Hang your favourite pictures and photos like a gallery

Leigh Leigh
Ambienti, Affreschi & Affreschi Affreschi & Affreschi Walls
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Your home is an expression of who you are. Every wall, every piece of furniture and every colour should reflect your style, your taste and your interests. With a few easy tips, your house can look like it comes out of the pages of your favourite décor magazine—unique, trendy and stylish.

The first place to start is the walls. Pictures and photographs are windows into your soul, showing the world your happy memories, the day that you celebrated your wedding and the things that you are passionate about. The walls are a blank canvas on which to hang your dreams, your hopes and your heritage.

Forget blindly hammering hooks into the wall and hoping that your photographs and pictures hang straight. Now is the time to learn how to hang pictures and photos like your home is a gallery.

Horizontal lines

Horizontal lines are a wonderful way to create texture and style when it comes to hanging paintings and photographs. By working with the horizontal space, something unique and creative has been achieved.

You want some space between the ceiling and your pictures as well as space between the floor and the pictures, to make the most of the horizontal space. Also keep in mind that you may want to push furniture against the wall so leave space for bookshelves, chairs, lamps and any other furniture that may block your pictures once they are up. Experts recommend ensuring that pictures are hung on the wall at eye level, around 1.5 metres from the floor.

You also want to make sure that your photographs are horizontally aligned or straight on the wall, so it doesn't look like you've done half a job or that your sight is a bit wonky—unless of course this is the look you are going for. Use a measuring tape to create a straight line under your pictures or photographs to make sure that they are straight and aligned.

Vertical lines

The vertical space is your best asset when it comes to hanging pictures and photographs on your wall. 

You want some space between the pictures and the edges of the vertical wall. You also may want to opt for equal vertical space between the pictures or a more eclectic look and feel, with varying gaps between the photographs or pictures.

The second step is to ensure that they are hung securely. If the picture is smaller than 80cm, you can use one hook in the centre to keep it up. If it's larger than this, use two or three hooks—on each side and in the middle—to ensure that it hangs securely to the wall.

The best way to make the most of vertical space is to measure each picture as well as the wall that you have to work with. Using measuring tape and some careful calculations, trace in pencil on the wall where each picture should hang.

Messy composition

There's something really funky and trendy about a messy composition that isn't perfectly proportioned. This awesome wall art, by Crearreda Wallstickers, for example, is different and fun.

The same kind of thing can be achieved with photographs and pictures on a wall, if it's organised well enough. Use different shapes and sizes when it comes to picture frames and choose an array of black and white and colour images. 

You can also achieve a messy composition by mixing and matching photographs and pictures with other wall art such as wall stickers, hanging ornaments or even shelves.

Make sure that whatever messy composition you go for, you plan your colours carefully. You want your wall to complement the rest of the design in the house, no matter how professional or art gallery-like it looks. Neutral is always a plus such as blacks, greys and whites but you can also bring in some soft pastel colours or a colour that works with the rest of the theme in the house, such as red.

Odd number

An odd number of pictures or photographs can create the messy composition that we spoke of earlier, bringing the wall together in a very eclectic look and feel.

It may feel strange at first to have three pictures hanging up rather than four or nine instead of ten, but you can end up with a really funky design on the wall that looks like artwork itself. For example in this photograph you can see how an uneven number of pictures in frames creates a wonderful collage on the wall. 

When hanging up an odd number of pictures or photographs, try to keep their frames the same colour so that there is still a sense of them being uniform. This will also make them stand out as a whole. 

Hanging up photographs or pictures can add a whole new dimension to your home so do it carefully and do it property. 

If you like DIY, learn how to: Have Your Own Herb Garden at Home.

Even number

An even number of photographs or pictures on a wall can look neat, trendy and stylish, especially if they end up looking symmetrical. 

The only way to achieve this look is to be pedantic with measurements, ensuring that your even number of photographs and pictures are straight, aligned and look professionally hung. Work out the size of each picture or photograph and divide the up the length and width of the wall by the amount of picture frames that you have. With these measurements, you should be able to work out where each picture should go on the wall so that its aligned and evenly spaced.

By hanging an even number of photographs or pictures on your wall, you're opting for a traditional and conservative décor style, which may work well with the rest of your home. Opt for gorgeous classic furniture to match.

What is your style when it comes to hanging pictures or photos? Let us know!

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