Hanging stuff on your walls can be tedious frustrating, especially if it ends up crooked! These handy hacks will help you get it right the first time.
Lickety-Split Wall Decor
Here’s how to hang pictures quickly and easily. Lick your middle knuckle and grab the hanger on the back of the picture with the wet finger. Press your knuckle against the wall when the picture is exactly where you want it. The saliva will leave a light mark for placing a nail. — reader Leann Cormier.
How to Hang a Picture Frame: Use a Smartphone Level
This is probably old news to you smartphone veterans out there, but for you newbies, here’s the tip. Your phone can work like a small level or plumb bob. You can download a level app, or your phone may already have a leveling app built into the operating system.
You wouldn’t want to build an addition with a phone level, but it can come in handy for little leveling tasks around the house.
How to Hang a Picture Frame: Use Templates and Tape
Cut out paper patterns and arrange them on the wall with low-adhesive masking tape. The temporary red line from a laser level is helpful for aligning a series of photos level with one another. The laser level is ideal because you get a perfectly straight line without having to mark up the walls. A standard carpenter’s level will also work.
A Riveting Idea
Here’s a better way to hang pictures and other light items on drywall. Use a hammer to drive the stem of a rivet down and into the wall. The rivet head won’t slide into the wall when you hang the picture. You can buy packages of 1/8-in. rivets at the hardware store for less than $5. — reader Alvin Lewis.
Pull Tab Hook
If you’re hanging pictures and run out of those sawtooth hangers, just grab the nearest pop can. Bend the pull tab back and forth until it breaks off. Then screw it to your picture frame. Bend the free end out slightly and hang the picture. — reader Carrie Tegeler
Pinpoint a Solution
Here’s a nifty way to mark nail hole positions on walls when you’re hanging that new picture. Glue two pushpins top to top with a cyanoacrylate glue (such as Super Glue).
Find the center of the picture along the upper back edge of the frame and press in one of the pins. Now just hold the picture up, maneuver it to the best spot, and press in to mark for the nail.
This tip works best when you’re hanging pictures with hardware screwed on the back of the frame, but if you’re putting up wire-hung pictures, just measure the distance from the top of the wire to the pushpin hole and move the nail down that distance. Many thanks to reader Richard Wooden for clearly framing this sharp tip.
Copyright: familyhandyman.com.
