How to Plan a Gallery Wall: Five Layouts with Exact Measurements

A gallery wall is the quickest way to give a room personality, and the easiest to get wrong. Too many sizes, uneven gaps and a dozen spare holes in the plaster: what was meant to look collected ends up looking accidental.

The gallery walls that work have one thing in common: someone did the maths before picking up the drill. This guide gives you the numbers that make any arrangement work, then five gallery wall layouts drawn to scale, with the total width and every gap already worked out. They use the print sizes we actually make, in centimetres and in the inch sizes we print for the US.

The numbers that make any gallery wall work

Almost every good gallery wall follows the same four measurements. Get these right and the choice of prints becomes the fun part.

What	Centimetres	Inches
Gap between frames	5–8 cm, we use 6	2–3 in, we use 2½
Centre of the arrangement, on an empty wall	145–150 cm from the floor	57–59 in
Bottom edge above a sofa, bed or sideboard	15–25 cm	6–10 in
Width above furniture	about two thirds of the furniture	about two thirds of the furniture
Space to a corner, door or window	at least 15–20 cm	at least 6–8 in

The gap: the same everywhere

Uneven gaps are what make a wall look messy, far more than mixing sizes or styles. Pick one gap and keep it between every frame, horizontally and vertically. Around 6 cm suits prints up to 50 × 70; with very large prints you can open it to 8 cm. Less than 5 cm and the frames look cramped; more than 10 cm and they stop reading as one piece.

The height: hang it by its centre

Treat the whole gallery wall as one large picture. On an empty wall, its centre goes at 145 to 150 cm from the floor, roughly the height of an average gaze. That stays true whatever the height of your ceiling: art is hung for the eye, not for the room.

Above furniture: two thirds of the width

When the gallery wall sits above a sofa, a bed or a sideboard, the furniture sets the rules. Keep the lowest frame 15 to 25 cm above it, so the art and the furniture read as one group, and make the whole arrangement about two thirds as wide: around 140 cm over a 210 cm sofa, around 105 cm over a 160 cm bed.

Before you buy: pick one thread

A gallery wall reads as one piece when something runs through all of it. Choose one thread and let everything else vary:

• A theme: four cities, a set of tarot queens, your favourite sports.
• A palette: prints that share two or three colours, even if the subjects have nothing in common.
• A frame: the same frame colour on every print ties together art that would otherwise clash.

Then limit the sizes. Two sizes are easy to balance, three is the most a wall can take. Every layout below uses one or two.

Five gallery wall layouts with exact measurements

All five are drawn to the same scale, with real furniture underneath. The measurements are print sizes with a 6 cm gap, or 2½ in in the US. A frame adds about a centimetre on each side, so round the total width up by roughly 2 cm per print.

1. The row: four prints, one line

Four prints in 30 × 40 cm, side by side with their top and bottom edges aligned. Total: 138 × 40 cm. In the US, four prints of 12 × 16 in make a row of 55½ × 16 in. That is two thirds of a 210 cm sofa, exactly where art above a sofa looks settled.

A row needs prints that belong together, because the eye reads it from left to right like a sentence. The four tarot queens were made for it: Queen of Cups, Queen of Swords, Queen of Wands and Queen of Pentacles.

2. The grid: four prints, two by two

The same four 30 × 40 cm prints, in two rows of two. Total: 66 × 86 cm, or 26½ × 34½ in with 12 × 16 in prints. It suits a narrower wall: above a desk, a chest of drawers or a console about a metre wide.

A grid is the most forgiving gallery wall layout: as long as the gaps are equal, almost any four prints look deliberate. Try four animals with very different characters, such as Top Dog, Big Coat Energy, Red Panda and White Tiger.

3. The triptych: three of a kind

Three prints of the same size in a row. In 50 × 70 cm the set measures 162 × 70 cm, for a long sofa of around 240 cm or a big empty wall. In 40 × 50 cm it measures 132 × 50 cm, which fits above a sideboard or a dining table. In the US, three 20 × 28 in prints make 65 × 28 in, and three 16 × 20 in prints make 53 × 20 in.

A triptych works best when the three prints feel like a series: Line Break, Full Swing and The Final Third share the same painterly movement across three different sports.

4. The pair: two that talk to each other

Two prints in 50 × 70 cm side by side. Total: 106 × 70 cm, about two thirds of a 160 cm double bed. With two 20 × 28 in prints it measures 42½ × 28 in, right for a US queen bed.

A pair only works if the two prints answer each other. Golden Note and Violet Note are the same idea in two colours, so together they read as one piece.

5. The salon: one large print and four small ones

A 60 × 90 cm print in the centre, with two 30 × 40 cm prints stacked on each side. Total: 132 × 90 cm. Each side column measures 86 cm high, so centre it on the large print: it sits 2 cm in from the top and the bottom. The US version, one 24 × 36 in print and four 12 × 16 in prints, measures 53 × 36 in.

This is the salon style gallery wall in its tidiest form: the most presence, and the one that needs the most planning. Give the centre to the print you love most and let the four around it support it. Cities make a natural set: Lisbon in Motion in the middle, with Valencia in Color, Porto Grid, In Transit and Discover Puerto Rico around it.

