In most homes or office decor, framed art is usually hung at eye level, or at its focal point, this usually being the middle of the image or picture. This rule of the thumb can change when you’re hanging your picture frame or photo frame relative to furniture or to an architectural element like a fireplace or a staircase.

Generally speaking, it’s desirable to have the bottom edge of the frame at about 20~25cm above a couch,  fireplace or mantel, regardless of the ceiling height. Perhaps begin by having someone hold the picture in the place where you want to hang it, or if there’s no-one around, by you tacking a sheet or piece of paper in the intended spot.

Is the visual result and placement to your expectation? If not change the original, or intended location, while there’ still time.  Having decided on the location you then ought to centre the frame in the middle of a wall, rather than the right or the left.

This ‘X’, or central spot, is found by measuring the width of the wall, dividing it in half and marking the middle of it with a chalk or lead pencil, both can be be wiped or cleaned off later on. Now you can proceed to nail a hanger (or two) , or affix an adhesive hook (or two)  to the wall and as detailed in the tips that follow hereunder.

After having marked the ‘X’ spot, get yourself some basic hand tools like a hammer, a set of pliers and some wall hooks. You should plan to nail into the wall at least two hooks, not only one as most people do.

Not only will this technique hang the frame more securely but it will also keep it even or level from the unsettling floor or wall vibrations that propagate when children run up and down the house or slam doors. Now measure the distance from the top of the picture frame to its hanging cord or wire. You can use a tape measure or A ruler.

Make sure that the slack of the wire or cord is “taken up”. If you don’t do this, you will get an inaccurate measurement. Make a note of this size or measurement because you will need it for the next step to follow. Remembering the measurement you made just before, transfer it and mark it below where you made the ‘X’ spot you marked on the wall.

This second, lower mark will be where you can hammer in your picture frame hooks. You should space the two hooks equally, by measuring the width of the picture frame and dividing it by 4. Then mark each division on the wall.

The resulting cross-hairs will be the distance from the centre point where the two hooks should go. For instance, if the frame is 1 metre wide, dividing this by 4, mark it on the wall to position each hook about 25cm from the frame’s sides.

The resulting cross-hairs will be the distance from the centre point where the two hooks should go. For instance, if the frame is 1 metre wide, dividing this by 4, mark it on the wall to position each hook about 25cm from the frame’s sides.

By now you should have sourced at least two, angled, metal picture frame hooks with nails. Most Bunnings and other hardware store have them. If you’re renting and don’t want to put holes in the wall you can use the new magic hanging strips with sticky adhesive plastic tabs which stick on walls.

If using these, be careful not to exceed the manufacturer’s stated or recommended weight. People often overload these with picture frames that are too heavy, causing the strips to fail. When this happens, your precious photo frames and picture frames will end up damaged or broken on the floor.

Now hammer in your two picture hooks into the wall, where the two cross-hairs are which you marked out before. Some people are afraid of hammering their fingers and don’t want to actually hold the hooks while doing this. What you can then do then is to clip each hook with a plastic or wooden clothes peg to hold it.

So if you miss or mis-hit the nail you’ll hit the peg and not your fingers. You’ll need to drive the nails inside the picture frame hooks all the way into the wall. Then gently lift your picture frame with two hands and hang it by its wire or cord over the hooks you just fixed to the wall making sure that your wall hooks are holding.

Now test and make sure that the hooks will -really- hold by gently tugging the picture frame downwards, to add a little extra weight to the hooks. If after doing this the hooks don’t come off, then the job has been well done.

It’s time now for the last step. Making sure not to bump, scuff or scratch the wall while doing so,  place a carpenter’s or spirit level on top of the picture and check its horizontal level. Some picture framing hanging kits even have a miniature spirit level just for this purpose .

You can check if the frame is level by viewing the level’s air bubble which is inside its glass tube. If the frame’s level the bubble should fit exactly inside its own levelling rings or lines. If it’s out of leveL, adjust the picture frame by gently rocking it or pushing it to the right or left until level.

That’s it, congratulations, you’re all finished! And you’ve done it all yourself without having to pay a handyman~woman to come in and do it for you!

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