Decorating Hack: How to Hang Art in a Straight Line

Raise your hand if you eyeball it when hanging art or mirrors and almost never measure. (If you can relate to this, don’t be shy — I am right there with you and raising my hand right now.)

Much to my husband’s chagrin, I almost never measure or use a level when hanging art — not even when hanging a gallery wall! Yup. I admit it. I eyeball it 99% of the time when hanging art, and if I make an oopsy, I just grab a little spackle and touch-up paint and any mistake I might have made is our little secret. Thank goodness my walls can’t talk.

The one exception to my haphazard art installing habit is in the rare instance that I’m hanging art in a grid (example pictured below). Whenever I have to dig out the measuring tape & level, it’s a big buzzkill for me and my typical “shooting-from-the-hip” approach to decorating and life, but sometimes, it must be done.

Pictured Above: a colorful mix from my Agate Cactus composite photography series.

Below is a video tutorial from Ikea which does a great job of showing the method I use when I must “adult” and actually measure before I bust out the old hammer and nail.

I hope this helps if you find yourself preparing to hang a gallery wall with a precise grid layout and if you don’t want it to look like a drunk person or a toddler did it.

Do you have a decorating hack for laying out and hanging a gallery wall? Do you have something totally unrelated you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments!