How to Create and Hang a Photomontage or a Framed Photo without Nailing a Million Holes into your Wall

As households prepare for the holiday festivities of the coming season, an important task that will take place will be decorating their homes for guests. What better time to impressively display your collection of photographic memories…so let me ask you a question:

Have you ever had one of those moments when you have a million and one photographs that you want to share with family and friends? So you frame those photographs in fabulous frames and hang them in a cool photomontage (I love that word…montage). Your guests walk into your home and their eyes attract to that photo wall in grand splendor of how you wittingly and wonderfully organized those framed photos. And they’ll ooh and aah and ask for the story behind that black & sepia photograph of someone sitting in a Paris train station positioned so perfectly in the sunlight and mention what a great eye you have.  And you can stand there proud while they gaze at your photos because you, my dear reader, have not mistakenly nailed ugly holes into your nicely painted wall from trying to position a frame correctly…so have you ever had one of those moments?

Well, quite frankly, I never had even the opportunity for that moment until the past few years. When I moved into my apartment I had three photos on the wall, a NYC poster, and a mirror mistakenly hung too high that I had to stand on my tippy-toes to use. I had lots of photos to show off, but I hated the process of trying to create the perfect photo wall as seen in my design magazines due to bad past experiences of hanging pictures. Rather than bear the burden of trying to hang my photos on the wall, my “photomontage” was leaning against the wall on the dining room floor, displayed yes, but my guests would step on them as opposed to oohing and aahing at them. Then one day, I watched one of my architect bosses work on a display of photographs hanging in the office. He did it so easily that I noticed it only took him an hour. Following his example with some few adjustments by yours truly, I have been using this exact way to organize photo walls ever since. And so far its been foolproof!

I had a blank and boring wall in my dining room, so I practiced the steps and achieved the photomontage I was looking for…finally!

 

 

So here’s an easy process on how to create your own photo wall montage or wall photo gallery without banging a million nail holes into your wall. This process can also be used for simply hanging a single framed photo in the perfect position. And please note this is my first written tutorial so if I missed anything or something does not make sense, please message me and then forgive me!

You will need:

·         Your photos (you can frame them or just leave them naked. It’s up to you.)

·         Craft paper or any roll of scrap paper that you can write on and noticeably read on. I used brown craft paper I had laying around.

·         Measuring tape

·         Ruler

·         Scissors

·         A pen, pencil, or marker

·         Masking tape (or a tape that does not adhere permanently. You will be taping to the wall, so make sure that the tape does not peel off the paint when removed.

·         Nails (to hang your photos)

·         Hammer

·         Hand-held or portable level. This is optional but if you want perfection, than I advise you get one. They come in handy!

 

1)      Layout your craft paper or roll of scrap paper in an open area, such as the floor or a large table.

2)     Place framed photos onto the paper and trace the outline of each frame.

As you trace each outline, write a note of what photo each traced outline represents. You can write a small description such as “Paris train station.” Or use numbers and letters. Just be sure that the backs of your frames are also numbered and lettered for easy reference.

Label the outlined boxes with a “P” for portrait layout or “L” for Landscape layout. I also use “V” for vertical and “H” for horizontal. 

Finally and most importantly, measure and mark onto the paper box, the placement of the frames hanger or hook.

           

            

 

 

3)     Decide if you are going to do a photomontage or just align the frames along the wall. For hanging photos in a straight alignment, proceed to step #10 . For a photo montage/collage, proceed to step #4.

4)     Cut out all the boxes and set aside. With your measuring tape, measure the surface area of the wall you plan to hang the photos on. It does not have to be exact, just enough to get the basic idea of the amount of space you are working with. Now since I am not blessed with an area for work space, I cleared a space on my floor that was roughly the same area as my wall space.  I marked the perimeter limits with pens and rulers and taped them onto the carpet. Then I arranged my framed photos on the floor to play around with the collage arrangement, using the hues in the photos to correlate, and see what would work. 

  

5)     When I was pretty sure I had an ideal layout, I went to my wall with my paper boxes, taped the boxes onto the wall with masking tape, and replicated the layout I practiced on my floor. You can peel off and tape on the boxes, arranging them until you are positively happy with your layout. Be sure to step back often to view the wall in its entirety. Make sure you LOVE it. Please note, I lost my actual photo of my taped paper boxes on the wall, so I photoshopped it. It should give you the basic idea of how it would look though. You can also hang up a focal point photo and work around it.

6)     Hammer a nail into the markings you made for where the frame’s hook is positioned right through the paper and into the wall. Make sure nail is secure enough to hold the framed photo. 

        To double check that your layout is what you desire, do one at a time, hanging each frame after nailing into the wall as you go. Check that nail is sticking out of the wall enough to hold frame securely. Step back and look at your wall to ensure you are satisfied.

7)     Remove frames; peel off the paper to reveal the nail neatly hammered into the wall and hang frame back up.

8)     Place the level on top of each frame to make sure photo is straight and not crooked.

9)     After all frames are completed, step back and ooh and aah at your photo wall montage!   Be creative, for example, use one specific color for all your frames and one different color for a photo that means something to you. I used all black frames for my beloved photos, but framed my tiny Twin Towers photo in silver to indicate a memorial significance.

10)  If you are planning to hang your photos along your wall horizontally or vertically such as this layout photographed here…

…than do the following steps:

Take your ruler and measure each side of the outlined box, marking the center of each line. Draw a line from the center mark of one side to its opposite side. Do both vertically and horizontally. When done you should have two lines that intersect in the very center of the box. 

Cut out the boxes and tape them to the wall, arrange the positions of your boxes as you prefer. The intersecting lines will help you with the placement of your photos, such as if you want to align all your photos horizontally and not aligned by the tops or bottoms of the frames, than you can position the photos by aligning their center lines as in this photograph.

Be sure to use the ruler to space out the boxes evenly and your level to ensure your point of alignment (the top edges of the boxes, the bottom edges of the boxes, or your drawn center line) is straight.

When you are satisfied with the layout on your wall, proceed to step #6.