Done in a Day: Hanging Photo Display

Getting Started

Family photographs instantly add warmth and personality to your home. Take them out of the attic, off your computer, or out of the infrequently viewed albums on your bookshelves, and enjoy them every day. Invite a friend over, and you can create this meaningful and flexible display in an afternoon.

Pick a wall, corner, or entire room. If your chosen spot already has picture molding, which is found in many older homes, your job will be easy. If not, no worries! With the right tools, adding new molding is not that complicated.

What You'll Need

• Framed photographs: Combine old and new frames in a variety of shapes and sizes.
• Twine, eyehooks, and picture-molding hooks: All are available at your local hardware store. Shop historichouseparts.com for the bronze molding hooks we used.
• Picture molding, nail set, and nailhole filler: All are available at your local home-improvement store. A nail set is handy to have in your toolbox.
• Miter box and saw: If you need to turn a corner with your molding, this inexpensive box helps you create mitered corners. We used a fine-cut backsaw by Kobalt.

Step 1: Select Photos

Pick the photos you want to hang and pair them with frames. You can use all new frames or, for more interest, shop antiques malls and flea markets. Select all of your photographs before project day to ensure you’ll have plenty of time to put everything together.

Consider printing all the photos in sepia tone for a unified look. Convert any photo with a program such as iPhoto, Corel Paint Shop Pro, or Adobe Photoshop. For older or damaged images, have your local photo shop restore them using fade-resistant inks and papers.

Step 2: Prepare Molding

Determine the length of each wall where you want to hang your pictures, and have the molding cut a foot longer than that measurement at the home-improvement store. The extra foot is necessary if you have to turn a corner; it allows for the miter. To miter, measure the exact length and mark the wood. Hold the wood in the miter box, lining up your mark with the 45-degree slot, and cut. Paint your molding to match your trim.

Step 3: Prepare Pictures and Frames

While the paint is drying, get the frames ready to hang. Screw a ½-inch eyehook into the top back corners of each frame. Estimate the location of each and mark the wall lightly with a pencil at the top of each frame. Measure the distance from the ceiling to your marks. Double that number, add 20 inches, and cut twine to length. Thread one end of twine through each eyehook, and loosely tie them in the middle of the back of each frame. The extra twine will allow you to adjust your frames later.

Step 4: Hang Molding 

Measure 1 inch from the bottom of your crown molding or ceiling, and lightly mark the wall with pencil. Line up the top of the molding with your mark, and tack molding in place with finishing nails. Hang the rest of the molding using a level as you go. Punch the nails into the wood with a nail set, fill the holes with nail-hole filler, and touch up the paint. 

Step 5: Hang Frames on Picture Hooks

Place picture hooks along the molding, and hang your frames. Specially designed picture-molding hooks such as the one pictured fit snugly into the lip of your trim and allow you to adjust your display easily. Adjust the height of each frame by retying the twine.