How to mix and match prints

The best gallery walls rarely use prints from one series. They mix subjects, styles and sizes, and still look like a set. The secret is choosing what stays the same and what is allowed to change.

1. Keep one colour constant

The Line and Colour Salon, shown at the top of this page, mixes twelve different prints: faces, florals, shapes and type. Every one of them sits in the same pinks and reds, so a busy salon wall still reads as one piece.

The Line and Colour Salon: twelve subjects, one colour family.

2. Mix subjects, match the mood

The Snail and Fruit Trio puts three quite different subjects side by side above a sofa. They work because all three are playful, flat and bright. Choose prints that share a feeling, even if the subjects have nothing in common.

The Snail and Fruit Trio: different subjects, one playful mood.

3. Mix graphic and painterly

The Doorway and Koi Trio pairs two crisp graphic prints with one painted still life. The contrast between hard and soft edges makes the wall more interesting than three matching prints would be.

The Doorway and Koi Trio: two graphic prints and one painted piece.

How to test a mix

Lay the prints on the floor before you hang anything and look at them from across the room. If one jumps out, swap it. Or try the combination on a photo of your own wall first.

Next, read gallery wall layout ideas or how to hang a gallery wall.