You guys know I love a good photo wall. Photo walls are an affordable yet beautiful way to personalise our space. My last project was the wall behind our bedroom TV and my objective was to incorporate the TV into the photo wall. Photo Walls or Gallery walls are a lovely way to display  cherished possessions and memories and to personalise your space. Because I wanted to make the entire media wall into a photo wall, it was  important to me to make it into a functional space for our gadgets yet charging station yet still look organised and pleasing to the senses. Below are some of the tips I followed to achieve this.

Consider the TV frame in choosing a colour theme

Since my TV was black and my bedroom is mostly white, to keep our bedroom room mood relaxing and calming (good for sleep!), I decided to have a black and white photo wall with hints of gold. Think of the TV as one of the frames and arrange frames and elements around it.

Mix it up

Not only did I use framed photos, but I also added other interesting objects to add texture and dimension to the wall. This made it very personal and meaningful for us. I Made sure to only have items that were relaxing, which is very important for a good night’s sleep. If you put something that is too exciting – like a photo of myself surfing perhaps – then every time I look at it my mind wakes up and this would not help me get ready for bed.

• black and white nude painting from Vietnam
• cheap frames from here and here
• Asian themed black and white IKEA print to go with the painting and gong
• Letters (available at Idee or Xenos)
• signage that says “always keep me goodnight” which I is perfect for the bedroom. (Xenos)
• For the black and white photos I printed them on my home printer.
• Don’t be afraid to DIY and place items of sentimental value in the frames. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it does have to go with the theme.

Compose items on the TV table as part of the photo wall

Using different elements with different heights helped me complete the photo wall/gallery wall. The gong , while the cubes are very modern. However ever thing still looks cohesive

• The Brass Gong from Dunia Yogyakarta ties in with the Asian theme of some of the frames.
• The Bolia 3 in 1 Sculpture is very modern and a novel piece of decorative art, that mixes in because it is within the colour theme. It can be  arranged in so many ways to draw the eye, but I opted for a simple and very Zen arrangement – again with the objective of a calm and relaxing bedroom.
• Two lucky bamboos from IKEA in a Bolia bird vase tied in the modern yet Asian theme and softened the entire wall with a bit of organic green. For some reason it works it inside the 3in1 cube – don’t you agree?

Use decorative containers to keep it organised

Media walls are clutter magnets, but I try my best to keep it clutter at bay by placing beautiful containers than can also hold stuff like remote controls, docks, etc. I used a lacquer bowl from Myanmar for smaller items and a circular deep wooden tray from Bolia to hold remote controls, etc. (pictured below)

Use Wire organizers

The white box on the left is an IKEA KVISSLE wire organiser (above). This helps keep wires from being an eyesore.  As you can see there are still some wires behind the TV that I still need to organise. I plan to use this or this to tape them to the wall behind the TV without damaging the wall. Out of control wires are hard-to-clean dust and fur ball magnets so it is important for me to keep them organised..

Drill free hanging

I used light items to hang on the wall so that I could do it myself using this technique to hang things securely without damaging the walls. Be sure to test the hooks so that your items are secure and prevent damage to your precious TV and other belongings.

I hope you liked the ideas in this post and that it inspires you to create something in your own wall space! I would love to here other tips and tricks you have for photo walls. Also questions are always welcome so drop me a line!