I Just Discovered the Most Brilliant Way to Design a Perfect Gallery Wall

There are so many different ways to approach designing a statement gallery wall in your home. You can meticulously plan where each piece of art will go by taking measurements and cutting and taping paper templates. Or you can just start banging nails into the wall and hope for the best, as whimsy often ends up being unplanned.

If you fall into the former category, though, then you may be a bit of a “Type A” person — that is, someone who prefers planning and organization. And if that’s the case, then you’re going to love this digital hack that makes gallery wall planning so simple.

Instagram user Mathena Claire shared her system for visualizing and planning a gallery wall using Canva. This method lets you play around with the layout simply by clicking and dragging — plus, it acts as a roadmap for the eventual installation. It’s an approach that editors at Apartment Therapy truly cherish, given how our own Room Plan tool works.

“Okay okay, despite being very Type A, you have to admit — this is such a great idea for designing a gallery wall!” Mathena wrote in the caption of the video she shared.

Mathena provided step-by-step instructions on how she created her own Canva gallery wall sticker book, with the first step being to take a photo of the wall you want to install the artwork on.

Next, upload your picture to a blank design on Canva. Then, take pictures of the individual artworks you want to hang and upload those to Canva, too. Make sure you remove the backgrounds of each artwork image so you’re left with just the framed piece.

Scale your artwork photos as accurately as possible, and then you can “experiment with different layouts until you find the perfect one!” Mathena added, scaling her artwork by comparing it to other furniture or decor items in the initial wall photo. 

“In Canva, pick one item whose dimensions you know exactly, like a frame that’s 8×10 inches,” she told her followers in a comment. “Use that item as your reference point. Scale all other objects relative to it so their proportions match in real life.” It won’t be exact, but you’ll definitely be able to get the idea! 

As it turns out, Mathena isn’t the only Type A person to plan out her gallery wall installations this way. “I indeed do this,” someone commented on her post. “Also, every time in the last few years that I’ve moved to a new space, I’ve measured the walls and measured my furniture to plot out where everything will go bc im insane.”

“I do the quick bootleg version in Instagram Stories,” another person wrote. “I use the cutout tool to remove the background from my images. It’s nice for a quick rough draft. Especially if you are undecided on which items to purchase.”

Self-proclaimed Type A’s will never plan gallery walls (or even furniture layouts!) the same way again.