Thursday, April 16, 2009

How to Hang Pictures and Art



An arrangement of favorite, framed photographs, and art can add warmth to any room. When done correctly, wall art can change the focal point of the entire look of any room. Pictures should hang in general, at eye level for comfortable viewing. Determine what eye level means to you. The general rule is between 5 to 6 feet off the ground. However, there is an important concept on hanging pictures when decorating kids bedrooms. Since kids tend to be much shorter than adults, decide if you want to hang the wall art closer to the floor.

the single domestic posted steps on how to create a frame collage using a "layout" onto wrapping paper or a large piece of paper. This is a clever and simple way using large paper as a guide - easy way to hang lots of photos without the nails. Check her site for a tutorial.

A classic white or off-white is most often the best choice when it comes to matting art work. Kirsten from Crafting Chicks created this beautiful photo wall gallery of her family photos. All the photos have been matted in off-white.

I love how she incorporated her entire family into this photo wall.

Thank you for the tip on Costco 12" x 36" photos for only $4.99 (yes, you read that correctly). Costco offers a banner type print on photo paper. Kirsten photo shopped her images and brought the disk to Costco to print. She cut apart the images and placed them in Ikea picture frames - good way to save money. In Kirsten's words: "this frame has an 11 1/2" x 11 1/2" opening. I also wanted to have a layered look so I took a 12 x 12, tan/speckled scrapbook paper and put that in the matte, then printed the picture about an inch smaller, so 10.5" x 10.5". Total cost $107. Check out Kirsten (and friends) blog for more photos and details on how she added borders, fonts and created the vintage-look photos. What a sweet family.

How about adding an art shelf? Artwork can be hung on the wall or leaned against a wall, creating a more casual look. To create a stylish vignette, mix your art with other decorative objects such as vases, plush animals, books, etc.and place on an art shelf. Image via blissfullydomestic.com.

Stellers Gallery has a resource page for hanging art. Here are some helpful tips:



Step 1 - Measure the distance between the wire at full tension (B) and the top of the frame (A).



Step 2 - Measure the height of your frame (C) and divide the result in half.



Step 3 - From the floor, measure up the wall to 58" (average eye-level) and make a pencil mark.



Step 4 - From the mark, measure upward the distance recorded in step 2 and make a second light pencil mark (E).



Step 5 - From this mark, measure downward the distance recorded in step 1 (D).



Step 6 - Place nail and hanger here. Make sure that the bottom of your hanger is resting on the line when you hammer your nail in, rather than the nail point. This is where your wire will rest (on the crook of the hanger).







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