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Toronto framing expert Tara Gavin says gallery walls benefit from a clear design direction, and describes three choices used in a project for a family of five: a mix of frame and mat colors, generous or varied mat space, and black-and-white photographs. The approach is an expert’s design advice, not a set of universal requirements; the report does not provide measurements for spacing or hanging.
Toronto framing expert Tara Gavin says a gallery wall works best when it has a clear design direction, describing how she used burgundy mats, mixed frame finishes and black-and-white photographs in a project for a family of five, much like the ideas in gallery wall decor. The House Beautiful report offers the project as an example of how deliberate framing choices can give a narrow wall a unified look without relying on matching white mats and wood frames.
Gavin, founder of On the Wall Framing in Toronto, worked with design studio Kessler Levitan on a gallery wall for a Toronto family. The available width was 31 inches. Rather than treating the limited space as a reason to avoid a display, Gavin described the project as an opportunity to make the wall a design feature.
The arrangement used a mix of oak and black frames, with burgundy-colored mats and frames on some pieces. Gavin said the burgundy brought warmth, oak softened the overall effect, and black added contrast. She also suggested choosing a mat color that relates to a prominent shade in the room, while noting that white is not the only suitable backdrop for framed photographs.
Gavin’s other recommendations concern the images and how they sit within their frames. She said a mat can give a photograph more visual space, and that a frame can hold multiple images or place a photograph slightly off-center. For the Toronto project, the photos were printed in black and white to help unify family pictures taken at different times and in different lighting. The article presents these as choices used in this particular design, not rules every gallery wall must follow.
Design Choices That Tie Frames Together
The advice addresses a common challenge in family-photo displays: pictures may differ in color, lighting and age, while frames and mats also add their own visual variety. Gavin’s example shows one way to manage those differences—use consistent photo treatment alongside varied frame details, rather than making every element identical.
For readers planning a wall in a small or narrow space, the 31-inch project is a concrete example of fitting a display to a limited area. The report does not claim that the same palette or layout will suit every home. Its practical point is that the relationship among the images, mats, frames and surrounding room can guide decisions before anything is hung.
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How the Toronto Wall Was Planned
Gallery walls are a familiar way to display photographs and prints, but the source report focuses on a specific commission rather than a new product, study or industry change. House Beautiful attributes the design approach to Gavin and describes the work she completed with Kessler Levitan for a family of five.
Gavin said her team experiments with scale, mat colors, frame finishes and the placement of photographs inside frames. In this project, color was introduced through burgundy mats and frames, while black-and-white prints helped give a varied family-photo collection a more consistent appearance. The reported details do not include a complete diagram or installation plan.
“The secret to doing a gallery wall right is to make sure it has a “design direction.””
— Tara Gavin, founder of On the Wall Framing
Details the Report Does Not Give
The source does not specify the number or dimensions of the frames, the distances between them, how the arrangement was measured, or the hardware used to hang it. It also does not provide a full image-by-image layout or say whether the family chose the colors or photography treatment before Gavin’s involvement.
Gavin’s recommendations are presented as professional design guidance based on her work, not as tested rules or a guarantee that a particular combination will suit every room. The report does not compare the cost of the project with other framing options or establish how the wall looks in different lighting.
Planning a Wall Around Your Photos
The report describes a completed design project and gives no announced follow-up or next milestone. For readers applying the ideas, the next step is to select the photographs and decide whether a shared treatment, such as black-and-white printing, suits the collection. They can then consider mat color and frame finishes in relation to both the images and the room.
Before buying frames or making holes, map the proposed arrangement against the available wall space. The source does not prescribe exact spacing or hanging methods, so those details remain a matter of the specific wall, frames and installation.
Key Questions
What is Tara Gavin’s main gallery-wall recommendation?
Gavin’s main recommendation is to give the wall a clear design direction, coordinating choices such as image treatment, mat color, frame finish and placement.
Does a gallery wall need matching frames?
No. In the Toronto project, Gavin combined oak and black frames with burgundy mats and frames. The report presents this as one design approach, not a requirement.
Why print family photos in black and white?
Gavin said black-and-white printing can help unify photographs taken in different lighting conditions and at different times. She described it as an option, not a rule for every display.
How much space was available for the reported project?
The gallery wall for the Toronto family of five was designed for a space 31 inches wide, according to House Beautiful.
Does the report give exact hanging measurements?
No. It does not list frame dimensions, gaps between frames, hanging hardware or a step-by-step installation layout.
Source: housebeautiful.com
