6 tips on how to hang a frame

Are you looking at your wall and trying to figure out how to hang a frame and how to make it look perfect on your wall?

Firstly, you don’t need to worry about this as we have our installation team! You can simply select Installation at Checkout and we will handle all of this when we deliver.

However, if you do wish to hang your own frames, we have some handy tips for you on how to hang a frame.

Advanced planning for hanging your frames is well worth the effort; saving you putting unnecessary marks on the wall, or even unnecessary holes!

Here are some tools that will be handy for the hanging process:

• • Tape measure
  • Pencil
  • Spirit level
  • Hammer
  • Painter’s tape or masking tape

Using painter’s tape / masking tape

If you don’t have a measuring tape or don’t trust your eye when it comes to such things, you can always use masking/painter’s tape to measure your wall art.

Because of its versatility, masking tape is our favorite tool to keep in our installation toolbox. From measuring to blocking, it can be used in a variety of ways to turn you into a picture hanging guru.

The most common types of hanging hardware that inkopia use are the sawtooth and wire systems.

For smaller frames – anything under around 40cm2 – a sawtooth bracket on the top rail of the frame provides enough support while making for easy hanging and leveling. A single nail in the wall is all you need.

For frames that are a bit larger, a hanging wire attached to the two side rails is the way to go. The wire can safely bear more weight and is easily attached to the back of your frame with d-rings.

Wire also allows for the use of multiple hanging hooks for even more support when hanging oversized frames. Two hooks 20 to 25cm apart from one another will bear the weight of a heavy frame and pull it in close to the wall.

One common mistake when hanging framed photos has to do with placement, hanging your frame too high or too low.

The trick is to keep your frames around eye-level. Any higher and you and your family/friends will get a cricked neck. Any lower and you’ll miss them completely.

Make sure you read our inktel on Tips for Frame Placement

To measure the right height like a pro, know this: eye level is approximately 145cm to 150cm from the floor. Art galleries place paintings at 145cm from floor level.

Use a strip of masking tape to mark the height with a pencil. Bear in mind this is the centre of your frame and not necessarily where your nail will go, depending on which hook hardware you have – you may need to use some maths to work out the distance from the top of your frame to the hook, in consideration of the centre of your frame. (If, for example, you expect wherever you hammer in your nail to be where the top of the frame will be, you could end up being off by a number of centimetres.)

Before you hammer any nails in place, you can plan your placement with painter’s tape or masking tape to provide an idea of how everything will look when finished.

You can do this in one of two ways:

1. Ask someone to hold the picture up to where you’ve decided it will be — that is, place the center over the mark you made when deciding on placement. Then put painter’s tape along the top edge, making sure to go the entire length of the frame and a little bit beyond. Once placed, put pencil marks on the tape to note the edges of the frame.
2. Trace around your frame on pieces of paper (brown paper or wrapping paper is usually a good size) and cut these to exact size. Then you can place these on the wall, sticking them with small pieces of masking tape at the corners.

If you have a sawtooth hook and are using one nail, then measure the distance from the top of the frame down to the central gap of the sawtooth. Wherever your nail will hook onto your frame, that’s the distance you want to make sure you’ve got.

If the print has a wire, pull it taut and measure the distance from the top of the frame to the top of the centre of the wire.

Mark this distance on the masking tape with pencil and also measure the width of the frame and split the difference. If using two nails, divide the length into thirds and mark these on the tape – this is where you will drill.

If you’re using a wire or more than one hook, use a spirit level to ensure the marks are at the same height. If the room slopes or you have shadows that highlight a part, feel free to cheat a bit to make it look straight.

Once you have drilled your hole and the frame is now secure on the wall, use a spirit level one more time, tweaking as necessary, to ensure everything is just right.

Whatever hardware you use or how well-measured it is, you’ll probably be dissatisfied if your picture frame is crooked.

Using a level is the easiest way to see if your frame is straight, and if you have a smartphone there are often apps to use.

Now you know how to hang a frame you should be able to have a perfectly straight, eye level frame on your wall.

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