How To Hang Artwork on a Wall

Before a new house can really feel like home you’ve got to put some of your personality in there, and that usually means hanging some art. If you’ve never done it before though—or if you’ve done it with less than ideal results—you might be wary about getting out the hammer and nails. Fortunately, with some instruction and a bit of practice, it’s actually quite easy to hang a painting or other piece of art. Here’s how to do it.

What You Need to Hang Artwork

The supplies that you’ll need to hang a painting depend on a few key factors. The bigger and/or heavier the painting, the more support you’ll want. Also important is the wall itself. If you’re hanging on brick, for example, you’ll need different mounting supplies than if you’re hanging on drywall. To start though, here are the basics.

As for the mounts themselves:

Medium-weight paintings (10-25 lbs): Picture hanging hook, nail

Heavy paintings (25-50 lbs): Stud finder, wall plug anchors, screws, drill, screwdriver, and a picture hanging hook

For heavy paintings, you may also choose to re-distribute the weight by attaching a wire to two d-rings on either side of the back of the frame and hanging it with two hooks instead of one.

How to Hang a Light Painting

Step one: Figure out where you want your painting to go and use a pencil to mark the spot. (Your measuring tape is helpful here for even placement; scroll down for tips on how to select the best spot to hang a painting).

Step two: Hammer your nail into the wall, leaving about ½” sticking out. Drive it in at a 45 degree downward angle instead of having it stick straight out.

Step three: Hang the painting on the nail and use your level to ensure it’s hanging properly.

How to Hang a Medium-Weight Painting

Step one: Figure out where you want your painting to go and mark it with a pencil.

Step two: Use your nail to secure your picture hanging hook to the wall in the correct spot.

Step three: Hang the painting and use your level to ensure proper placement.

How to Hang Heavy Artwork

Step one: Take your stud finder and run it along the wall to find a wall stud, which will provide the support you need for a heavy painting. Wall studs are pieces of wood behind your drywall, and their presence means that you’re securing your screws into something more solid than drywall alone. If you don’t have a wall stud in the place you really want to hang your heavy painting, be sure to re-distribute the weight with a wire so that all of the bulk isn’t centered in one place.

Step two: Once you know where your painting is going to go, use your drill to drill a small hole in the wall, making sure that it’s slightly smaller than the wall plug anchor.

Step three: Use your hammer to tap your wall plug anchor into place. Go slow, since you don’t want the anchor to shred the drywall around it.

Step four: Secure the screw into the wall plug anchor using a screwdriver. Do make sure it’s soundly in there, but be careful not to over-tighten, since this too can damage the wall around it.

Step five: Remove the screw and reattach with the picture hanger in place. Why the extra step? Wall plug anchors work by expanding into the space they’re secured, and they need to be properly settled into place before use. If you hang your picture hook before the anchor is settled, it may not be able to efficiently carry the load.

Step six: Hang the painting and use your level to ensure it’s hanging correctly.

How To Hang Artwork Without Nails or Screws

If you’re renting, then you might be understandably wary about putting any holes into the wall (that security deposit does hang in the balance, after all). While they don’t offer quite as much support, adhesive strips or command hooks can get the job done without any damage to your walls, and they are safe to use for paintings of up to about 15 pounds. If your painting is heavier, look for another way to display it, such as leaning it up against the wall on your mantle or on a bookshelf.

Smart Tips For Hanging Art

There’s more thought that goes into how you hang a painting than just what types of nails or anchors you use. Here are some tips to help ensure that you’re happy with how your hanging efforts come out.

Hanging on a surface other than drywall? Do your research.

Just because your wall is plaster, brick, tile, or glass doesn’t mean that you can’t hang a painting there—you’ll just need to take a different approach. Be sure to do your research so that you can get the right supplies and protect the integrity of the wall.

Place Your Painting Correctly

There’s an art to hanging paintings. Hang them too low or too high and you’ll throw off the balance of the room, so use your measuring tape to ensure they’re situated just right. In general, you want the middle of the painting to be 57” to 60″ off the floor. If you’re hanging a painting over a piece of furniture like a couch or a dresser, make sure there’s at least 6” of space (and no more than 12”) between it and the bottom of the painting.

Tape It Off

Use painter’s tape to visualize where your painting will go prior to putting any holes in the wall. This is an especially useful trick if you’re going to be hanging multiple paintings near each other, such as in a gallery wall. Arrange the tape to be the exact shape of the artwork, and place it where you want it to go, then step back to see what the effect will be. If you don’t want to keep moving tape around, you can also cut out pieces of kraft paper that match the size of your painting or paintings and arrange those on the wall instead.

Don’t Forget About Negative Space

When you’re trying to fill up a wall, it might seem counter-intuitive to focus on negative space. But this space—which refers to the blank wall around a painting—is actually as important as the painting itself. Too little negative space and the area will seem busy; too much and it will appear too bare. As you plan out placement, pay equal attention to this negative space as you do picture placement itself, and aim to create a clear and balanced pathway for the eye to travel from piece to piece.

Mix and Match

Whether in size or in style (or both!), don’t be afraid to mix and match the paintings and other pieces of artwork that you group together or hang in the same room. Choosing artwork for your home is about what speaks to you as much as it’s about what achieves your design vision. Playing around with variances in the art that you hang makes the space even more personal and can achieve a whole that’s even greater than the sum of its parts.

Whether it’s a painting, a print, a picture, or a drawing, take your time when hanging it so that you end up with a look that suits your home and your style—and that doesn’t do any serious damage to your walls. It takes a little bit of practice to get comfortable hanging artwork, but the more that you do it, the more confident you’ll get in your skills. Dare we say you might even get the “hang” of it?