I am considering creating a gallery wall in our family room hallway using vacation photos. I’ve done a bit of online research and the sources are almost overwhelming for me. I’d like to benefit from the experience of those here. Please share your thoughts/experiences, especially if you have created such a display in your home.
Should I go to places like Ikea, Michael’s and Hobby Lobby and frame my photos on my own, using ready-made frames? Or, is it wiser to use online sources like Shutterfly, Mixtiles, or Framebridge. Custom framing is so expensive these days but the online services may be comparable. I’m a little concerned about creating lots of holes in my walls so I’m considering using Command Strips to adhere the photos.
Shutterfly (and others) print the photos onto lightweight metal. They’re called photo tiles and can, apparently, be easily removed and rearranged. Any experience with those?
An alternative could be peel and stick. I’ve used Murals My Way for large ones, and I think Walgreens for some small ones.
I have been using command Strips to hang most wall frames in our new house.
Some places like framebridge offer a literal map to hang on your wall of the configuration you want which seems to make it so easy- hang the lap, make the holes or whatever you’re using, take down the map, hang the frames!
I will say I noticed at Home Goods earlier today they are selling sets of frames for fakery walls. Maybe 4 or so in a package? Very reasonable
I have 12 photos in my home office using mixtiles. They’ve been up for 4 or 5 years and at one point I did rearrange a few and they’ve stayed in place. I really like the way they look and were easy to order. I did not want to print and put in my own frames. Maybe that would have been cheaper, idk.
How large an area? Start here.
Individual photos? A collage mural? Peel and stick? One huge framed collage photo?
There are a ton of companies that do gallery walls in mural form. Some of the main things to keep in mind is if a photo can be enlarged successfully.
After size–how large the individual photos? How many do you want? Anything to emphasize? Focus on your center. Let the rest flow from there. Could be a main landscape photo or a great family photo which brings it all together.
I used mixtiles to create a gallery wall in our family room. It looks very striking and I get so many compliments on it. The price was reasonable (it has been a few years, so I don’t remember specifically, but I think it came to about $100 for 12 photos) and they were easy to “hang” (you actually stick them).
We print out and buy matching frames. Easy peasy to switch out pictures.
That’s a good point. I’m not interested in switching out my photos but if OP thinks they might then printing w/individual frames would be a better choice.
I always think I’ll trade out photos but never do…
I have a few photos on my walls. I buy 11x14 canvas prints when walgreens or CVS photo have them on sale.
I purchased most of our frames at thrift shops or garage sales over time. If necessary, I’d cut my own mats.
We had a gallery wall (with family photos) that was assembled with a mix of resale frames and new but smaller ones purchased at TJMaxx (or sim) in groups of 2 or 3. The duplicates helped give a more ‘coordinated’ look.
At least I thought it looked good 
.
Family member had a friend who purchased all their frames at thrift shops with varied, sometimes ornate, wood profiles. They then spray-painted all the same off-white color (with a high quality artist spray paint), to pull the composition together.
I’ve seen a lot of people use these - I actually have some but haven’t used!
Less damage to walls
What is your decorating style OP? About how many photos do you want to hang? All the same size or no?
I’m doing a gallery wall in our upstairs family room loft. All different sized frames. I’m winging it and just adding as I find things I like. I love it so far! No rhyme or reason. I’m looking for some oval or round framed items to add soon.
I have used Mixtiles for gallery type walls several times over the past 6 years or so. They keep improving on their product and the latest set I got has a 2.5 x 2.5 sticky strip on the back that makes the tiles super easy to hang and doesn’t hurt your wall.
We’ve used Mixtiles a lot. They invariably have big discounts (up to 60%) if you order a decent number of tiles (10+). And they are so light that they are easy to stick on the wall.
We recently made a hallway display of travel photos with about 15 or so prints. My husband is into photo editing and has a color printer, so once I had accumulated a bunch of frames, I just told him which sizes for which photos I wanted, and did some in black and white. I got the frames from Home Goods, Hobby Lobby and Target, maybe Amazon too. They look great and it’s been fun to have such great memories displayed.
Those Gorilla hooks work very well.
Good to hear from someone who has used them!
Little kid used Fracture to send us some glass prints. Loved them!
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Fracture/page/BC751F7B-F9D5-440D-8DD1-C3F5DD7DE39B
We have a curved staircase that has about 50 pictures of family/dear friends hanging on the wall beside it. They are all different frames and sizes, just evenly spaced, and they look great. Frames purchased on sale at Michael’s, secondhand stores, they don’t have to be expensive.
Funny, everyone who walks down those stairs looks at those pictures, many times I think they’re looking to see if they’re on the wall. I always try to make sure the ex-spouses/boyfriends/girlfriends are off the wall before the new ones come over. 
Makes me a little sad, because I still like some of them a lot, but I want everyone to be comfortable.