Two Rules of Thumb for Hanging Things on Your Walls

Getting art up on the walls in a new place - or even a freshly painted room - can feel like a daunting task but there is an easy way to get it right the first time. I recently took the plunge in our new home and wanted to share two techniques I always use when hanging anything.

Martha, Marth, Martha

I'm pretty sure the first place I saw this trick was in Martha Stewart Living or possibly on her website. In order to make light of what could be a tedious job filled with accidental holes in the wall, Martha suggests placing butcher paper (or similarly large paper) on the floor and then deciding on an arrangement. Once you're happy with how things look you trace around the edges of each frame with a pencil (in case you change your mind).

I bought a large sketch pad from Staples years ago and use it for projects like this. I just overlapped and taped together four sheets of paper to make it tall enough and wide enough for my art grouping.

Once you've traced around each frame, go back and measure down from the top of each frame edge to where your alligator hook, wire, etc. is so that you know how far down from the edge to mark your screw hole. If the hook on my frame is 1" below the top edge of the frame I center a mark 1" down from the top of my pencil silhouette. Repeat with each frame.

I suggest taking a photo of your final arrangement before you remove your frames from the paper in case you forget where things were supposed to go. 

Once your frames are removed, you'll need to tape your paper to the wall. In order to get this part right I suggest the next trick.

The 57" Rule

I first learned the 57" rule on Apartment Therapy three years ago and it's helped take the guess work out of how high to hang anything in any space. 57" is the average person's eye level so galleries tend to hang art work at this height. It's usually spot on unless there's an odd construction reason you can't hang something at that height such as a large piece that would overlap a radiator, etc.

The main thing is to be consistent in how you hang everything in a room so that it keeps your eye flowing. It will help create cohesiveness and balance rather than making things feels scattered. 

Whether you're hanging a single piece or a group of framed art the technique is the same. 

First, measure the height of your piece (or group). Let's say a single framed piece is 18" tall.

Second, divide that number in half. In this instance I would get 9". 

Third, add that number to 57". This adds half the amount of frame height to the average eye level so that your piece will be centered at eye level. 57 + 9 = 66. 

Fourth, flip your piece over to see where the hook, wire, etc. is and measure how far down it is from the top of the frame. Make sure to pull your wire up as high as it will go to simulate how it will hang before measuring. Let's say the distance from the top of my frame to the hook is 2". 

Five, subtract that amount (2" in my case) from the number in the third step (66"). 66 - 2 =64. 

Six, measure that high from the floor on your wall and mark. This is where you will want to drill your hole or attach your 3m hook, etc (64" high in my case). Once hung, your piece will be centered at eye level.

When you're working with a group of art, the concept is basically the same. Instead of measuring a single framed piece you'll measure from the top edge of the highest piece to the bottom edge of the lowest piece. In my case it was about 39" from top to bottom. I divided that number in half to get 19.5" and then added it to 57" to get 76.5". This is where it's different.

When I was marking my silhouettes for each frame I made sure to line up the top of my top frame with the top edge of my paper as seen above. I made sure the top of my paper was taped 76.5" from the ground in order to have my grouping centered. Before I hung my paper on the wall, however, I measured down from the top edge of each frame to the hook or wire as shared before and marked on my paper where the screws would go. 

I taped my paper up at the correct height and made sure it was straight by measuring down from the ceiling to the top of my paper at each end and in the middle. If your house is old and your ceiling is slanted do your best. Yes, that was us two houses ago. Seeing the silhouettes of your grouping on the wall gives you a great visual in case you decide you want to adjust the arrangement or move it over a few inches. 

Once you're happy with where it will be, carefully drill pilot holes (or hammer in your nails if you have sheetrock walls) through your screw hole marks. Insert your screws. Depending on the weight of your pieces and the kind of walls you have you may need to insert some kind of anchor. After inserting all of your screws you can tear down your paper and start hanging your art.

