How to Hang Your Wall Decor
Hanging Pictures, Wall Sconces, Mirrors,
Wall Art and More
So you're ready to decorate those walls. Don't want to end up with crooked hangings or useless multiple holes in your wall as you try to get your items hung? Then you have come to the right place. For those of you who don't have a laser level, a little more preparation work is involved.
What you'll need to get started:
The first thing to keep in mind is planning.
Use your notebook to take down measurments. How much wall space do you have? What furniture will be going into the room? For example, if you have a tall entertainment center, you do not want your decor hidden behind it. Remember to include these measurments. You want your decor to be centered in the open space. So if you have the tall entertainment unit, do not include it's measurement and only the open space to it's side. Also in your measurements, you will not only be measuring horizontally, but vertically as well. Keep in mind that your room may not be the same height from floor to ceiling in all sections of the room. This is why a level is important! But, it will give you the ball park placement that you can then fine tune. Say you've got a full empty wall 12 feet long. You will have a sofa and endtables along this wall. You measure the height of the room and find that it is 8'6". The height of the sofa back is 36 inches. This leaves 66 inches in available height space.
Next, look at what you will be hanging on the wall. How many pieces are there? What arrangement are you looking for. Are all pieces the same height? If not, will they be staggered? Even at the top? Small items centered on the side? Draw your layout on paper. Next, measure the width and height of your pictures. Say you have three items to hang on one wall. A larger picture with two narrrow mirrors of the same height. You decide that a staggered look will suit the room best. Since your items will be a staggered height, your tallest side should match room decor. So if your tall entertainment center is to the right, your pictures will move up towards the right.
You've got your measurements down on paper. Each piece is 30 inches tall. Now remember our previous measurement allows us 66 inches in available height. So if our center piece is centered in the space, there will be 15 inches above and below it. Now one piece will be staggered higher and one lower. Keep in mind that you will not want a picture all the way at the ceiling and you will not want it resting on the sofa either. Your wall hangings will not want to be disturbed while the furniture below it is used. This in mind, decide how high above the back of the couch your lowest picture should be. Next match the distance from the ceiling on the highest picture. Knowing that there are 15 inches in available space, you decide that 10 inches above the couch and from the ceiling will be the best. This means that the bottom of the lower mirror will be 5 inches lower than the large center picture and the mirror to the right will be 5 inches taller.
Next, decide how far of a space you want inbetween your items. Your larger picture is 24 inches wide and each mirror are 18 inches wide. This leaves 7 ft (84 inches) of available space. If you place 12 inches between items, there will be 30 inches of open space on either side of the outer mirrors. Play with the spacing to see what fits your room best.
Now that your layout measurments are set, it's time to get ready to hang. Look at how your items will be hanging. Do they need picture hangers? Did they come with a wire hanger? Keep in mind how far the hangers are from the photo top. You will need hangers for the wall if the items hang by wire. You may only need small nails if there are other types of hangers on the back of the picture. Use the hanger measurements to finetune your layout measurments you came up with on paper. Now it is time to hang your items.
Using a laser level makes the next job easy. It does the leveling for you and you merely make your marks on the laser line. A standard level will work also. This will insure that your items are level when they hang. Mark your items on the wall in pencil before you begin the make holes in the wall. Check final measurements to insure that the items are level and items are spaced appropriately as planned. Once all measurements have been double checked, you are ready to install your hangers or nails and hang your decor. Congratulations!
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