So, you want to create a fun personal wall gallery to feature your family and furbabies? Great! There's no better way to share memories, quotes, or artwork that reflect your personality than a wall gallery of items chosen and organized by you.  

Of course, empty walls full of endless possibilities can seem intimidating at first, but they don't have to be. In just a few steps, you can have the perfect wall gallery in place, exactly as you envisioned it. It can be an easy and fun process that, believe it or not, doesn't have to include a lot of measuring or dozens of extra nail holes in the wall.  

OK, let's get started

First, you should determine the kind of display you want. Do you want something linear in a grid, something more interesting but organized, or just a random layout? Not sure? Well, we have some options and examples to help inspire you here.

Gather all of the items you want to use for your gallery. These items will vary depending on the kind of wall gallery you decided to create. In this example, I will be using framed art and images, but there are no right or wrong items to include in your collection. Remember, this is your personal gallery, and the tips I will give you for placing frames will work for any other kind of wall decor as well.

A few things you'll need

• Nails (or screws) and anchors
• Hammer (or screwdriver)
• Tape
• Pencil
• Roll of paper and scissors

Prep your wall

In most cases, this will mean clearing and wiping down the area you want to put up your gallery. If there was another piece of art there, you should remove any existing nails. Whether you decide to patch those holes or put a fresh coat of paint on the wall is up to you. The main thing is that you create as clean and even a surface as you can before you begin.

Lay it out

Arrange the gallery pieces on the floor. Doing this first will give you a visual idea of which pieces work best next to each other based on size and color.

Make paper templates

Place the frames (or other gallery items) onto the roll of paper and trace around them with a pencil. Then cut them out and, voila, you have an easy-to-place template of that item. To avoid any confusion, after cutting each template, write the name of the correlating gallery piece directly onto that piece of paper.

Mark the nail placement

Don't worry about getting out a ruler and measuring everything. I have a couple of simple options that will save you a lot of time and frustration. The first is to lay the template over the backside of the corresponding gallery piece. Locate the hanger and mark the spot for nail placement on the template with an X. Another option would be to place a dab of toothpaste on the hanger where the nail belongs and then press the frame against the template once it is on the wall. When you pull the frame back, the toothpaste will have marked the spot for the nail placement.

Bring it to the wall 

Place the frames (or other gallery items) onto the roll of paper and trace around them with a pencil. Then cut them out and, voila, you have an easy-to-place template of that item. To avoid any confusion, after cutting each template, write the name of the correlating gallery piece directly onto that piece of paper.

Place the nails or screws

With your templates in place on the wall, you can now place a nail or screw where the "X" or toothpaste mark is. Then remove the paper templates.

Hang your art

With the nails perfectly in place, all you need to do is hang each of the gallery items in its spot. Then stand back and enjoy!