My Gallery Wall How-To

As someone who has seen many successes and failures at hanging pictures and gallery walls over the years, I thought some of you might benefit from a little post about my fool-proof method that I have been perfecting! So this is what you'll need:

• drill or driver with bits and drill-bits as needed or hammer if preferred
• screws (I use self drilling dry wall screws so I don't need to pre-drill) or nails if preferred
• pencil
• straight edge
• torpedo level
• painters tape
• craft paper (I used red rosin paper this time because it was all we had! I need re-up on the craft paper!!)
• scissors
• Magic Eraser and glass cleaner

These are the self drill drywall screws I like to use, they're so easy! 



Once I have assembled my tools and my artwork I like to find a good place to lay it out and finalize how I want it to look on the wall. I typically agonize over this for days, so maybe plan ahead for that yourself haha! Then I lay out the paper!




One by one, I trace the outline of the artwork to create a template of it.

Once each template is created and laid out, I like to make a mark on each one of the point on the artwork where the screw or nail needs to be. I make an impression so I have an exact replica of where it is.



With this unframed canvas, the screw is going to go right under the wood frame. So I press along the edge.


With this older piece, it has picture wire, so I extend it up to the highest it goes, and again make an impression in the paper.


Press press press!





Now this one is a little trickier, and for the life of me I don't know why Pottery Barn designed their Gallery Frames to hang with two hooks. It is a giant pain in the you-know-what to get it to be level. (To their credit, they include a hanging template in the box, but I have already used that and discarded it the first time I hung this painting.)
If you have any of these frames, or similar, it is important to make sure the little hooks are lined up and upright by wiggling them up.  


Press press press!



 
I use a straight edge to draw a line between the two hook impressions so I have something to line up my level on.




Using painters tape, I space out and hang up each template. In some cases I measure, but usually I just eyeball it. Often times I have found that the exact measurement ends up looking wonkier than where I eyeball it to be because of things like drapery or furniture placement. It just depends on the situation. The key here is that you have a visual before you start making holes of where everything is going to be. So adjust and make sure you like what you see!


I use my level to make sure that line I drew for my two-hook scenario is dead on before I go ahead.

 
Just to be certain before I start, I always make an X or some other mark.



I drill right through the paper template. I continue for each piece of artwork.



I double check the painting is level. It is! Wohoo! That doesn't always happen. 

I always like to clean the artwork up before I hang it. It typically has been leaning somewhere or in storage collecting dust and awaiting this moment, so a quick cleaning with a magic eraser around the frame, and glass cleaner on the glass gets everything looking sharp.




Then I step back and admire the fruits of my labor!!



I will say that over the years, and projects, I have realized that taking my time, assembling everything I need ahead of time, measuring, making a template, using a level...all these things make it work out so much better than just winging it like I used to. Perhaps its because I am not a giant fan of patching holes and repainting them...although I have simultaneously become quite good at it!!  It most definitely is because of my personality type! I hate looking at something that is crooked or off! I hope you found this quick tutorial useful!
xoxo
jamie