I was asked about good tips for hanging pictures.

I wish I was the perfect one to ask.

This is one of those times that I knew would happen when you would see that I’m not really perfect and that I truly just wing it in a lucky way 90% of the time!

Here goes anyway.

I love photos.

Always have, always will.

If you’ve been reading my blog, then you know I’m addicted to photos that Sandy Heit has taken of our Littles, and also that I’m in love with the camera Sandy recommended for our family.  But pre knowing Sandy and pre having this fancier-than-me-camera, I was a point and shoot-a-holic.

About 8 years ago (Side note – I just did the math with my husband on that and CAN’T BELIEVE I’ve had these frames that long!!!!)

Any-hooo.

8 years ago I think I was looking at a design magazine and saw a photo wall that totally inspired me.  It happened to also be Arron Brothers 1 cent sale (where you buy a frame and get another of equal or lesser value for 1 cent) – WHOOHOO, just checked the site and the sale is going on right now! Great time to be writing this post!

After purchasing the frames, I went home to be VERY SCIENTIFIC.  HAAAAA – sorry to disappoint, but my entire life is visual, math is not my strong suit (See, I can admit it Honey!).  Instead I spread all of the frames on the floor in front of the wall I wanted to hang them, until I had a pattern I liked.  I drew it on a piece of paper to remember it all, and then I did what any smart 28 year old girl not dating someone would do….called Dad.  I handed him the paper,  showed him the layout on the floor, and he got busy with a stud finder, tape measure, hooks and level.  (Pretty smart of me, huh?!?!)

That was the first picture wall.  I wish I had a photo to show you.  It spanned the length of my sofa and had 2 sconces mounted within it.  It covered the entire wall.  One very large rectangle of photos.  It was like a giant bulletin board!  People would come over and check out the wall to see if they had “made it”! When I met my future mother-in-law, she was SURE that I changed the photos with each guest that was coming over…..truly I’m not that good!  Though the possibilities are endless…

You could hang a series of frames for a childrens art wall.

Hang photos of relatives that live further away for kids to learn their names.

I’ve even been known to take Christmas card photos of friends,
scan and enlarge so I can add to frames…

From there it moved to my husband’s and my second house, down the hall to the guest/Addie’s room.  This time I was on my own.  I hung the frames in 2 rows.  Keeping the tops of each row perfectly even, and the bottoms of each row was staggered. (Truly if you start with the right group of frames, there are endless ways to hang them…)

This is where I should give the tip on the best way to hang everything…

IF. And that is a big “IF” you live in a house with perfectly plum walls you can use these tricks with ease. I have lived in small beach homes that are a little “off”, and now in a home built in the 50s, so I can’t rely on those ceilings and walls 100% of the time!  So these are tricks that can help you, but they don’t always work in every situation.  You may have to use them with a little street smarts.  I rely heavily on my brilliant mom’s interior design trick – eye ball it and trust yourself.

1. Choose similar frames. I think I was in Arron Brothers for 3 hours the first time…took awhile to match everything up.  I chose about 3 styles of black frames, all a little different in size, and then chose 2 styles of white mats in 2 sizes (4×6 and 5×7), nothing custom, everything was a do-it-yourself.  The beauty of the frames is that they have unique characteristics, but they were also all black, clean lined frames with wide white mats so it kept it all consistent. And I can easily change out the photos.

2.  The one thing I always do is layout the frames on the floor, next to where I plan to hang everything, just helps to understand the space you are working with.

3.  If you are trying to hang frames at the same height around a room, the easiest tool you can use is the Strait-Line Interior Line Laser. It mounts with 3M adhesive strips so no damage to your walls and it “draws” a line around the room, down the hall, etc. so you can’t mess up hanging everything on the same “plane”.

4.  Another way to try and get things even is to measure the distance from your floor to the spot you want to hang, or measure from the ceiling to where you want to hang.  Best to start by measuring the overall height of the wall to see if it is the same in each of the location, then when you get a measurement of 80″ off the floor to hang something, you’ll know you’re talking about the same 80″ around the room.

5.   The best hooks to use look like this….

I think there are a few different brands, but I know you can get them at almost any hardware store. I use them to hang all of our frames, very easy, very secure, not too much damage to your walls.

6.   Another tip my mom, the brilliant Interior Designer, likes to use is putting small pieces of Velcro on one back corner of each frame and then on the wall.  This way you can Velcro your frames to the wall and be sure they are always level, but they are still easy to remove and change out the pictures.  Only downfall she has found to this is that the Velcro adhesive sometimes discolors the paint in that spot. I’ve tried a similar tactic using the 3M adhesive strips.  I really like this option as it does not damage the walls at all, however not as easy to switch out pictures, and you need to keep a stash of 3M adhesive in the house.

7. OHHHH one more thing, one little tip that you may have noticed in the current hall photo wall pictures above.  When I’m deciding on what photos to put where, I often tape the photo to the outside glass on the frame and then change out the frames once I decide what I want to switch out where…it’s the designer in me making sure the images are balanced before I go to the effort of changing out the pictures….

But back to my original statement at the start of this post.  I wing it. I’m not scientific, I trust my eye.  If anyone has any fabulous tips to share, PLEASE comment below as I know it’s not always easy to wing it when hanging pictures!  But I do HIGHLY recommend investing in a group of professional looking frames.  Like I said earlier, I’ve had mine for 8 or so years and have used in MANY locations.  I always feel good when I see them.

How could I not??  They hold me dear friends and family!!!

Happy Thursday everyone!