I'm waiting on two more pieces to come in the mail to finish off the rest of my 'floral arrangement' on Ruby's side of the room. She loves her flowers.

Decisions, Decisions

The trickiest part may be deciding what to hang. My first personal rule is to only hang things that I love. There is a lot of great art work out there and I may be drawn to a good 20% of things I see on Pinterest or Etsy but I only want to hang the 5% that I love. That ensures I'll probably like it next year and the year after that, etc. I also think our environments have a strong effect on how we feel and what we think about so I want to make sure they make me feel a certain way. 

For this grouping I knew I wanted pieces that were whimsical, of a certain style, and simple in their color story. Lots of white with pink and yellow accents and black lines to reflect the colors in my rug that's in the same room. I only noticed once I'd purchased them that many of them feature girls. I think I gravitate to people more than animals or abstract shapes in art work and tend to enjoy this color combination of pink and yellow so it came together easily because I know what I like.

I purchased frames from IKEA and used a few I had on hand to frame all of the prints and left large amounts of white and off-white to give them all space to breathe in such a tight grouping. The color story, theme, and use of almost all black frames creates a cohesive group that is pleasing to the eye. 

As far as the layout goes, I like to stagger frames and create balance in my composition by using three different sizes that repeat at least once. I have two large frames, five medium frames, and four smaller ones. I found a great resource for finding compositions that work for you here via Lovely Chaos recently. 

Art featured above: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven.

I've collected most of these prints over the last four months but I've had a couple for years. One was gifted, one was a DIY, one was supporting a good cause. There are great sites where you can purchase affordable art such as 20 x 200 and sites where you can print art off for free because the artists have offered it as such. Here's a chance to support a great cause and choose an art piece upon donation. 

Each of the vintage floral crewel pieces in Ruby's room were thrifted locally in Missouri but I've got two on the way from Etsy. Here are some similar items: one, two, three, four, five, six. Some are cheap while others are exceptional and thus priced higher. Be sure to check that you are buying a finished piece instead of a kit unless you'd like to make it yourself. 

If you've made it to the end of this long post I commend you! I hope either of these two techniques give you the confidence to commit to some holes in the wall knowing you'll be happy with the end result. Also, feel free to share your own tricks for hanging things on the wall in the comments below.

-Rachel

 

Comments

[Kate @ Songs Kate Sang]

This is great advice! thank you.

[Brooke {Slow Your Home}]

This is awesome and I assure you I'll be referring back to it many, many times.

PS. Youre hitting some kind of purple patch with the blog. It's always been great, but the flow and your writing voice has been exceptional lately. Nice work!!

[Zoe]

This is a great post, I have a collection of picture to hang and just keep putting the task off! some great tip here. Thanks for sharing.

Zoe
http://gypsiesister.blogspot.co.uk

[roberta]

great post!!!! :) I LOVE YOUR BLOG :)
I'm a new follower...and you???
http://traveloguewithlove.blogspot.com/

[Gwyneth]

Such a handy and informative post! Thank you!xo

[Laura]

Such a useful and timely post for me as we have just moved and are about to sart putting up the art I have been collecting for years!
Always refer to you posts as they are so inspiring.

[Sarah]

Thanks so much for this post! I'm kind of a willy-nilly hanger of things, and it would probably help to take a more systematic approach. I'm a new follower and have been loving catching up with your blog.

[Dee]

Thanks so much for the great tips. I have a stack of prints and thrift finds I want to hang but I've been putting the job off because I didnt know where/how to start. Much appreciated.

[Hannah]

Great tips! We are planning a French Hang in our hall soon, I am definitely going to utilise these tips! :)

[sarah jane]

this is so great, rachel! wonderful tips! this is like part 2 to the diy collages you mentioned. i think i might have to share! ;)

[sarah jane]

OH! And i LOVE both collages you share here. they're so different but both amazing. you have great taste!

[jodi]

That is so genius!! I can't tell you how many mistake holes are in my walls because of poor planning. haha! Oh well, I'll definitely use your method next time.