The five layouts at a glance

Layout	Prints	Total size	Works above
The row	4 × 30 × 40 cm · 4 × 12 × 16 in	138 × 40 cm · 55½ × 16 in	a 210 cm sofa, a long sideboard
The grid	4 × 30 × 40 cm · 4 × 12 × 16 in	66 × 86 cm · 26½ × 34½ in	a desk, a chest of drawers, a console
The triptych	3 × 50 × 70 cm · 3 × 20 × 28 in	162 × 70 cm · 65 × 28 in	a 240 cm sofa, a large empty wall
The pair	2 × 50 × 70 cm · 2 × 20 × 28 in	106 × 70 cm · 42½ × 28 in	a double bed, a two-seater sofa
The salon	1 × 60 × 90 cm and 4 × 30 × 40 cm · 1 × 24 × 36 in and 4 × 12 × 16 in	132 × 90 cm · 53 × 36 in	a sideboard, a statement wall

How many frames does a gallery wall need?

Fewer than you think. Three prints are already a gallery wall, and most walls in a home look best with three to six. Start from the width you want to fill, then choose the layout that matches it:

• Around 100 cm of furniture: the grid, or a pair of 30 × 40 cm prints.
• 140–170 cm: the pair in 50 × 70 cm.
• 180–220 cm: the row or the salon.
• 230 cm and wider: the triptych in 50 × 70 cm, or a row of five 30 × 40 cm prints.

Odd or even?

Both work, for different reasons. Even numbers, a pair or a grid, give calm symmetry and suit a sofa or bed centred on its wall. Odd numbers, a triptych or a salon, give the eye a clear centre to rest on, which is why a free-form arrangement is easier to balance with three, five or seven pieces. The real rule is simpler: whatever the number, keep the gaps equal.

Gallery wall ideas, room by room

Above a sofa

The most common gallery wall, and the one with the clearest rules: two thirds of the sofa’s width, the lowest frame 15 to 25 cm above the back. The row, the triptych and the salon all work here. For single prints and pairs, our guide to art above a sofa goes into detail.

Above a bed

Keep the arrangement narrower than the headboard and leave 15 to 25 cm above it. Without a headboard, measure from the mattress instead and leave 20 to 30 cm, so a pillow propped against the wall never touches a frame. The pair is the classic choice; a row of four small prints suits a low, wide bed.

In a hallway

A hallway is seen from close up and in passing, so keep it simple: a single row at eye level along a long wall, or a vertical column of three 30 × 40 cm prints, 30 × 132 cm, on a narrow one. Small sizes work better here than anywhere else in the house.

Up a staircase

Hang each frame with its centre 145 to 150 cm above the step directly beneath it, so the whole arrangement climbs at the angle of the handrail. Keep the gaps equal along the diagonal, and start from the middle of the flight rather than from the bottom step.

In a dining room or a kids’ room

In a dining room, people look at the art sitting down, so hang it a little lower, and a triptych above the sideboard keeps it clear of chairs. In a kids’ room, bring the centre down towards their eye level. All our frames are glazed with acrylic rather than glass, which makes them a safer choice for a child’s room.

Mixing frames, sizes and orientations

Black, white or wood

You can mix frame colours as long as one thing repeats. If the prints are very different, the same frame on every piece holds them together: black is the safest, natural wood the warmest. If they already share a theme or a palette, you can mix black, white and wood freely. We make every print in black, white, natural wood and dark wood frames, or unframed.

Portrait and landscape together

Mixing orientations works when the outer edges of the arrangement still form a clean rectangle. Line up the outside edges first, then fill the inside, and keep the gaps identical between pieces of different shapes.

Plan it on paper, then drill

The single best tip for a gallery wall costs almost nothing. Before any nail goes in, you need:

• a tape measure, a pencil and a spirit level;
• painter’s tape and large sheets of paper or kraft paper;
• the right fixings for your wall: nails or picture hooks for plaster, plugs and screws for brick or concrete.

1. Cut a paper template for each frame, at the frame’s outside size, and write on it which print it is.
2. Mark the hanging point on each template: hold the real frame up, pull the hanger tight and measure how far it sits below the top edge.
3. Tape the layout to the wall, starting with the largest print or the centre of the arrangement and working outwards.
4. Live with it for a day. Take a photo from across the room: a phone screen shows uneven gaps better than your eye does.
5. Drill through the marks on the paper, then tear the templates away and hang the frames.

Where exactly the nail goes

This is the measurement nobody explains. For any frame: nail height = height of the frame’s centre + half the frame’s height − the distance from the top of the frame to the taut hanger. For example, a framed 50 × 70 print is about 71.5 cm tall. To put its centre at 147 cm, its top edge sits at 182.75 cm; if the hanger pulls up to 3 cm below the top, the nail goes at about 179.75 cm. Measure the hanger on your own frame, and the paper template does the rest.

Can you hang a gallery wall without drilling?

Yes, with limits. A picture ledge is the most flexible option: lean the prints on it, overlap them slightly and change them whenever you like, with only a few screws for the shelf itself. Adhesive picture-hanging strips hold small and medium frames on smooth painted walls; check the weight limit on the pack and stay well under it. For the largest sizes, 50 × 70 cm and above, use a proper nail or screw.

Five mistakes that make a gallery wall look accidental

1. Uneven gaps. The most common mistake, and the most visible. Measure every one.
2. Hanging too high. Art floating near the ceiling loses touch with the room. Centre at 145–150 cm, or 15–25 cm above the furniture.
3. Too small for the wall. A few small prints in the middle of a big wall look lost. Fill about two thirds of the furniture or go up a size.
4. No anchor. In a salon arrangement, one piece has to lead. Put the largest print in the centre and build around it.
5. Too many sizes. Two sizes look planned; five look random. Keep it to two, three at most.

Not sure which size to choose for the centre? Our art print size guide shows every size against a sofa and a person. When you are ready to choose, browse prints for the living room, the cities and mysticism collections, or all prints.