Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Picture this: Hanging photos without a hassle

I'm often asked about the best way to hang multiple photos, along the lines of what I've done in the wall heading up the stairs of my house.

So I thought I'd pass along a few tips:

  • Decide on a general overall shape you want to wind up with: rectangle, square, asymmetrical... For my wall, I decided to follow the line of the stairs.
  • This works really well, especially if you've got a lot of pictures: Trace the frames onto paper and hang the paper shapes on your wall with tape. That way you can switch things around without making holes in your wall. When you're sure you're happy, hang the photos.

  • Mat at least some of the photos to give your eye a rest around the photos. Same when you hang the photos... leave spaces around them so you can really appreciate each of the photos.


  • If you've got a lot of smaller photo or snapshots, think about combining them in a single piece. If you don't know how to mat your own photos, a professional can do it.
  • You can cut down on the cost of hiring a professional by finding your own frames. I scouted for antique or second-hand frames for months for my staircase before I took some of them to be professionally matted.


    Photos can be copied so easily now and the results are good enough that it's hard to tell when you're not dealing with an original.

  • If relatives have photos you love, especially older photos, borrow them and copy them for yourself.

A lot of the photos on my wall are copies, like the one above, of my Aunt Carol, Uncle Mike and their kids.

Great family, but Cindy's a little dippy, Jan's insecure, and Marcia, well, it's all about her...

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11 comments:

Nik said...

I did this with one of our walls (making paper copies of the frames and hangers) and my husband thought I was a LOOOOON! It worked and I didn't have to hang and rehang and rehang. I'm glad to see someone else has done it!

I posted a question (guess I didn't actually POST it) but it was in reference to cabinets and the ones you painted. We have pickled wood and I was wondering if it would be better to restain or if painting would be recommended. Paiting of course would be easier...actually leaving it alone would be easier - but I know the pickled wood isn't optimum.

Nik said...

P.S. Glad to see you back!

Buzzings of a Queen Bee! said...

Yeah! I love this! Black and white photos are so much fun!
-Carrie

Darlene said...

I think I am going to end up putting black/white photos in black frames down a long hallway to the bedrooms in my home. Great tips on how I can get it to look right before nailing a bunch of holes in the wall....Thanks a bunch!

Nik said...

Thanks for your response! I had forgotten I had gone back and rewritten the question over there. Yeah - evidence I have dork tendencies. Too funny.

I love your 'family' including Marsha ;>

Anonymous said...

I like the advice for hanging photos, I come from a couple of schools of thought, I try to reject the baroque style of photo management and lean towards less is more. Then I close my eyes as my wife hangs up whatever she wants anyway.

Leslie said...

hilarious- Love your relatives...
now I'm just trying to figure out if they're really hanging on your wall- or if you just ahve crazy good photo-shop skills...

Chris said...

Those look really nice. Good advice--especially about matting some of them. I think some people don't want to spend the extra money on it, but it's worth it.

Julie said...

Great post I love lots of photos on the stairs in a long hallway my sil has them up her stairs and thats how we did hers so easy!
Great family photo at the end:) its always marsha marsha marsha!!!!

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

I have photos all the way up my stairs as well but the frames are all different colors, and looks tacky...can't wait to get them more uniform. Thanks for the great tips.

Tiffany said...

Love this idea! I have one of these photo walls in my great room and have had numerous compliments on it over the years.