If using a single or double coathanger with a string attached on the back of your frame, suspend your painting, and then use your level to straighten it. If you are using two D rings to hang a picture on from two picture hangers, mark the locations of the hangers on the wall, and use the level to ensure that they are even; adjust as needed before placing the hangers on the wall.
Once you have confirmed the height at which you are going to hang your picture, mark the wall with the pencil. Once you decide where you would like to hang the picture, make a pencil mark on the wall (on pieces of masking tape, if desired) for each hanger; use the level to ensure that the marks are the same height. Then, nail your nails (leaving them 1/8-inch from the wall) or picture-hanging hooks the distance down from the pencil marks that you made on your wall.
Make sure not to push your nail so far in that it is flush with the wood, only hammer about 3/4-inch in, so that you will have space to suspend the frame over the nail in the clothespin. If you do not want to make holes in your wall, try using glue-on clothespins or nails. If you have plaster walls (common in older homes)…you probably will have to use a drill/driver first to make a pilot hole into your wall, before putting any screws or nails through.
If you are hanging over tiles or glass, you will want to use quality, low-profile glue-on hangers instead of nails and screws, and if you are hanging over brick, use brick slats. For walls made of drywall or plaster, hang the painting using an angle-shaped nail-in hook or screws. If you have a reinforced wall, you can use a regular nail or screw to hang the frames, provided that you are driving the nail or screw securely through a stud.
A standard nail or screw through drywall can hold up to 10 pounds, but because of how easily drywall breaks, you will want to hang the piece using a hanger. Just make sure you are on the right wall stud, as hanging straight through the drywall does not offer a safe anchor. Hanging anything over drywall will require you to use drywall anchors and screws, and with heavier pieces of art, you will want to secure the screws into the walls studs.
To hang shelves, large pictures, TVs, art, or mirrors, you will want the added hanger strength of a wall stud. A wall stud is the most secure place to hang pictures, and you can use a stud finder to help you locate one. Hole anchors, or anchors in drywall, are your best option for making sure that the walls are not damaged if you are not using a stud for hanging an object.
It is possible to hang a heavy piece of artwork on top of plasterboard in a nice finish as long as you are using a suitable fix, like a hollow drywall anchor or a screw with self-drilling. For most prints and most walls, standard nails or picture hooks will do. If your prints are lighter, a nail or glue-on hooks work well.
Then, push in the nail, or use your drill bit to drive a screw through the hole, leaving a gap between the head of the screw and the wall for your picture wires. Carefully drill out a hole that is only slightly smaller than the screws, or hammer the screws or nails into the directions they will be used to hang art. Hang the arton the centre — meaning, the middle of the painting is measured at 57 inches off the ground.
To be precise, the center of the frame of an art work A framed artwork piece needs to measure 57 inches up from the floor (this is the height at which an average persons eyesight is, as well as what galleries and museums use when deciding where to hang pieces). If you are looking to mount on the walls of a gallery, you can still use the 57-inch rule, but measure your whole frame collectionas height and width instead. If you are hanging smaller frames, look to find walls that are narrower, or mount the collection in such a way that the walls are balanced.
If you are hanging a gallery wall, you might want to pre-map out where you will place each piece using newspaper squares cut to fit frame sizes. Once you determine an area you would like to frame, measure out the surface you would work on, as well as the width and height of your images. Mark a central location on top of your frame, and flip your picture frame over, measuring the distance between your hanging wires or slats and the top of your frame.
If your picture uses wire, pull the wire carefully towards the top of your picture, then measure the distance between it and the top of your frame. Check if your frame is level using your level, making small adjustments, sliding the wire down the hanger until your picture is perfectly level. Measure from the hanging hardware at the rear of the frame to the top of the frame using your tape measure.
Measure from the rear of your frame to make sure that you know exactly where your picture hooks need to be placed, and mark where on your painter-grade tape in the middle to be hammered. If you are hanging your canvas prints with no hooks (say, by placing your frame right over your nails), measure your frames length and mark the exact center (or the middle of the middle, if using two nails).
If you are hanging an individual piece on a wall, then the center of the wall (from side to side) would be the best spot for this, especially if you are hanging your painting over a piece of furniture. Whether you are working with a grouping of pictures or a single piece, the artwork generally needs to be placed in a horizontally-centered position between two points, making the room look balanced. Hanging three frames in a row makes for a nice focal point in your living room, while using empty wall space along the stairs is a chance to get creative, hanging varying-sized pictures at different levels to create interest.