The Frame Shop FTL

Journal · hanging & layout

The gallery wall, without the guesswork.

The Frame Shop, Fort Lauderdale · updated July 2026

Black-and-white family photo gallery wall.
One wall, one composition.

Gallery walls fail for boring reasons: hung too high, spaced too far apart, and planned with tape measures instead of eyes. Here's how our installers actually do it.

One wall. One plan.

The rules that do the work

Center the composition at 57 inches. That's gallery eye-height — the midpoint of the whole arrangement, not each frame, sits at 57″. Nearly every "something feels off" wall is simply hung too high. Keep frames 2–3 inches apart. Closer reads as one composition; farther reads as scattered leftovers. Anchor with the largest piece just off-center, and build outward. Over furniture, keep the arrangement about two-thirds the width of the sofa or console beneath it, never wider.

Pick a shape: grid, row, or salon

A grid (same frames, same size, ruled spacing) is calm and formal — perfect for a series or family portraits in matching mouldings. A row works corridors and stairs; step the centers evenly and let the line carry the eye. A salon hang — the beautiful chaos — mixes sizes and frames, and it's the one to lay out before you hammer anything.

Travel photos in matching wood floaters by a bookcase.
Shared finish, even gaps.
Salon of drawings in matching light wood frames.
Grid or salon — plan it on the floor first.
Plan it on your actual wall, free. Our designer's gallery-wall builder lets you upload a photo of your own wall, add several framed pieces, drag them around, and try grid, row and salon layouts — before a single nail goes in.

Mixing frames without the mess

The trick is one thing in common: all warm woods, or all thin profiles, or all white mats. Vary the rest freely. Our seven collections exist for exactly this — pieces from one collection argue less on a wall. When in doubt, unify the mats and let the frames differ.

When to call us

Anything heavy, anything high, plaster or concrete walls, or a wall of more than six pieces — that's a fast professional job with lasers and the right anchors rather than a weekend of small holes. We hang gallery walls for homes, offices and hotels every week; bring us the pieces or book the install crew.

Ways in

Build your wall in the designer · Height & spacing · Mixing frames · Send a wall photo.

Try the wall before the nails.

Upload your wall, arrange your pieces, and see it — then we build and hang it.

Open the gallery-wall builder