[Christine Saladino]

Love this post, so much detail and thoughtfulness put into this! Thanks for sharing.

[Megan Anderson]

Great tips! Do you have any advise for finding affordable frames? I have a collection of stuff waiting to be hung until I can afford to frame them :)

[ruthie]

Great timing for such great tips!!! I am FORCING myself to tackle hanging our art/pictures this week. Any tips for mirrors? :)

[Skye]

Rachel, you have no idea how helpful this was! Thank you! I hung an arrangement a few months ago and am not quite happy with it- maybe I'll take the pieces down and try this. Thanks for the awesome links to artwork, too!

[Crystalyn]

Thanks for the inspiration! We bought a house about 6 months ago and I have been meaning to hang up some artwork on the walls, but I'm a slacker. I'm going to start collecting picture frames for my dining room now though. That tracing tip is fantastic. That will definitely make getting the holes in the right place easier!

[Kaitlyn]

Very helpful! All of your chosen prints are absolutely gorgeous. I recently moved into my first apartment and embarrassingly seem to be struggling with the more basic steps, haha, like when to use screw plugs and whether I want to use plugs because I'm renting... but perhaps one day I'll be confident enough to hang a beautiful grouping like this one.

[Ada (new york)]

GREAT guide! 57 rule ... makes it looks sooo professional! Thanks for giving the visual WITH the guide. All the frame collages look AMAZING!!

[Jill]

So helpful, Rachel, thanks much! I have an irrational fear of pounding holes into my walls. . .which has made the corners of my condo full of art that needs to be up on the walls. Once I get started I'm good to go, but it's that first nail that's always the hardest. Thank goodness for the Command hanging velcros. I use them in some spots with lightweight, non-breakable items only.

I have that same "Oh darling. . ." print. LOVE IT! (and it still needs to be hung).

Your style is so inspiring. I think about your Style Your Space class all the time when I'm thrifting now. Thanks!

[Sarah]

There are so many great things in this post! The pictures, the layout tips, everything! Thanks for sharing =)

- Sarah
agirlintransit.blogspot.com

[Kit]

This is so helpful! I'm moving flats in around a month and have been collecting loads of art for the walls. Can't wait to use these tricks when I get there!

[Jen from insideways]

Can I also suggest the Hang and Level? Not to sound like some kind of sponsor or something, but it's a pretty handy and fantastic tool for hanging lots of pictures together. It cuts out the step where you have to measure where the hanging hardware is on your picture frame. I hang lots of pictures in my apartment and this has made everything easier :)

You can read more here: http://www.utrdecorating.com/about_hang_and_level.php

[kate]

Great advice! I wish I had read this months ago when we moved into out new pad (and had the daunting task of rehanging all our pictures!)

[Kimberly]

brilliant post. Thanks for mentioning the average person eye level rule. MORE people need to know this. Nothing makes me want to wet my pants as much as going into someone's house and seeing all the paintings WAY UP HIGH (for some reason it's always way up high and never way down low).

ps. love your blog. I don't comment much, but I am always cyberspying.

-I think "wet my pants" is perhaps not the saying I was going for. But I have to pee and I can't think of what
is. Makes me want to pull my hair out? scream? do an angry dance? really anything is better than "wet my pants".

[OfAnselm]

Oh, awesome! I've used individual sheets of paper cut to the size of the frames to mark where I want a photo to go... which is really time-consuming. I don't know why this method never occurred to me, it makes so much more sense! By the way: that wall of prints has got to be my favorite wall art display ever. I want it.

[simplemittens]

Wowzas! So helpful! Thanks times a million!

[Faith @ Ordinary Mommy Design]

Such fantastic tips! Your collections look awesome!

[Anna B.]

Great tips Rachel! We are house hunting & I will definitely refer back to this post when I'm ready to hang some pieces. I love that you chose black frames to make it cohesive - very cool & clean.

[Anne]

This post is so helpful, Rachel! Thanks for,posting it. I love you prints!