniture numbers, and the sideboard guide covers what the unit underneath should be.
Keep reading
More dimension guides are in the collection, and the full index is on the furnolio journal.
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