There is always that one corner.
Too empty to ignore. Too awkward for a piece of furniture. And somehow, hanging one lonely print on either wall only makes the whole thing look more unfinished.
Enter the corner gallery wall.
Instead of treating two adjoining walls as separate spaces, a corner gallery wall lets your artwork wrap around both, turning an overlooked part of the room into something intentional, personal, and much more interesting.
And here's the bit we particularly like: your gallery wall doesn't have to be filled entirely with expensive prints or art somebody else chose.
Some of the best pieces can be the ones you painted yourself.
A colourful painting you made on a Sunday afternoon can sit alongside photography, exhibition posters, vintage finds, postcards and illustrations. The result feels less like a matching set bought in one click and more like a collection that actually belongs to you.
Paint it. Frame it. Hang it.
Here's how to make it work.
What Is a Corner Gallery Wall?
A corner gallery wall is a collection of framed artwork arranged across two adjoining walls, allowing the composition to continue around the corner of a room.
Instead of seeing the corner as the place where your gallery wall has to stop, you make it part of the design.
Corner gallery walls work particularly well in small apartments, dining areas, reading nooks, home offices, staircases and landings, bedrooms, and empty living-room corners.
They are also useful when neither wall is large enough for a traditional gallery wall on its own.
The result can make a previously forgotten corner feel like one of the most considered parts of the room.
Why Corner Gallery Walls Feel More Interesting
They Turn an Awkward Space Into a Feature
Corners can be surprisingly difficult to decorate.
A large artwork often feels too dominant. A small print can look lost. Furniture isn't always practical.
Wrapping several pieces of artwork around the corner gives the space purpose without taking up any floor space.
They Can Make a Small Room Feel More Considered
You don't need a huge blank wall to create an interesting art display.
A corner gallery wall draws your eye across two surfaces, creating a sense of movement and making even a small area feel deliberately styled.
This makes them particularly good for apartments and smaller homes where every bit of wall space matters.
You Don't Need to Buy a Matching Set
Possibly our favourite reason.
A gallery wall gives you permission to mix things.
Different artists. Different mediums. Different frames. Different memories.
Your wall can evolve rather than arriving fully formed in a cardboard box.
Start With Art You Actually Like
Before thinking about frames, spacing or layouts, start with the art.
A good gallery wall should tell you something about the person who lives there.
Mix pieces from different places and moments: paintings you've made yourself, photography, exhibition posters, illustrations, postcards, vintage prints, typography, children's drawings, small textiles, travel souvenirs, and art found at flea markets or independent shops.
Not everything needs to be valuable.
Not everything needs to match.
And definitely not everything needs to have been created by a professional artist.
The goal isn't matching. It's connection.
A shared colour, subject or mood can be enough to make very different pieces feel like they belong together.
Yes, Paint by Numbers Can Look Good on a Gallery Wall
Forget the idea that paint by numbers needs to look like a craft project.
Modern paint-by-numbers designs can work beautifully as wall art, particularly when the artwork itself has been designed with contemporary interiors in mind.
The trick is to treat the finished painting exactly as you would any other piece of art.
Frame it properly. Give it some breathing room. Mix it with other mediums.
A colourful paint-by-numbers piece beside a black-and-white photograph or graphic print immediately feels more collected and less expected.
At Kiki's Club, this is a big part of how we think about paint by numbers. The few hours you spend painting should be enjoyable, but the finished piece should also be something you'd genuinely want to live with.
If you're worried about your finished painting looking too obviously like paint by numbers, our guide on how to make paint by numbers look better covers simple techniques for improving coverage, softening lines and giving the finished artwork a more polished look.
And if making your own art still feels slightly intimidating, start with our guide on how to start painting as a hobby.
How to Plan a Corner Gallery Wall
You don't need to mathematically calculate every centimetre before hanging anything, but a little planning helps.
1. Choose One Anchor Piece
Start with the artwork you want the eye to notice first.
Usually this will be your largest, boldest or most colourful piece.
It doesn't necessarily need to sit directly in the corner. In fact, placing it slightly to one side can make the arrangement feel more natural.
If you've painted something yourself, this is a lovely opportunity to make it the hero rather than treating it as the homemade piece that gets hidden at the edge.
2. Build Outward From the Corner
With a traditional gallery wall, you usually start in the middle of one wall.
A corner gallery wall works slightly differently.
Think about the two walls as one continuous composition and allow the artwork to visually travel around the corner.
Place a few pieces relatively close to the corner itself so the two sides feel connected rather than like two unrelated gallery walls that happen to meet.
3. Mix Different Sizes
A combination of large, medium and small pieces tends to look more natural than a grid of identically sized frames.
Try one larger anchor piece, two or three medium artworks, and a few smaller photographs, postcards or illustrations.
The variation gives the wall rhythm and allows your eye to move around the collection.
4. Keep One Thing Consistent
Eclectic does not have to mean chaotic.
If your artwork varies significantly, keep one element consistent. That could be similar frame colours, a recurring colour palette, consistent spacing, a shared subject, similar mounts, or one repeated material such as light wood.
You only need one visual thread to pull everything together.
5. Test the Layout Before Making Holes
Your floor is your friend.
Arrange everything on the floor first and move the pieces around until the balance feels right.
You can also cut paper templates to the size of each frame and tape them temporarily to the walls.
This lets you see how the composition wraps around the corner before committing to fifteen suspiciously permanent holes.
Should Gallery Wall Frames Match?
No.
They can, but they absolutely don't have to.
