Hey, Sectional. Meet your friend, the Gallery Wall.

This post was most recently updated on September 23rd, 2019

A couple of posts ago (in Beauty & The Beast: Decorating with a Sectional Sofa  – 5 Fab Examples) I talked about how we recently put a big sectional in our TV room, and how it’s been a bit of a challenge to decorate around.

After searching for some inspiration on how to decorate with a sectional sofa,  I decided to create a gallery wall behind the sectional to help balance out it’s huge presence.

If you follow me here, you might know that I’m already a big fan of the eclectic and ‘collected’ style that a gallery wall gives a room. I’ve created small collections of wall art throughout our home, like in our foyer (yellow and gray Sunshine-Inspired gallery wall) and our basement stairway (Colorful, Alphabet-Inspired gallery wall).

The largest one I attempted was in our living room a couple of years ago, but after we re-painted the wall, I decided not to put the gallery wall back up. I’ve missed it ever since! (See: I Miss My Living Room Gallery Wall (The great debate: Simplicity vs Eclectic/Collected Decor?).

So I was excited about the idea of creating a similar wall in the TV Room.  I don’t talk about this room much around here, mainly because it’s,  ahem, “well-lived-in”, which essentially means it’s never fit for photographs, lol.

I can never seem to get a handle on it! It’s the magnet on our main floor for toys and crafts and craziness. The kids have a playroom / family room in the basement, but for whatever reason, this main floor room seems to be their favorite!  It’s small in square footage, but has high cathedral ceilings (16ft), which helps provide the illusion of more breathing room!

Here you can see how the kids use the room. Dinkies, trains, kiddie crafts and lounging just about sums it up!

Along the way, I’ve tried to buy furniture for this room with lots of storage to hide all that kind of stuff – like the piece in the photo below.  Usually these little baskets are dumped on the floor, but I tidied up for these photos. 😉 (You’re welcome!)

OK, back to the gallery wall! (I get easily distracted.)

{But first, a warning: If you like minimalism, this is probably not the room for you!}

The room is painted a neutral color, so I felt it could handle pops of saturated color on the wall, which ended up being mostly red, turquoise and a bit of green.  Red and turquoise is definitely a favorite color combination of mine.  I guess that’s why I had so many pieces in these complimentary shades.

It’s amazing how well these pieces coordinate, even though I didn’t buy any of them at the same time. They were all purchased at different times over the past 10 years. I think it’s easy to over-think purchases for your home, but if you simply buy things that make you happy, eventually you’ll find a way to make them work together.

Some of them were in other spots  in our house, and others weren’t being used after I disassembled our living room gallery wall.  I gathered up what I thought would work together, and started playing around with positioning.

The big red poppy canvas has been on that wall for a couple of years now, and is definitely the most dominant piece.  I guess you could say it was my starting point. I tinkered around with the other pieces for a few weeks, trying different combinations and layouts.  At one point, I tried that big round clock in one of the above photos, but it felt too overwhelming.  The last thing I added for texture was this wire basket with the potted plants.  I probably would never have considered using a basket as ‘wall art’ until I saw Melissa’s foyer wall at The Inspired Room, and I was, well, ‘inspired’!

One of the things I always try to incorporate into a gallery wall is photographs. (For other tips, see Group Things You Love: Gallery Wall Tips)  It just makes the whole collection feel less like a retail display, and more personal – like it belongs in a home.  I tried a few photos on this gallery wall too, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t find a spot for them that felt good. I’m sure I will add some eventually, but for now, it’ll remain photo-less! We have lots of family photos throughout the room, so maybe that makes up for it.

I also found some fun toss pillows which help pull all the colors together…

If you have a large, boring sectional like we do, and you like eclectic decor, I think a gallery wall is a great way to create a balanced room with personality.

Overall, I’m really liking how it feels.  I know this kind of collected style isn’t for everyone, but, personally, it makes me happy. I can certainly appreciate a good minimalist room with sleek modern decor, but the more time I spend decorating my own home, the more I realize how comfortable I am having my favorite things around me.

How about you?  Do you like eclectic gallery walls, or do you appreciate the simplicity of a blank canvas?

Until next time,

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P.S. I’m sharing this with Beth