How to properly hang pictures on your wall

A little prep work will help ensure that your pictures are hung properly, arranged in a suitable fashion and shown in the best lighting conditions.

Draw special attention to oil paintings, family portraits or photos from your last vacation with a tasteful arrangement, the right lighting and suitable frames. A little prep work will help ensure that your pictures are hung properly, arranged in a suitable fashion and shown in the best lighting conditions.

Besides the good old nail in the wall, there are many options for hanging pictures almost invisibly.

• Hang pictures using nearly invisible nylon line that matches the colour of the ceiling from a rail or molding. That way, you can easily move them back and forth, and adjust them for height, too.
• Hang artwork on the wall over an art shelf, or set it directly onto the shelf.
• If your picture always hangs askew, simply glue a bit of foam behind the corners of the frame to hold it in place.

The basic principle of arranging pictures is that you should line up the horizontal centre of each picture or group of pictures at eye level on the wall. You can drop the centreline 30 to 60 centimetres (one to two feet) in areas where the admirers will mostly be seated, such as a living room. Beyond that, you are free to arrange them as you like, though it helps to observe certain ground rules.

• Hang pictures of the same size and shape next to or underneath each other in strict geometrical order.
• Create a harmonious arrangement by organizing pictures of different sizes according to imaginary lines that go through the middle and the lower or upper border of the specific picture.
• Be creative: arrange a larger group of pictures in a square, an oval or a circle. Alternatively, you can orient them according to an imaginary cross in the middle of the arrangement.

• Even in a well-illuminated room, a single picture light can be added to accentuate a piece of art or group of photos.
• Well-placed lamps can cast a mellow light on pictures from below or above.
• To bring out the glow in a photo, illuminate it from behind. Press a photo to piece of plastic wrap, glue it onto matte glass and install a light behind it so that it shines through the picture.