Picture Frame Hanging Tips

Have you gotten the hang of it? Hanging frames that is. After you have carefully selected photos or artwork and ordered your set of modern or vintage picture frames from Victorian Frame Company, the next step is to know how to hang the picture frames on your wall.

Here are some quick and easy tips you can take note of:

• Always hang at eye level. This means that if the artwork is meant to be viewed from a standing position, then the center of the picture frame should be around 60” to 66” away from the floor. For artwork that is meant to be viewed from a sitting position, the frame’s center should be lower. Experiment to see which height the picture frame should be so that people can view them comfortably while sitting down.
• Use your furniture’s position as a point of reference. First, decide on where you want to position your furniture – the picture frames should be hung on the wall as part of the ensemble. This goes for living room sofas, console tables, shelves and so on. As a rule of thumb, picture frames hung above a piece of furniture should have their bottom edges be around 8” to 10” above the furniture. Any higher and the frames will look as if they are disconnected and drifting upwards.
• Aim for proportion. Picture frame gallery displays should be centered and should occupy at least two-thirds the length of the furniture sitting below. This provides a sense of balance for the overall look of the furniture and frames. A row of frames that is beyond this length will only overpower the sofa. On the other hand, a single frame that is not able to fill that requisite two-third length can only make the wall look sparse. If you need to fill up space, use two or more picture frames.
• Take note of spacing in between frames. When hanging a gallery display, the frames’ edges should be at least 2” to prevent the wall from looking overcrowded. The edges should also be no more than 5” apart so that the display still looks cohesive.
• Painter’s tape is your friend. When planning the layout of the frames, make use of painter’s tape. This type of tape does not leave any remnants of adhesive, is easily removed, and does not cause any damage to the wall and its paint. You can cut pieces of equal length to mark the spacing in between frames to ensure that the frames are spaced equally.
• Anchor the lower corners. Keep the frames from being jostled and getting crooked by attaching rubberized pads or anchor points. These enable the frames’ corners to “hug the wall,” keeping the frames steady, even when the wall vibrates when someone slams the door or bumps into the wall.
• Go for odd numbers. When framing a number of frames that are of the same shape and size, use odd numbers. This way, it is easier to get the center of the display. You just start with the center-most picture frame and work off horizontally and vertically as needed. Indeed, it is easier to achieve balance with odd numbers than even numbers.
• Experiment with the alignments that best work for you. If you have some frames with the same shape but different sizes, you can play with the top or bottom alignments. If you plan to hang three round frames where there are two small ones and one larger frame, you can put the larger frame at the center. You can align the tops or the bottoms or align the centers of all the frames.