DIY Gallery Wall in Home Office with New Yorker Magazines
Since Geoff and I moved into our new place, the home office (a.k.a. the book nook) has been the one room Iβve taken the most time setting up and decorating. As I write from home often, having a cozy space to work was important to me. Coming from a smaller apartment where my writing desk was directly beside my bed, itβs really exciting to have a dedicated room for all of my books, typewriters, writing projects, etc.
I wasnβt sure what I wanted to do with this blank wall until a few months ago when βsomeone elseβs trash became my treasure!β :)
Geoff and I were walking through our new neighbourhood (on our way to get breakie/coffee - an irrelevant detail, but I'm hungry and craving another cup currently so felt it a necessary addendum!) - in any case, we walked by a house with a large bag of New Yorkers on the lawn with a sign taped to the tree above it: "FREE, PLEASE TAKE.β I don't think Geoff has heard me squeal so excitedly before (except maybe when we walk into a bookstore).
I lugged the bag of magazines around all morning, ideas percolating of all kinds of creative crafts I could use them for...and then they sat un-touched in our office (at the intersection of perfectionism and procrastination) for months.
This past weekend, spurred by the dawn of a new decade (anyone else motivated to tie up loose ends before 2020?), I poured myself a glass of wine and dedicated an evening to finishing THE NEW YORKER project once and for all!
I am SO HAPPY with how it turned out and love our home office even more than before. Iβm also thankful for that anonymous neighbour who has no idea their pile of discarded magazines provided so much joy.
Below youβll find a list of everything youβll need to complete your own DIY gallery wall and a short 1-min process video to show you how we did it! Let me know in the comments below or on Instagram if you have any questions :)
What Youβll Need
8 of your fav magazine covers (dimensions are typically 8.5β x 11β)
If you donβt have a stack of magazines or youβd rather do a mini gallery wall, these New Yorker postcards are such a cute alternative!
8 frames β I like the clean, modern look of white mating to make the art pop so I went for these 16βx 20β simple black frames from Amazon. If black isnβt your thang, here are some other great options:
I also like these White 11β x 14β frames (depending on what youβre framing, sometimes itβs nice not having a large mat)
Scissors (to unwrap the frames)
Measuring tape (to make sure your frames are lined up evenly on the wall β you can also use a level, but I was too lazy haha, so I risked going without and Iβm very happy with the results!)
Note: I measured two inches between each frame horizontally as well as vertically so everything looked symmetrical
Pencil (to mark the wall where you want to place the top and sides of each photo so you donβt have to keep going back and measuring in-between)
Command Tape (!!!) This was a game-changer for me after I put so many holes in the wall on our bedroom gallery wall (oops!) I was a little hesitant to use them as I wasnβt sure if they would actually hold the frames, but I was convinced to try it out after Taylor Swift said using command tape was one of the βTop 30 Things She Learned Before Turning 30β in ELLE magazine (if thatβs one of her top 30 things in life, Iβll trust that vote of confidence!)
Note: There are different βweightsβ you can buy, so I got the pack of 14 pairs that holds the heaviest weight (16 lbs) which is more than enough for each frame. So far, so good! No broken or fallen frames at the time of this post so I am extremely happy with the result and wish Iβd used them earlier to hang everything in my house!!