Tips for hanging a group of pictures

This arrangement of frames is the sort of display that looks great over furniture such as a sofa, headboard, hutch, dining table, or an office desk. You can recreate this look with these easy steps without any fear of messing up your walls.  Here’s how:

Start by placing your frames on the floor to figure out the best possible arrangement. This will also help you determine the right spacing between each piece.

Once you’ve decided on the look for your wall, figure out the order in which you’ll be hanging each frame. This is the order I hung mine in: the large piece went up first, followed by the two stacked up frames on the left (or the right, it doesn’t matter which side you start with) and I finished with hanging the pieces on the ends.

Start by creating a focal point for your display by hanging the largest frame and centering it with the middle cushion of your sofa. I used Hang & Level to easily hang every frame.

Next, hang the two frames on the left or right — it doesn’t matter which side you start with. Hang the one at the bottom first to prevent the handle of the tool from getting in the way.  Hang the bottom frame slightly higher then the bottom of the large frame. Then hang the second small frame by lining it up with the bottom one and make sure its top doesn’t surpass the top of the large frame.

Tip:  To make sure the spacing was consistent between each frame and row, I used equally sized pieces of painter’s tape.

Hang the end frame by centering the middle with the wall space between the two stacked frames.

Repeat the above steps to do the other side.  It’s definitely helpful to have someone stand back and guide you when tackling the other half of the display, at least to confirm the height at which to hang the bottom frame next to the large one. After that, it’s easy to continue by yourself.

Tip:  Make sure that your frames are level as you go, because every time you hammer nails in the frames will move. Keep them in place with Anchor Points — it will make it easier to perfectly line up the next frames.

By the way, I hung my frames above a sofa, but you could hang them anywhere in your house. They’d look great in a dining room, bedroom, hallway, or above an office desk like we did here. Put them up anywhere you feel a wall needs a little love.

Would you recreate this look in your house? See other gallery looks here.

Liette Tousignant

I’m passionate about picture hanging and decorating (and I’m also the Founder of Under The Roof Decorating)