Art is an expression of your personal taste, and helps set the tone of a room. It’s an essential element in staging and decorating a home that shouldn’t be overlooked. As home stagers we hang artwork on a regular basis, so we’ve developed a few tips and tricks of the trade that we’re happy to share.

1. TOOLS

First off, make sure you are equipped with the right tools. You’ll need a hammer, nails (or hooks), level and a tape measure. The best tool? Another person to help you! It’s so much easier to have two people to hang art, especially if the pieces are in heavy frames.

2. WIRING PICTURES

Often picture frames and artwork won’t come already wired, so be sure to check this before you go to hang the art, so you can wire your frames ahead of time if needed. If you do need to wire your frames, make sure you use picture hanging wire. There are different gauges of wire available, so choose the one that will support your heaviest frame and fasteners that you screw on to secure the wire to the frame.

3. PLACEMENT ON THE WALL

This is probably the most important thing to consider when you’re hanging art. Too often, art is hung too high and it can’t be appreciated if you have to strain to see it. In the typical home where ceilings are 8 foot high, the rule of thumb we use is to hang art at about 60 inches high on centre. This means the centre of the art you hang will be about 60 inches from the floor, and the top and bottom will be above/below this height. This is about the same as the average human eye height, which is why it works so well. Keep in mind where you’ll have to place the nail or hooks, depending on where they are located on the back of the art.

4. PLACEMENT IN THE ROOM

Make sure you’re happy with where your furniture is placed before you hang your art. Then use the pieces of furniture as reference for where you may want to fill in spaces or add a focal point. For instance, you may want to use art to fill in some of the long horizontal space above a sofa, bed or dresser. Or you can create a collage of small pieces of art between windows, stacked vertically beside a tall piece of furniture, or in a hallway.

Remember, when hanging art you aren’t making structural changes. So if you hang it in the wrong place, or if you change your mind, it’s easy to fix the problem.