Getting The Hang Of It
When it comes to showcasing photos and prints around the house, figuring out how to hang them doesn’t have to hurt your brain. We grabbed our video camera and walked from room to room to break down some of the frame arrangements that are living it up here at Casa Petersik. Hope it helps you master the frame game! Watch below on Vimeo or here on YouTube.
But what are framing arrangements if you have nothing to hang? Here are a few of our favorite DIY art ideas along with a fun pooch project for anyone with a willing four-legged participant. You can also find a slew of other cheap & easy suggestions on our How To page under the “Artsy Ideas” header. Happy creating!
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
This is SO helpful! We have been living in our house for almost 6 months now and have nothing on the walls, it’s just so overwhelming! :( Great post!
In the past, I have tended towards one large piece on an empty wall but since discovering your blog, I have been totally converted to displaying pictures in groups. In fact, I think the weekend after I first stumbled upon your fantastic site, I went out and bought a load of black & white Ikea frames to do 3 different displays in my place – two symmetrical and one asymmetrical – using the tried and tasted paper method :) The video was just too cute – you guys are pure unadulterated inspiration!
*ding!* You guys are adorable. Thanks for all the tips! Excuse me, I have to go home and tear all the stuff off my walls and start over now.
Love your art and how it’s hung! In one of your arrangements, the asymmetrical, I think, there was a frame or two that had no mat, just the clear glass, so that the wall color showed through. Did you do that yourself, or did it come with two pieces of glass for pressing something between?
Hey Jill,
Good question! All the frames around the house came as-is, so anything that showed wall behind it through glass (without the mat or any backing) was meant to be hung that way and probably came from Target (since most of our frames are Ikea, and they come with traditional mats and backing for the most part). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I loved all your picture frame arrangements! I have a hard time with frames, love them…but don’t know what to put in them? I have a lot of frames sitting around without pictures in them. It’s kind of a joke at my house. Maybe I should paint them all the same color, maybe that will help. ;)
Hey Alise,
It’s from allposters.com (and was super cheap too). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
thanks for the info about the poster, any idea how to find it on the allposters.com website? Love your site!
We looked for the direct link for you but couldn’t hunt it down. So sorry! You might want to search through the photography or still life categories on their site or even search terms like “olive oil food shelf print poster” on google or art.com. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
What do you think about mismatched frames- like, severely mismatched? I have a bunch (20ish?) of random 5×7 and 4×6 frames that range from streamlined and classic to more gilded and ornate. I was thinking about putting some of our wedding photos in them and using them to line the stairway. Although the theme would be cohesive, maybe it would look a little wonky?
Hey Katie,
We love a mismatched look for frames- especially when they’re used to create a Domino-ish look (gathered en masse in a grouping above a sofa or traveling up a staircase for example). The only issue you might have is that since some are gilded and ornate and some are classic and streamlined they might push the bounds of looking mismatched and actually look sort of hodge podge in a bad way. We really can’t tell without seeing them, but if they do look a bit too random and you’re looking for a quick way to unify them all, you could spray paint them all the same color (a rich chocolate brown, soft gray, sleek white, even an antique bronze color) so they suddenly relate to each other even though they have very different lines and flourishes. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
The pictures above your sofa look great. Thanks for reminding people not to hang them too high. I see that all the time! Just wondering how you attached the pictures to the brick wall.
Hey Jennifer,
We just used a drill bit meant for masonry and drilled right into the mortar between the bricks to create little pilot holes for each nail. The big tip is to never drill into the middle of a brick (which can chip or crack) so going for the mortar is the way to go- plus it makes it easier to keep things the same level). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Another quick question about the frame arrangement above your couch… are the photos real pictures of ones you took or are they different pictures/prints you found. I have always struggled to do a frame arrangement because I felt the photos had to be significant to each other in some manner.
Also.. recreated the “magazine P” that you showed us how to do, my “R” is a bit blurred so I may have to try again!
Hey Katie,
They’re photos we took and had CVS print out in black and white for a few cents each. We dropped a white “mat” behind them and called it a day. So easy- plus they’re meaningful! Here’s a post all about it. Hope it helps!
xo,
Sherry
Hi – Do you happen to remember the name of the target frames you use for the asymmetrical arrangement? Online – the very greatly in price from their “Gallery Fame” collection on the high-end.. to others.. and with out touching the frame I am worried about the quality on the low end.
Thanks!
Hey Jeff,
We got them in store instead of online and they probably varied from $9 to $15- maybe $20 at the most. They definitely look great and do the trick. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I am wanting to create an asymmetrical design on one of my walls. It looks like all the frames you guys used to create yours are about the same thickness. Do you think they need to sit the same or a very similar distance from the wall or could some sit out further than others? I hope this makes sense! Thanks in advance.
Belinda :)
Actually a lot of our frames were thicker, chunkier, or more delicate than each other so it’s just the white color that ties them all together! Definitely go for it even if you have frames that are of different thicknesses or depths. We’ve even seen gorgeous asymmetrical frame collages done with different colored frames (in that case usually the framed art is similar tone, either black & white or vivid & colorful to help tie everything together) but the beauty of such an informal arrangement is that nothing feels too perfect. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I love this video! Having just hung about 7 pictures in various spots, my instincts were mostly validated — and in some cases, well-informed by this piece, I went back and MOVED the work around.
Thanks so much! :-)
Glad you’re digging the wedding shadow box idea Amy. Ours is 15 x 12″. Hope it helps!
xo,
s