Tips for hanging your wall art

12 Feb Tips for hanging your wall art

We are so close to completely dressing your home.  Art and window treatments are the final components to include.  This week’s post is all about artwork (we will address window treatments next month).

People become the most paralyzed when it comes to artwork. They’ve done all this work to assemble the rest of the room, and now they freeze up with fear about putting a nail in the wall. Don’t let this be you!

When it comes to artwork, select pieces that catch your eye and lead you around the room. Think about what has meaning to you, what makes you feel comfortable and what might strike up conversation with your guests. Those are the pieces you want on your walls. The thought of hanging these pieces for display should excite you. Don’t feel like you have to put the same thing up all over. Not every pair of shoes you have goes with every outfit, and your artwork won’t naturally fit in every room. Mix it up with mirrors, painting, photos and framed prints.

PDR Interiors Room contains a blend of wall art- framed prints, wrapped canvas painting, grouping of mirrors.

Once you’ve picked out your art, you WILL have to hang it, so here’s a cheat sheet to give you confidence in your placement.

Rules of thumb for art hanging-
-Remember your art should belong to the furniture, not the ceiling. Meaning, don’t hang your art so high that it looks like its running away from the furniture below it.

-Use 60” from the ground as your starting place for the middle of the piece. If this seems too high or too low, adjust accordingly.

-Using two nails or screws, instead of one, helps keep a piece of art level when it has wire on the back.

-Gallery wall tips:
–layout your desired gallery wall on the floor first. Measure the overall height and width of the arrangement to make sure it will fit on the wall where you want to place it. If it is too large, make the necessary adjustments.

-Brown craft paper is a helpful tool when planning a gallery wall. Roll the paper out on the floor and place your items on top. Using a marker, outline the pieces on the craft paper.  Once you have the outlines drawn, remove the pieces from the paper and cutout each shape. Then tape the pieces to the wall where you plan to hang them. This will show you if you need to adjust any spacing between items OR if you need to adjust the group’s spacing on the wall.  A handy trick is to mark on the craft paper where the hanging mechanism is.  That way you know where to place the nail(s) once the paper is on the wall.

-Begin with 2” between each piece of the gallery wall. You can then eyeball the layout and determine if the size of the pieces warrants more or less space between them.

-Gallery wall groupings are a great WAY to hide unsightly features like a thermostat in the middle of the wall.

PDR Interiors (photo was taken before pictures were added to frames)

photo courtesy of Christy Hash

If you are struggling with whether or not to hang a piece on a specific wall, lean the art against that wall (even at floor level) and leave it there for a day or two. Walking by it several times will allow you to determine if the size of the art is appropriate for the size of the wall. It will also allow you to see how you feel about incorporating that piece in to the room. If you’re comfortable with it, go ahead and hang it using the rules of thumb we just covered. If not, find another location for the artwork. And, remember, it is not the end of the world to put a nail in the wall and then later decide to move it. There’s a reason spackle was invented!

Happy hanging!
-Liz