DIY wall art

Not at all. Most striking DIY wall art uses no drawing skill, since it is about presentation. A pressed leaf, a fabric offcut stretched over a frame, a printed photo, or a simple abstract in two colours all work. The most expensive thing on a gallery wall is usually the framing, not the art, so good presentation beats artistic skill every time.

Frame a cheap print well. A €5 print in a good frame outshines a €100 print in a flimsy one. Charity shops are full of solid frames for a couple of euros that just need a coat of paint and a fresh mount. A wide off-white mount around even a small image makes it look considered and expensive.

Lay it all out on the floor first, then trace each frame onto paper and tape the templates to the wall before hammering a single nail. Keep a consistent gap between frames, usually 5 to 8cm, and align either the tops, the centres, or a central axis. The eye reads even spacing as intentional. Mismatched gaps look like accidents.

Almost anything flat and meaningful. Pressed flowers, old maps, fabric swatches, children's drawings, pages from a damaged vintage book, your own phone photos printed large. Texture works on walls too, like a woven piece or a painted wooden offcut. The trick is to commit to it with proper framing or mounting so it reads as a deliberate choice.

Centre the piece at eye level, around 145 to 150cm from the floor to the middle of the artwork. The most common mistake is hanging too high, which leaves art floating disconnected from the furniture below. Above a sofa or sideboard, the bottom of the frame should sit roughly 15 to 25cm above the furniture so they relate to each other.

Not if you use the right fixing. For lighter pieces, adhesive strips like Command hooks hold well and peel off cleanly without marking paint. For heavier framed art, a proper picture hook leaves only a small pinhole that fills with a dab of filler. Avoid big screws and rawl plugs unless the piece is genuinely heavy, since they leave a real repair job behind.