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Gallery walls once felt fresh and eclectic and individual, but seeing the same sort of designs repeated ad infinitum across social media has made it all seem a bit rehearsed. A new take on the gallery wall was inevitable, and the most stylish examples we've seen of late have all been designed around the humble plate. Cheaper to build and significantly easier to arrange, plate walls do away with rigid frames and grid-like layouts for more relaxed and unexpected compositions. Below, we’re breaking down how to get this designer-loved feature right.
Choose Plates That Work Together
The joy of building a plate wall is that its contents can come from your own cupboards or come together after spending an hour at an antiques fair, which makes the whole thing considerably cheaper than a wall full of art—just aim for shared colors or motifs between them.
If you're just starting your collection, vintage pieces by Spode, Wedgwood, and Royal Worcester bring a bit of provenance with them. Etsy is an easy hunting ground for sweet, hand-painted designs.
RELATED: The 100+ Best Places to Shop for Vintage and Antiques Online, According to Our Editors
Pick the Right Room
Kitchen: The kitchen is an obvious home for a plate wall, so it’s worth looking for less predictable spots—think the gap beside a window or oven. You could even cluster a few above a sink.
Bathroom: A small group of two or three plates above a bath or around a mirror adds pattern to a room that's often left plain, and the smaller scale of most bathrooms means you don't need a large collection to make an impact.
Bedroom and Living Room: In bedrooms and living rooms, plates work best as a small accent rather than the main event. Cluster a few above a bedside table, taking them up and over one corner of a headboard, or use them to fill any leftover space around or alongside a fireplace. In larger rooms, a looser arrangement is better suited to the scale.
Hang Them with Care
There's no correct way to arrange a set of plates, but all good styling hinges on balance. Anchoring your display with your largest plates at the base and side plates and saucers trailing off toward the top is a dependable formula. Odd numbers tend to arrange more naturally than even ones, unless you're doing a loose grid, which is both smart and easy to get right.
If you're adding them over a threshold (doors, archways, etc.), simply line up a few of modest size—large plates can feel precarious hanging overhead.
RELATED: The Easy Tricks Our Stylists Use to Make Any Room Look Magazine-Ready
Our Best Tips for Creating a Plate Display That Works
- Test the layout on the floor first, then transfer measurements using masking tape as a guide.
- Use a spirit level for the anchor plates in a grid layout, then let the rest follow more loosely.
- Plate hangers with spring-loaded coils or adjustable straps hold pieces securely without marking them. It's safer to buy hangers rated above your plate's actual weight, not just at it.
