If you're hanging a single picture or a grouping of family photographs, the most important principle in learning how to hang a picture is learning how to take proper measurements. If you plan to hang several prints in a grid design, a carpenter's level is essential to spacing the objects evenly on the wall.
Before you even decide to place your first nail hole, take the size of the room and the composition of the pictures into consideration. When creating an arrangement, use the height of a couch or the placement of a side table, for example, as a guide. Decorators often recommend that pictures should be hung on the wall at eye level. But some prints and photographs require special consideration. If you plan to hang a picture at eye level, the center of the print should be positioned on the wall between 57 and 60 inches from the floor.
While wire is commonly used for hanging a picture, installing small D-rings, available at hardware stores, on each side of a picture frame will stabilize your pictures on the wall, preventing them from tilting or becoming unlevel.
Technique
How to Hang a Picture
Materials:
- Felt pads
- Tape measure
- D-rings
- Blue low-tack tape
- Hammer
- Carpenter's level
- Pencil or marker
- Pushpin
- Picture hooks with nails (use correct size based on weight of picture frame)
Use the following method for obtaining the right height for hanging a picture: Measure the height of the frame.
Next, measure the distance from the top of the frame to the picture-hanging hardware attached to the back of the frame. Subtract this number from the measurement of the height of the frame.
Depending on whether you want to place the picture higher or lower on the wall, add the number obtained above to 57, 58, 59 or 60. This final number is the number of inches from the floor where the picture hangers should be inserted into the wall.
Directions:
- Arrange your pictures on the floor or on a table near a wall where you plan to hang the pictures. Rearrange them as necessary until you achieve the desired look. If you plan to hang a group of photos, measure the horizontal and vertical spacing between the frames so that the space in between the frames is the same horizontally and vertically.
- Turn each frame over. Place a felt pad on each corner of the frame. The felt pads will prevent the picture frames from marring the wall.
- Measure approximately 4 1/4 inches down from the top left corner and 1 inch inward from the left side of the frame; attach a D-ring to the frame at the intersection of these two points. Repeat the procedure with the top right corner and right side of the frame. (You may need to adjust the distance of the measurement depending on the size of the frame.) Measure the width of the frame in between the D-rings.
- In order to determine how the pictures will look on the wall, use squares of low-tack tape to simulate the top and bottom edges of the frame and the locations of the picture hangers. (When hanging a group of pictures on a wall, start with the upper left hand frame and work left to right. Repeat the procedure for successive rows.)
- Determine where the top of the frame will hang on the wall. Mark the center point of that spot on the wall at the top using low-tack tape. Use the measurement of the frame's width (obtained in step 3) to mark the spots for the top left and right corners and bottom left and right corners of the frame. Mark these locations with low-tack tape.
- Once you have determined the position for the top of the frame, use low-tack tape to mark the spacing of the picture hangers. (If you discover an error or if you change your mind about the positioning of the pictures on the wall, you can easily remove and reposition the low-tack tape without removing paint from the wall.) If the D-ring located on the back of the frame measures 4 1/4 inches from the top of the frame and 1 inch inward from the left side of the frame, use a carpenter's level to measure 4 1/4 inches down and 1 inch inward from the top piece of tape marking the top parts of the frame. Attach another piece of tape to the wall at this spot and place an "X" on the tape with a pencil or marker. Repeat this process for the opposite side of the frame.
- Measure the distance between the interior of the D-ring and the top hole of the picture hook where the nail will be placed. Using this measurement, locate the intersection point of the "X" created in step 6 and mark the spot where the nail will be placed in the wall with a small pushpin hole.
- Using a hammer, insert the picture hangers into the wall using the appropriate hardware. (Keep in mind that the mark you made with the pushpin is where the nail will be inserted into the wall.)
- Remove the tape from the wall. Hang the pictures on the hangers using the D-rings attached to the back of the frames. If everything has been measured properly, the frames will appear evenly spaced and level.
Michael Vyskocil - Michael Vyskocil has been a feature writer for Recipes on Suite101.com since 2006. He currently serves as the Topic Editor for Recipes.
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