Matching frames tend to create a cleaner, more minimal look. Think Scandinavian apartment: pale wood, white mounts, simple artwork and plenty of breathing room.
Mixed frames create something more eclectic and collected. Think Parisian apartment: vintage wood, brass, painted frames, photography, postcards and artwork gathered over time.
Both approaches work.
If your art is already very colourful, repeating two or three frame finishes can keep the wall grounded.
If the artwork itself is relatively neutral, contrasting frames can become part of the composition.
The easiest rule is to avoid making everything different at once.
How Far Apart Should Gallery Wall Pictures Be?
For most gallery walls, keeping approximately 5 to 8 cm between frames creates enough separation without making the pieces feel disconnected.
But don't become obsessed with getting every gap identical.
A slightly looser arrangement often feels more relaxed and collected, particularly if you're mixing frame sizes.
The important thing with a corner gallery wall is that the spacing remains visually similar as the artwork moves from one wall onto the next.
You want the eye to read it as one collection.
How High Should You Hang a Gallery Wall?
As a general rule, the visual centre of your gallery wall should sit around eye level.
If you're hanging artwork above a sofa, desk or sideboard, consider the furniture as part of the composition rather than treating the wall separately.
The bottom pieces should feel connected to what's underneath them without looking as though they're about to fall onto it.
With a corner gallery wall, step back frequently while hanging.
Look at the whole corner rather than one wall at a time.
If one side feels much heavier than the other, move a piece before adding more.
Three Corner Gallery Wall Styles We Love
1. The Nordic Corner
Clean, calm and quietly colourful.
Think pale wood frames, white or cream mounts, abstract paintings, minimal photography, soft blues, greens and pinks, and plenty of negative space.
This style works particularly well if your home already has a neutral or Scandinavian-inspired interior.
A colourful painting you've made yourself can become the focal point without overwhelming the space.
2. The Parisian Collector
A little less perfect. A lot more personality.
Mix vintage frames, small paintings, exhibition postcards, photography, drawings, flea-market finds, and gold or dark wood accents.
The trick is making it feel collected over time rather than carefully purchased to imitate something collected over time.
Start with what you already own. Then let the wall grow.
3. The Colour Lover
For anyone who has never understood the phrase "add a pop of colour".
Use bold paintings, graphic prints, pink, blue, green and red, different frame sizes, playful subjects, and modern illustration.
This is where a contemporary paint-by-numbers piece can really work.
Instead of trying to disguise its colour, make it the reason the rest of the wall works.
If you're interested in how colours interact before choosing the pieces for your wall, our beginner's guide to colour theory and how to use colour effectively is a useful starting point.
What Art Should You Put on a Corner Gallery Wall?
There isn't one correct combination.
In fact, the best corner gallery walls usually mix pieces with completely different origins.
A simple starting formula could be:
1 x painting you made yourself
1 x photograph you love
1 x graphic or exhibition print
1 x vintage or second-hand piece
1 x small sentimental object or image
From there, add pieces gradually.
You could even make new artwork specifically for the wall.
Abstract paintings work particularly well because you can choose colours that already exist in your room without worrying about matching a particular subject. If you want to experiment, our guide on how to paint abstract art is a good place to begin.
Or start with one of our modern paint by numbers kits and let the colours of the finished painting guide the rest of your gallery wall.
Paint it → frame it → hang it.
Can You Frame Paint by Numbers?
Absolutely.
Once your painting is completely dry, framing it can instantly make it feel more like finished artwork and less like a project.
A simple wood frame works beautifully for colourful contemporary designs. White frames can make a piece feel cleaner and more graphic, while darker frames add contrast.
You can also use a mount if you want the painting to have more visual breathing room.
The important thing is choosing a frame that complements both the artwork and the other pieces around it.
And no, you do not need to announce to everyone who visits that it was paint by numbers.
Unless you want to.
In which case, take the compliment.
Make Your Gallery Wall More Personal, Not More Perfect
The best gallery walls aren't necessarily the ones where every frame is perfectly coordinated.
They're the ones that slowly collect pieces of your life: a photograph from a trip, an exhibition poster you carried home in your suitcase, a postcard you couldn't bring yourself to throw away, something found at a flea market and maybe a painting you spent three Sunday afternoons making at your kitchen table.
Not whether every frame is exactly 6.5 centimetres apart but this is what makes a wall interesting.
So start with one piece. Then another. Let the wall evolve. Art feels different when you made some of it yourself.
So Paint it. Frame it. Hang it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a gallery wall go around a corner?
Yes. A corner gallery wall intentionally extends artwork across two adjoining walls, using the corner as part of the overall composition rather than treating it as a stopping point.
How many pictures should be in a corner gallery wall?
There is no fixed number, but five to nine pieces is often enough to create a noticeable gallery wall without overwhelming a smaller corner. Larger spaces can accommodate considerably more.
Should gallery wall frames match?
No. Matching frames create a cleaner, more minimal look, while mixing frame styles creates a more eclectic, collected effect. If you mix frames, repeating one or two colours or materials can help keep the overall composition cohesive.
How far apart should gallery wall pictures be?
Around 5 to 8 cm between frames is a useful starting point. The exact spacing matters less than keeping the overall arrangement visually balanced.
Can paint by numbers be framed as wall art?
Yes. Once completely dry, a finished paint-by-numbers canvas can be framed just like other artwork. Choosing a contemporary frame and mixing the painting with photography, prints and other pieces can make it feel naturally integrated into a gallery wall.