New apartment, new picture, still no suitable place: The reasons for not hanging up a picture are many and diverse. Also, the fear of unattractive holes when drilling often prevents us from doing so. This does not have to be the case: with these four options, your pictures hold rock solid, completely without drilling.
You should place the pictures so that they stick for a long time.
Getting your drill and hanging your pictures on your freshly painted walls requires some skill. With old building walls, screws hold mostly only with difficulty and a drill hole cannot be corrected as simply as this is with the nails. In the case of pictures, it is also difficult to place the boreholes exactly in such a way that the picture hangs straight and at the desired position. No wonder, hobbyists only sweat at the thought of drilling.
But your new favorite picture doesn’t just have to stay on the ground. In this article, we show you the four best alternatives to hanging up pictures without drilling.
The right preparation to attach pictures
But before you even start to hang up a new image, there are a few things to consider. First clean the wall briefly with a moistened cloth to remove dust and existing residue. And remember to adjust the number of brackets according to the weight of the picture. For sizes as small as 30 x 40 cm, it is advisable to use two holders rather than just one. This will ensure that even heavier images are attached correctly. With two brackets, an object hangs straight. But which type of fixation is suitable for your pictures?
1) Gluing instead of drilling
Suitable for: small picture frames or mirrors up to 10 kg (depending on wall material)
Advantage: Inaccuracies can be corrected quickly, adhesive residues can simply be removed with a little soap and water.
💡 Tip: Do not remove the picture frame from the wall like a plug, but remove it by rotating it so that the plaster does not come off the wall.
Cut a double-sided assembly tape into several short pieces so that they fit exactly on the back of the frame. Be sure to spread the tape all over the back of the frame to keep the image even. Depending on the size of the frame, one or two adhesive strips on the long side and one at the top is sufficient. Then all you have to do is peel off the protective film, place the picture in the desired position and press it firmly against the wall for at least 30 seconds – it couldn’t be easier.
An alternative to mounting tape is glue nails and screws. They work like ordinary nails and screws, only they are simply pasted to the wall, height can be adjusted at any time and you can hang heavier pictures with them.
For smaller picture frames, glue nails are often sufficient.
2) Hanger with nail
tooth hanger
Suitable for: small as well as medium-sized wooden and wedge frames up to 3 m in length
Advantage: corrects distorted picture frames and distances to other objects without much effort.
💡 Tip: knock in the nail at a slight angle from above so that the picture does not protrude too far from the wall and the weight to be carried is distributed evenly.
There are many different types of hangers, which are attached directly to the back of the picture. However, the tooth hanger has another enormous advantage: thanks to the tooth-shaped contact surface, you simply move the picture around one tooth and it hangs as desired. The zigzag hanger is available in different sizes and widths. It is attached to the back of the frame with screws, nails or postcards and is not visible from the front.
With a zigzag hanger, you move your picture until it fits the others.
Picture hangers
Suitable for: light wooden frames up to a maximum of 6 kg
Advantage: eyelets as well as nails are not visible from the front
Due to their weight, pointed or blunt triangular brass eyelets should only be used for light works of art and not for larger ones.
Lotfix hanger
Suitable for: larger works of art, especially for thin frames
Advantage: the picture frame becomes more stable because the corner connection (mitre) is additionally reinforced.
Especially larger works of art should not be hung in the middle of the upper frame, otherwise, it could bend. The narrower the frame, the sooner this can happen. Lotfix hangers solve this problem by mounting them over corners by placing them in the upper corners of the frame. Depending on the frame profile and backgrounds of the pictures, Lotfix hangers are available in flat, triangular or shell-shaped versions.
Lotfix hangers stabilize the frame by means of corner mounting.
3) Hanging pictures with wire, rope or string
Suitable for: Wire for heavy, large-format oil paintings; rope and cord for lighter paintings
Advantage: the weight of the image is evenly distributed on both sides of the frame.
Be creative when hanging your pictures, because it doesn’t always have to be a classic nail or screw. With picture wire, you set particularly oil pictures by the light inclination well in the scene. This harmonious way of presenting pictures is often used in museums and galleries. Attach the wire to two hangers or eyelets on the side frame. The deeper you attach them, the more the picture will tilt. Test what suits your home and the picture best. For more stability with wider paintings, simply use several eyelets or nails to tension the wire. Instead of wire, you can also use a rope or string.
Thanks to the tilt, the pictures look particularly noble.
4) Presenting pictures artistically with a wooden easel
Suitable for: Screens with an image height of up to 160 cm and up to 80 kg, smaller images
Advantage: no hanger has to be attached to the wall or the picture and the repositioning of the picture is quick and easy.
However, pictures do not always have to be hung. An easel is not only suitable for painting pictures, but also for displaying them tastefully in your own home. Thanks to its shape, a tripod easel can be placed in a corner of a room to save space. Depending on the furnishings, easels are available in different sizes and materials (e.g. wood, metal). Thanks to the adjustable upper strip and the solid construction, works of various weights and sizes can be elegantly presented.
But easels are not only suitable for large pictures. For smaller pictures, there are table easels, which fit perfectly as table decoration or on a commode. Also, photos, postcards or business cards come on a table relay particularly well to the fore.
Easels are an eye-catcher for small and large pictures.
With these alternatives to drilling, nothing stands in the way of hanging your new favorite work in its place. If you’re still looking for unique paintings, photographs or sculptures, check out artiazza.com. We give newcomer artists the chance to present themselves and their works to a wide audience between CHF 50 – 1,000. They also benefit from the added value of their works – for the rest of their lives.
Franziska Luginbühl, Co-Founder artiazza.com
