How to Hang a Picture Just Right

I am not a person known for precision (I have a tendency to eye-ball things) so this isn’t so much about measuring as it is planning.

I have a ton of art, most of it vintage and inexpensive and I like to hang it in big collections gallery-style. Since most of the art is cheap and fun to collect I think more about the collection as whole rather than each individual piece. Every time I move, I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to do with my paint by numbers. In our last place, we had them in a crazy meandering line across our bedroom walls. The room was really tiny and all the paint by numbers made it feel like a cozy cabin. Our new place has really high ceilings and feels more modern so I tried to come up with a more modern way to hang them.

I took most of the paint by numbers out of their frames, leaving just a few with the frames that I liked the most. I decided that I wanted to hang them in our living room in a square shape but that I didn’t want the square shape to be perfect. I started by laying out all the paintings on the floor and moved them around until I got the right arrangement, then I took a picture.

I measured the width and height of the arrangement and then figured out where on the wall this size square would work best, taking into account that I will probably buy a console table or bench for this wall at some point.

Starting at the bottom left, I hung the first painting on the wall and worked my way across the first row, referencing my digital photo. Since the square didn’t have to be perfect, I ditched the level and just went by what looked right.

Note the USA Paint by Number by Something's Hiding in Here, a nice variation in shape from the rest of the paintings and just perfect for this arrangement I think!