Especially if I rehang this amazing gift from Michael. He painted it as part of his senior show at Parsons (yes, that Parsons The New School for Design Project Runway fans.) Michael gave us the painting to remember him by before he moved -sniff!
We like painting but this bad boy is heavy. It eventually fell off the wall when I hung it from the wire
hanger attached to the frame. I tried wall anchors, nails in a stud, and super
duper heavy-duty mollies. All ended with the same result – an eventual hole(s) to
patch in the drywall and the painting leaning up against the wall.
I have a feeling I shouldn’t rehang it from the picture
wire.
I hit Lowes looking for a solution and a little DIY
daydreaming. Kinda like window shopping for shoes but I wander the tool and
tile aisles instead.
I bought the cleat rated for hanging a 75 pound picture. My
painting isn’t that heavy but I really
want it to stay on the wall this time.
2. Use the bubble level (completely
in love with this. One of my other talents is not hanging things perfectly
level despite owning a level) to determine where you want the photo to hang on
the wall and mark the screw holes with a pencil.
3. Use a drill to drill pilot holes for the wall anchors. To further stabilize the painting, I made sure at least one screw went into a wall stud. I don’t want to do this project again if I can help it.
4. Tap the wall anchors into the
pilot holes with a hammer.
I switched to black and white so you can see the neon
yellow wall anchor on the lime green wall a bit better.
5. Screw the cleat to the wall.
While I was at it, I made a little
gallery grouping by hanging the two painting we bought at the Urban Scrawl festival next to the
subway painting. During our art buying deliberations, my suggestion of hanging
the lovely lady paintings on the accent wall sealed the deal of allowing
ourselves to buy the paintings.
My gallery wall needed something to fill the space under the
green ladies. I went through my mountain of photos I take on vacations as my souvenirs
and with the intention of printing and hanging them but never do and pulled one
of my interpretations of New York
City to hang besides Michael’s interpretation of New York City.
I took this photo on
my first trip to New York
with Husband.
Just like paintings, I like my photography offbeat.
I had a photo canvas made through Canvas 4 Life to compare
to my DIY photo canvas. One of the things I don’t like about purchased photo
canvases is how the photo wraps around the canvas. Unlike the last photo canvas
service I used, Canvas 4 Life photo canvas gives you the option of a black band
around the edge of your canvas if you do not want the photo to wrap.
To coordinate with the gallery grouping and the DIY photo
canvas I made of Blitzkrieg hanging on the other side of the room, I chose the slim frame over the chunky frame
option and the black edging. I like it. My photo canvas coordinates with all of
the real artists’ artwork and almost looks like a real arty photographer type
took the it instead of some chick on vacation.
I tried Command picture hanging hooks to hang the three smaller pieces but they eventually crashed down from the wall a week later. I rehung them properly with a nail in the wall.
I tried Command picture hanging hooks to hang the three smaller pieces but they eventually crashed down from the wall a week later. I rehung them properly with a nail in the wall.
Lesson learned:
- Pony up the money for a picture hanging cleat for heavy artwork (it wasn’t expensive but it cost more than the free nails and wall anchors I already have in the garage)
- Do not waste money on sticky picture hanging hooks for small light photos you want to stay on the wall longer than a week. Use a free nail from the garage.
What are your photo hanging tips?
Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to the Condo Blues RSS Feed or to Condo Blues by Email.
Disclosure: I received a sample from Canvas 4 Life for this review. Everything else I purchased with my own hard earned cash.
4 comments:
I have never used a French Cleat. But now will consider it's use. Great post!
Oh!!! Great tip!!!!!!
Thanks so much for sharing this at The DIY Dreamer... From Dream To Reality!
I always use French cleat for my paint collection. It is durable and can hold heavy object...Great tips
Thanks for sharing. I haven't seen this system of hanger before. Very cool!
Post a Comment
I love comments and read them all! If you’re shy and don’t want your opinions made public, you can always email me at condoblues [at] gmail [dot] com.