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Design

My First Time Hanging A Gallery Wall With Picture Rail Rods (So Easy And Looks So Good!)

Robyn and Ryan (two of our best friends) have this gorgeous 100-year-old home (see the intro post here) that has picture molding near the crown, which gave us an opportunity to use picture rods (art rods?) for the gallery wall above the sofa. I had bought most of these pieces for their basement in their former house (one of my favorite projects ever) and this wall is kinda boring with no architectural interest. I saw these picture rods at Nickey Kehoe years ago but never had a project with picture moldings (which has a built-in ledge for this exact purpose) so this was my time. Now, you could also use clips and wire/string/fishing line to individually hang each piece of art, but we were wanting to hang a gallery wall of sorts here so we chose an easier (and really pretty) way. Using these rods would allow us to do that since you can add as many on each rod as can fit (whereas if you were to hang it on a picture clip you’d have that triangle shape of the wire/string that would overlap with the other art in the gallery, if that makes sense). I love the flexibility of these.

Art Rod How-To

The rods are sold separately and come in a variety of lengths. We bought four 5′ rods that were $26.99 each, along with eight adjustable monkey hangers that you slide onto the rod. You can cut the rods down after you determine where the art ends on the wall or buy shorter ones if you feel confident about the length.

They are extremely fun and easy – just set into the ridge in the trim, holding very confidently and you slide on each monkey hanger and move it up or down based on what you are hanging. Everything is forever adjustable with zero holes and zero commitment. You know I’m a huge fan of that:)

The hooks stay due to the leverage and weight of the art once it’s on – and again so easy to adjust up or down, add more, take off, etc. I can’t recommend these enough! Plus they are very pretty.

Watch it populate – How fun is this? And we made a reel about it over on IG if you want to see my hanging it in action.

We played around with the composition for a while – you could obviously just have one big piece (which I think would look best hanging on two rods) or four/six pieces that hang on top of each other across the wall. What you can’t do is hang anything in between the rods as by nature of them you have to “stack” the pieces. I loved this constraint and we were able to take all the pieces that we had collected before (as well as the new one we bought at Rose City Vintage Market) which anchored the collection. All in all, it was a little over $100 as we used 3 of the rods and 8 monkey hangers. Come back and see the reveal real soon and how the gallery wall looks with the rest of the design:)

*Photos by Kaitlin Green

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Jen
12 days ago

Just so great!

Andria
11 days ago

Glad to see a story on this style of hanging art. I prefer the Stas system myself. I’m a former visual art museum curator and I live in a 113-year old house with thick plaster walls that reject nails, lolz. Here’s a kitchen pic of works hung with Stas hangers, which are strong but nearly invisible.

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Dree
11 days ago
Reply to  Andria

Love your kitchen!

Andria
11 days ago
Reply to  Dree

thanks so much! it was originally the back porch, probably walled in around the 1940s/50s. IKEA cabinets and butcher block countertops, table is from Crate and Barrel, vintage Bertoia chairs.

Elle
11 days ago

Ohh, I didn’t know these existed and they are exactly what I need! Thank you!

Jenn
11 days ago

Do the pictures lean forward and how do you prevent that? We use the ones like the other commenter and it drives me nuts how the picture aren’t flat agains the wall.

Dree
11 days ago
Reply to  Jenn

Couldn’t you put felt or silicone bumpers on the bottom two corners? In whatever thickness you needed…not sure how far away from the wall your items hang.

Jess
11 days ago
Reply to  Jenn

I stick cut pieces of cork to the lower corners of the pictures to keep them flat to the wall.

Andria
11 days ago
Reply to  Jenn

I’ve found that you can adjust how they lean by tightening/relocating the framing wire on the back of the artwork. Some of mine lean somewhat and I embrace the wonkiness but I can see how it would drive you nuts. Best advice is to put eyehooks in the sides of the frame back at 1/3 from top of frame, and then string wire between the hooks. Probably needs to be taut, but sometimes a little looseness helps depending on the weight of the canvas plus frame.

J
11 days ago

I love the idea of these hole-less hanging systems like gallery hangers but I personally don’t like how the hanged art isn’t flat against the wall, they’re always hanging out at angle so I’m hesitant to do this on any walls where you might see it from the side. If anyone have any ideas to combat this, Id love to know!

Melody
9 days ago
Reply to  J

My mum has gallery hangers in her house but the art is definitely flat. I think you need to get the right “thing* at the back of the art piece for that piece

pm
11 days ago

I like the idea of these, but think it’s most successful on the large art. The smaller pieces look a bit wonky and askew.

Lynly
10 days ago
Reply to  pm

I think you’re so right about the art size with these types of hangers. The smaller pieces are always crooked and it goes visually messy.

Grace
11 days ago

We have a 110 year old house with picture rail and plaster walls and have used a much pricier version of these so I am thrilled to find good $26 ones. That said, I haven’t been able to solve for the leaning and rickety-feeling aspect of using picture rail and rods. Especially in my kids’ rooms where doors get slammed and lots of jumping around and wrestling, the art feels… precarious, though nothing has ever come down. It’s also not a fix for things like bulletin boards but I have had luck with 3M velcro strips for those- they lay flat and come off without damaging the plaster. Just in case that helps anyone else!

Trish
11 days ago

I really like these AND I do see the point made by some here about them not hanging flat. I don’t like the way the Stas system hangs at all; that would really bother me. I’m thinking that museum putty might work to help with the alignment. I love your display and would like to know your thoughts on the effectiveness of museum putty here!

Mariangela
10 days ago

So…not hanging where there are earthquakes??