Now, Gallery Walls Made Easy
So, just as I hit “post” on my gallery wall round up I get an marketing email from West Elm touting their gallery frames. They’ve made the whole hanging process seemingly idiot proof which is just what I needed because I have to admit that the measuring-to- get-the-right-amount-of-space-between-each-frame part of the whole gallery wall thing is part of why I haven’t just done one already. They have a easy step by step process that has figured out all of the measuring (if you use their frames, of course). It seems so easy that it feels a little bit like cheating.
Now, of course I sort of feel that this means that gallery walls have been co-opted by the big boxes… but I guess that if you use personal items, it would still be authentic.
Let’s get real for a moment: Framing anything is expensive. I calculated the cost of making the gallery wall above at West Elm as around $300. Seems a little pricey until you consider that I’ve had to pay $300 just to frame one 8×10 painting. So, while $300 is not insubstantial, it’s not much for 10 frames given the going rate at my local frame shop. However, just for giggles I priced out the same size frames as above at IKEA (in unpainted wood, with plastic instead of glass) and it cost a whooping $30 dollars. If you use the IKEA “Ribba” line which is a brown frame with real glass, 10 frames of various sizes costs $118. I guess that leaves us at no matter your budget, you could do a gallery wall. God bless Ikea.
August 14th, 2008 11:38
omg, abbey! this is just what we needed!
August 14th, 2008 18:20
love all the gallery wall ideas. you’ve inspired me to try this at home…I’ll just have to find the right wall
August 15th, 2008 08:25
I’m trying to talk Tim into it!
August 18th, 2008 16:28
An easy gallery wall? I’m so there!
June 13th, 2009 15:11
[...] seemed like a novel idea. It’s not. West Elm apparently had it before, so I learned from Abbey while poking around (to echo Abbey, “God bless IKEA.” West Elm’s gallery frames [...]