Our New Photo Wall – aka the Easiest Gallery Wall Ever (Knoppaeng IKEA Hack)

Family Photo Wall - aka the easiest gallery wall ever

Sharing all the tips & tricks for to make a DIY photo wall… AKA the easiest gallery wall collage ever from Ikea in less than an hour with pictures!

DIY New Photo Wall/ Gallery Wall

*this post contains affiliate links for more information check out our disclosure page here*

Sharing all the tips & tricks for to make a DIY photo wall... AKA the easiest gallery wall collage ever from Ikea in less than an hour with pictures! #ikeahack #photowall #gallerywall https://lehmanlane.net

Well it’s only been a week since we added our new church pew to the living room and I already made a change, ha!

I wanted to add something special above our newest farmhouse pew so I added a family photo wall. 

Hanging family photos is one of the best ways to make a house start feeling a lot more like a home.

Gallery walls might seem intimating, expensive and just plain overwhelming to start but I put this family photo wall together by myself in less than an hour for around $65 including the photos!!!

Gallery walls might seem intimating, expensive and just plain overwhelming to start but I put this family photo wall together by myself in less than an hour for $65 including the photos!!!

Supplies & Tools Needed to Make this DIY Photo Wall

  • Poster Frame Kit with Template from Ikea (Knoppaeng)
  • 3 (8 X10) Black & White Photos
  • 1 (5X7) Black & White Photo
  • 2 (4X6) Black & White Photos
  • 2 (3X5) Black & White Photos
  • Tape that Can Easily be peeled off the Wall
  • Level
  • Hammer & Nails

I found this gallery wall kit at Ikea for $50.  (this post is not sponsored in any way from Ikea, I just really like their stuff ,ha!

Knoppaeng Frame with Posters

The original set of 8 pictures I bought is no longer available but this set is almost identical to the one I bought, Knoppang Frame Set of 8

It also comes with 8 matted frames and different templates to hang on the wall.

Our New Photo Wall - aka the easiest gallery wall ever - knopp

Step by Step Instructions for How to Make a DIY Photo Wall

Step ONE – Choose Your Template for Your DIY Photo Wall & Tape It in Place

First, you have to decide which template you want… this took us a little while, ha!

Our New Photo Wall - aka the easiest gallery wall ever - black and white photos over a church pew

Step TWO – Hammer the Nails for your Picture Frames to the Wall

After taping the template to the wall I made sure that the paper was level and then hammered in each nail through the x on the paper. 

Easy peasy!

Our New Photo Wall - aka the easiest gallery wall ever - black and white photos over a church pew - hammering

Step THREE – Remove the Template Paper of your Photo Wall

After pulling back the paper very carefully (I am totally saving this template for another picture wall in the future!), I hung the frames.

I have long been on the hunt for the perfect church pew for our farmhouse.  Our home is the headquarters for many family dinners and holidays so seating can often be at a premium.  Church pews are great because they can fit a lot of people without sacrificing much needed floor space.  We found this pew for sale on Craigslist at a local antique shop and were very excited by it's size and craftsmanship. living room

After first hanging almost all the frames vertically we realized most of the pictures we chose were horizontal.

 Whoops!

So I took all the photo frames and nails down, chose another template that had all horizontal frames and started over again. 

Now, I have a few extra holes to patch but it was totally worth it rather than having to choose and agree on different pictures!

Step FOUR – Choose Your Black & White or Color Photos, Print them Out & Place them in Your Picture Frames

The reason we chose to hang the template first before deciding on the photos was that we wanted to get the symmetry right over the church pew first.

Then we knew exactly whether or not to print our Vertical or horizontal photos.

Our New Photo Wall - aka the easiest gallery wall ever - black and white photos over a church pew

We chose the pictures from our photo wall from our favorite pictures that we had both posted on Instagram the last couple years. 

Isn’t it great that most smart phones take great pics now?!!! 

Most of the pictures we hung were taken with our iphones, not my fancy DSLR. 

I had the pictures printed out in the different sizes at our local CVS for less than $15. 

There are (3) 8 by 10, (1) 5 by 7, (2) 4 by 6, and (2) 3 by 5 pictures in total. 

Family Photo Wall - aka theeasiest gallery wall ever

I decided to have the pictures printed out in Black & white to make our photo wall a little more formal.

I love the contrast of the black and white pictures with the white frames and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

Winter Home Tour - family room and gallery wall

I want to change out the gallery wall in our family room now…. but Jason keeps telling me how he likes color photos better than black and white (and apparently our youngest does too… insert eye roll here, ha!

Our New Photo Wall - aka the easiest gallery wall ever - black and white photos over a church pew

Sometimes I can’t win with these people!!!

Family Photo Wall - the easiest gallery wall ever
Family Photo Wall - the easiest gallery wall ever!

What do you think of our newest photo wall?

I hope this answers all your questions & shows you just how easy it is to create your own personal DIY photo wall!

by Tara Lehman

Don’t forget to pin our Family Photo Wall & Save it to your Favorite DIY Projects Pinterest Board!

I wanted to add something special above our newest farmhouse pew so I added a family photo wall.  Gallery walls might seem intimating, expensive and just plain overwhelming to start but I put this one together by myself in less than an hour for $65 including the photos!!! #gallerywall #photowall #walldecor http://lehmanlane.net

More DIY Project Ideas You Might Enjoy

Sharing all the details of our gorgeous new living room bookcase, the Ikea Malsjo Glass Door Cabinet including a review with pictures. #bookcase #farmhouse #homedecor https://lehmanlane.net
Sharing all the tips & tricks to make your own pallet wood sign DIY including a step by step tutorial. This pallet name sign was crazy easy to make, totally free using supplies we already had & we were done in an hour! #palletprojects #palletsigns #palletcrafts #palletfurniture #palletart https://lehmanlane.net
DIY Kallax Ikea Hack - We transformed our Kallax large bookcase from Ikea into a space saving Entertainment stand in just a few hours for our newly renovated home gym. I am sharing all the details of how we DIYed this Ikea hack for only a few dollars #ikeahack #diy https://lehmanlane.net

Comments

  1. Isn’t taping up paper first the easiest way to organize gallery walls? I did that method for ours too and it worked perfectly. I really like the white frame with the black and white photos – looks fantastic!
    Best,
    Kelly

    1. I had never used a template before to hang pictures and it is a game changer Kelly! Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments about our new photo wall :).

Leave a Reply to Tara Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *