Even if you aren’t the handiest of people, you think you can at least hang a picture. Stick a nail in the wall and you are done. However, if you want to do the job right, you have to think about a few things first. The item being hung and the type of wall should be taken into consideration. If you want to do the job right this time, use these hints.
Make sure you get the right kind of fasteners. The most common are picture nails or hooks, but they may not be ideal for every situation. If the wall you are hanging the picture on is mad of concrete, brick or stucco, a regular picture nail will not work. You will have to use a concrete screw to anchor the picture and to make sure you will not chip away a chunk of the wall. If you are hanging a large, heavy picture, you will have to use a plastic anchor or molly screw to add strength and prevent the picture from pulling the nail out of the wall.
Now decide upon the placement of the picture. The height of the picture should traditionally be so the center is at eye level. Have someone hold a tape measure against the wall and mark or note where the number that is at eye level. You will center your picture on that. It is then easy to determine the total height of the picture, since you should then measure from the bottom of the picture to the highest point of the mounting wire and subtract half of the picture’s height and add the difference of the eye level height. Mark that spot for the placement of the hook. NOW measure the entire space for the picture and find the halfway mark. .
Now that you have your mark, hold the fastener in place and nail or screw it in the wall. Then hang the picture, taking care not to scratch the wall. Stand back and make sure you like the effect. If it feel too high or low, adjust the wire rather than making a new hole in the wall.
Of course, if it is in a grouping, you will have to lay out all of the pictures on a floor or table in the grouping you want and then do your measurements as above to correspond to each picture. You will want to use a level to make sure each of the pictures is level.
It may seem like a lot of steps to hang a picture, but you will see that it was worth the time when the picture looks centered and level and therefore adds to instead of detracting from the room.
