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Easy Way to Hang a Heavy Picture or Mirror!
No more tricky measuring! : )
You know when you have a really heavy piece of art work, or a really heavy mirror that you want to hang on a wall, it can take forever to get the measurements juuuust right, and finally you can hang up the picture or the mirror? Takes forever, and often a few fights in the middle of the process, depending on who you're working with - lol!
Well, I was out shopping, yesterday, for a nice new mirror - I wanted a full length mirror for the front entry, right, see what we look like on our way out the door - lol! Plus, I'm at the gym all the time, these days, and I want to check out all the lovely changes - and a full length mirror is best for that sort o' gazing upon oneself - hahahaha!
Anyway, occurred to me, this morning, while my horrible upstairs neighbour was hammering away, oh, I should just switch some paintings and artwork with a lovely big mirror I already have in the Dining Room, that, really, doesn't do a whole helluva lot on that wall - it's too high to really reflect what I wanted it to reflect, and kind of wasted it's usage on that wall, even though that's where I would normally place a big mirror...and it WAS nice, there, but I needed it to be more practical, and sometimes you can just re-position or re-purpose things you already have, instead of going out and buying new stuff, all the time....
So, traditionally, when you are hanging a very heavy piece of art work or mirror on a wall, you would measure the distance between the two 'hooks' that, hopefully, will already be on the mirror or picture...is annoying when the mirror does not come with the things for hanging it up, easily, then you have to hammer in your own - yaah! Nerve-racking!
But anyway, traditionally, you would have to first determine where on the wall you wanted to hang the picture or mirror, right? Then hold it up on the wall to see where it will look the best...then measure between the two 'hooks', then measure from the floor to the points where you want to hang it, or measure from the ceiling down, to make sure your very heavy object is hanging straight, and in an older place, the floor may or may not be level... there's sooo much work!
Soo, here's how I did it, this morning, and you can totally save yourself a lot of hassle by doing it this way, too...if you like! lol!
Just take a piece of wire, or a piece of string (I happen to have a lot of thin wire around my house, because I make a lot of art with wire - more on that, later : )....Measure the piece of string against the two hooks on the back of your picture or mirror, making sure it's longer on either side by about 2 inches, or so. This is not an exact science, so no need to worry about how many inches on either side, just some extra working room...
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| See the two hooks? You want to line up your wire or string to the center of each hook. Don't worry, it'll be really easy, once you get started : ) |
With the wire, you just wind it around the first hook, right in the middle where the nail/screw or picture hook will be... if you are hanging something that is really, really heavy, it would be a wise idea to make sure you find the stud (doesn't everyone want to find the stud! buh'dum-bum!) - by tapping on the wall, or use a stud-finder... when you're tapping on the wall, the sound will be different when you get to the stud, and there should be a stud every 12 inches....and use a very large screw to hold the extra weight, or a very large nail. I like the picture hanging kits you can get - very handy, and they'll say right on the package how much weight they will safely hold up.
So now you have the first point where you'll make a mark in pen on the wall, where you'll hammer in your nail, screw or picture hook. If you are using the picture hook, be sure to take into account the extra inch, or so, of the size of the picture hook...
Stretch the wire or string over to the other picture hook, and either just hold it tight in the center of each hook, or wind it around, so it's easier to see where to make your marks on the wall.
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| Now you are going to hold the string or wire up to the wall where you want to hang your picture, and make the marks. The great thing about the string or wire being held up against the wall, is you can get the other person, if there is someone else to give you a hand, to stand back and make sure it's straight...and you can see it for yourself, too. Make your first mark on the wall with a pen, then the second mark. |
Hmm, well, that's a terrible picture o' mah' hand! hahahaha! Ah, well, is important to show you how to do this, right? Lol! Ignore the hand.... lol!
Just hammer in the nail or put in the screw on each mark, and go ahead and carefully hang your picture or mirror. If it's really crazy heavy, would be so great if you had someone else helping you to hang it : )
Is easier to put one side on, first, then place the other side - is pretty hard to get both sides on at the same time - no need to struggle when you can do it one side at a time, right?
Conversely, and this is only for pieces that you might be hanging on the wall that aren't terribly heavy, you could attach some serious wire between the two hooks and hang it from a center nail, but just be super-careful that it will hold, especially if you happen to live in an earthquake zone.
There, all done! Took only a few minutes, and it's safe and secure, and looks great! Yahoo! I can see what me looks like on mah' way out the door!
And that's my fancy desk - I love it sooo much! I scored it for $100, I believe in mah' head - actually, cannot remember how much I got it for, but let's say you're moving, and you need a lot of new stuff, try to go through your local online places, like UsedVictoria, or UsedVancouver (do they have the Used...series in the States, yet? I love it, is great, and in Canada we have Kijiji, which is very useful - I've gotten some seriously great stuff through them, and met some really nice people, too : ) Suss it out, first, and if you have any reservations, don't go, it's just an item for your house... you know the safety drill! lol!
Oh, and here's a little tidbit about my beautiful desk/armoire... the moving guy moved it without me knowihg he was on his way - is a little backward, here, sometimes, with people not seeming to understand how texting works... blah!! Like, if you text me at 9:30pm to say you're on your way with the armoire, and in no way am I expecting to see a mover at 9:30 at NIGHT, and you don't get a text back, that's because I did not get your text, so this is not going to work, right?? Well, apparently, that's not how things go down, around here, so I get a call from this mover's WIFE, which was so weird, to say is he there? What the hellll?? Whole thing, so crazy. Ended up, the guy was nice enough, but he didn't bring any moving equipment, and this armoire weighed a ton, so I had to go get my own equipment out of my car... how many girls have their own moving equipment?? lol! Anyway, so now I'm helping, too, and when we went to bring the armoire out of the elevator, it wouldn't budge, so I said, oh, there's a lip on the elevator entrance, we'll have to lift it up on one side, and did this guy listen to me? No. Because I'm not a man,. That is the sort of thing that infuriates me - when a man will only listen to another man - ugh!
So the mover insisted on doing it his way, and the whole armoire cracked in two, started falling apart, right in front of my eyes - was awful, and insanely dangerous. It fell apart, entirely, by the time we got it down the hall to my apartment... what a disaster, and he still charged me $60 for the move - bleah!! What a joke. And then it sat in the corner for about a year, I had no way of getting it back together, it was soo heavy, and so much work, like a puzzle, to piece it all back together, so, eventually, I found a fantastic carpenter (took me a year to even find a reliable carpenter), Sean, I think his name was, and he put it together - but took 4 of us to lift the thing up, and put it in place... but it looks great, now, right? lol! hahaha! Just took a minute to get it all done, but now my desk looks how I had visualized it, and I loves it!!
See you soon, and I hope this little idea helps you out, too, makes your life a little easier! : ) Ailsa : )
Okay, 'til next time!! Go haz you'self Lots of Fun!! Ailsa : )
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