How to hang a Painting - a BOSHart Art Guide

Choosing a painting to perfectly complement your room is one thing, but once the painting has been delivered you may be wondering what comes next!

Hanging a picture will be crucial in making sure that it has the desired effect on your chosen room.

Equipment you need to hang your painting:

Pencil, picture wire, picture hooks, nails or screws, hammer (for nails) or screw driver, spirit level, ruler, tape measure and eraser.

Check the room - where will the new painting go?

You may have already considered this before buying the painting, but sometimes we have all have spur of the moment buys and if you have bought the most amazing abstract painting without knowing where it should go then you give to give some thought. Look at the designs/furniture of the rooms in your house or office that could potentially take a painting or picture.

Observe the artwork that is hanging there already and see if there is there room for one more.

Do one or more pictures need to come down or get swapped out with the new canvas? Once you have your room and or wall, consider the placement, taking into account furnishings, the general environment and lighting - we will come onto lighting but you may need to consider buying some more lighting to go with the room.

Make sure that your wall isn't too cluttered at that the furnishings nearby go nicely with the picture. Have someone hold the canvas up against the wall so that you can stand back and make a considered judgement.

Measuring the canvas, fitting hooks and wire

The best way to fix a painting or picture to a wall is using picture wire. Picture wire comes in different gauges and the wire you choose will depend on the size and weight of painting or canvas that you want to hang.

All our original paintings at BOSHart are on box canvases with wooden frames and weigh between 1.5kg and 3kg depending on their size.

Before fixing the wire you will need to put some screw eyes into the frame of the canvas. At BOSHart we use wooden frames on all our canvases and it should be easy to put the screw eyes into the frame in order for the wire to be stretched across.

You should put the screw eyes in 2/3 of the way up the painting the fix the wire between the screw eyes. Cut the wire 1 - 1 1/2 times the width of the frame and if you are concerned that the wire is too thin, use twice as much and double it up. The wire will stretch upwards when you hang the picture and so to ensure that you put the wall fittings in the right place you will need to measure the distance between the top of the wire and the top of frame.

The wall fitting

If you have a long picture - like most of the paintings we sell at BOSHart, then you will need to consider having two wall fittings.

With a friend work out where you want your picture to go on your wall - what height and how close to furnishings and other pictures or mirrors. When you have worked out where you want your painting to go, make a light mark on the wall with a pencil. Now with the spirit level make marks on the wall so that you can make sure that the painting is straight.

When you have decided whether you need one or two wall fittings, you will need to work out the measurement between the stretched wire on the canvas and the top of the frame. Then use this measurement to mark where your wall fittings need to go making sure you take into account the length of the canvas.

When you have worked out where the fittings need to go it is worth just checking the distances again with a ruler just to double check and also check the height using a spirit level to check that the painting will be level.

Decide which wall fitting you need. The paintings we sell at BOSHart are relatively light and so a nail or picture hook will be fine. For heavier paintings a screw may be a better way to go.

Finishing touch

Once the fitting is on it is time to put the picture up and admire your handiwork! Once last tip is to fix a felt or rubber pad on each corner of the painting- this will protect your wall and make sure the painting is nicely settled against the surface.

Once the canvas is up, stand back and check the height and balance. Make any adjustments you need and when you are happy, make sure you remember to rub out the pencil markings on the wall with a clean, white rubber.

And that's it! Now why not visit the BOSHart gallery and choose another canvas to go alongside your new artwork. And remember, if you have any problems send us an email and we will be happy to help!