The Quick Fix No One Told You About- Hanging Pictures
You finally found the most perfect piece of artwork.
You weren’t even really looking for it, but you took your kids for ice cream and they wanted to stroll down the street and you passed an art gallery.
There it was in the window.
{cue the harps}
That perfect picture you’ve been dreaming about with all the colors you love.
It speaks to you, makes your heart swoon, and tears form in the corners of your eyes.
But you get it home and 13 nail holes later, you can’t seem to get it hung right.
You place it where you wanted and sorta eyeballed where to put the nail and picture hanging thingamabobber.
But it was too low.
Then it was too high.
Then it wasn’t centered.
Then it wouldn’t stay level.
I get it – I know that struggle. You want it to look as perfect as it did in the gallery space – but now it’s hanging there like a drunken sailor and you’re at your wits’ end.
Never fear, friend – I’ve got you covered.
How to Hang Pictures Just Right
There is a little bit of math involved, but once you get it figured out you’ll always have the artwork placed in the right spot the first try. The basic rule of thumb states you should hang artwork at 58-60” on center from the floor. And here is how you do that.
- Tools You Need: A hammer, a level, a pencil, and a picture hanging kit (I like OOK Picture Hanging Brand) http://www.ooks.com/index.html
- Find the Center of the Wall: Measure the length of the area you want to hang the picture and find the center point. Mark it with your pencil (make the mark big enough so you can find it later)
- Find the Center of the Artwork: Measure the size of your artwork vertically, divide this figure by 2 (write that down)
- Find the Insertion Point of the Hanger: Pulling the wire tight on the back of the picture, measure the distance from the wire to the top of your picture (write that down). Add the figure from step 3 to 60 (this is the top of your artwork), subtract the figure from step 4
- Locating the Vertical and Horizontal Cross: Measure from the floor the distance you calculated in step 5 and make a big mark with your pencil (make it close to the centerline mark you drew on the wall from step 2)
- Leveling the Picture: Place the center of your level at the cross section in step 5. Level the center bubble. Make two marks on the wall 3-4 inches from the centerpoint on the level with your pencil.
- Nail in The Hangers: Nail two hangers at these points and hang your artwork. Put the level on top of the artwork and gently slide it back and forth until the bubble is aligned.
The reason you put two hangers is because by doing so, your picture will always stay level.
This may seem a little daunting, but it is well worth the effort. And once you get the hang of it you’ll be happy you took the time.
Here is an Example of What to Do
Wall area is 10 feet.
Artwork size is 40” x 40”
The distance between the wire and top of picture is 6”
With this information, you will make a mark at 5 feet from one side of the wall. Put it at about eye level. Then you will add 60”(eye level) plus 20” (half the height of the artwork) minus 6” (distance of wire) equally 74”. This is the height of your hanger. Where the cross section of 60” (5 feet to center) and 74” meet is where you will place the center of the level. One side of the level should be a measuring stick and the center will have a long hash mark. When the bubble aligns, make two marks equal distance from the center. Hammer in the hangers and hang your picture.
Voila – your picture’s perfect and you are all done –
Enjoy!
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