How to Style a Gallery Wall with Coastal Prints: A Room-by-Room Guide for Australian Homes
Gallery walls used to stress me out. Too many options, too many ways to get it wrong, and a bunch of holes in the wall to show for it. But once I started thinking about them room by room, it got a lot easier. And honestly, coastal prints are one of the best starting points because they already share a visual language. Blues, greens, sand tones, movement. They naturally sit well together.
Whether you're pulling together a wall for your living room, hallway, bedroom or home office, here's how I'd approach it.
Start With One Anchor Print, Then Build Around It
The biggest mistake people make is buying a bunch of prints in the same size and trying to make them work together. It rarely does. Start with one hero piece. Something large. Something you genuinely love. Then build around it with smaller prints that share a colour or a mood.
For a living room or dining space, I'd go with a large or XL print as your anchor. Something like my Point Addis Art Print I works really well for this. It's a wide coastal landscape with strong colour across the frame, so it holds the wall on its own and gives you plenty to work with when you're choosing what to put beside it.
From there, add one or two smaller prints in the S or M size that echo a similar coastal feel. They don't need to be from the same beach. They just need to feel like they belong in the same world.
Living Room: Go Bold, Go Big
The living room is where a gallery wall really earns its place. It's the room people spend the most time in, and the wall above the sofa is prime real estate.
For this space, I'd typically suggest a large hero print flanked by two smaller ones, or a triptych-style arrangement if you want something more structured. A shadow box frame with the glass sitting 20mm off the print adds a really nice depth to the arrangement and makes the whole wall feel considered rather than just cluttered.
If you've got a lot of natural light in the room, a floating frame canvas is worth looking at. There's no glass at all, so you get zero reflections and the colours read really well in bright conditions.
For a living room gallery wall on the Surf Coast theme, I'd pair the Bells Beach Art Print I as the anchor with something from Anglesea or Wye River alongside it. The prints share a similar coastal palette and the combination feels cohesive without being matchy.
Hallway: Think Vertical and Keep It Simple
Hallways are long and narrow, which means tall prints or a vertical stack works better than a wide horizontal spread. A pair of portrait-oriented prints stacked one above the other, or three S-sized prints in a row, both work well here.
Keep the frames consistent in this space. Same colour, same finish. It stops a narrow hallway from feeling busy. Black frames tend to read really cleanly against white or light grey walls. Oak frames warm things up beautifully if you've got timber floors or warmer tones in the space.
I've had a lot of customers put prints in their hallways and say it's the first thing guests comment on when they walk in. That's the thing about coastal art in a hallway. It sets the mood for the whole house before you've even sat down.
Bedroom: Calmer, Not Smaller
People often default to tiny prints in the bedroom because they think it needs to be subtle. But a single large print above a bedhead can actually make a room feel more grounded and finished, not more overwhelming.
You don't need a full gallery wall in a bedroom. One or two prints that share a similar feel is usually enough. A coastal image with lots of water and sky reads quietly in a bedroom without losing any of its colour or character.
If you want a genuine gallery feel above the bed, three prints side by side in matching frames works really well. Same size, same frame colour, evenly spaced. Clean, considered, done.
Home Office: Art That Actually Does Something
I hear from a lot of people who've put one of my prints above their desk and say it genuinely changes how they feel in the space. Looking up from a screen and seeing a beach you love does something. It's hard to explain until you've tried it.
For a home office, one strong print is usually enough. You want something that lifts your mood when you glance at it, not something that competes with your work. A single M or L print at eye level, framed simply, does the job without turning your workspace into a gallery.
If you're after inspiration, check out my post on Best Wall Art for a Home Office: How to Choose Coastal Prints That Make You Actually Want to Be at Your Desk for more on this.
A Few Practical Tips Before You Start Hanging
- Cut paper templates in the sizes of your prints and tape them to the wall first. Move them around until you're happy, then hang.
- Keep consistent spacing between prints. 5 to 8cm between frames tends to work well for most gallery walls.
- Mix one or two frame sizes but try to keep the same frame colour throughout a single wall.
- All my frames come with a metal hanger and steel wire or D rings and a braided cable depending on the frame type, so they're genuinely ready to hang straight out of the box.
If you're still figuring out sizing, the What Size Wall Art Should You Choose? guide is a good place to start, or check out the full size guide on the website.
Ready to Pull It Together?
All my prints are printed and shipped from Victoria, with free shipping anywhere in Australia. They're printed to order on archival materials, so the colours stay sharp for years. Every print ships ready to hang.
Browse the full range and find your anchor print at localbreaks.com.au, or jump straight to some of my most popular options like the Point Addis Art Print I (from $89) or the Bells Beach Art Print I (from $89) to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many prints do I need for a gallery wall?
Three to five prints is a good starting point for most walls. Start with one large anchor print and build outward with two to four smaller ones. You don't need to fill every gap. A well-spaced arrangement of three prints often looks better than a crowded cluster of seven.
What size prints should I choose for a gallery wall in a living room?
For a living room gallery wall, aim for one L or XL print as your anchor and pair it with M or S prints on either side. The L size (59.4x84.1cm) works well above a sofa as part of a group, while the XL (84.1x118.9cm) can hold a wall on its own. Check the size guide if you want to compare options against your wall dimensions.
