[cothhalter]

Would love to see pics, I'm always afraid to put them up, so as an alternative I just have bare walls after 5 years of living here.... HELP!

[Simkie]

Well, just start putting stuff on the wall. If you decide you don't like it, move it and put something else up

The only "trick" I can think to mention is to be sure you don't hang stuff too HIGH. I see so many people hang their art well above comfortable eye level, with white space underneath. I find art hung at or just below eye level to be much more pleasing.

[SFrost]

I never plan out where I am going to put stuff. I start with the main focal point picture where I want that and then just hang everything else.

[Judysmom]

I try to be symmetrical and keep everything balanced.

For example, I have a large painting over my couch, and then I hung two smaller paintings, exactly the same size, on each side of the larger painting, at a equal distance from the big painting, at the same height as each other.

[Over the Hill]

My brother, who was an interior designer told me that pictures should be hung comfortably at eye level. Start there and then add on from there. Should be balanced, but can be an eclectic mix of sizes and/or shapes.

[EqTrainer]

Great advice. And remember, you can just move them if you dont like them.

[linquest]

I just hung up pictures last month for the first time in my adult life
I use Command products by 3M which are move-able, adhesive hooks/hangers. No need to put any holes into the walls, and you can relatively easily move the hanger if you don't end up liking where you stuck the picture the first time.

[Bluey]

Decorator school teaches you hang stuff on walls you want people to see at eye level.

Ok, not MY eye level, a bit higher, I am 4'11".

Or on standard height rooms, about 36" from the ceiling for regular sized paintings/drawings/pictures/whatever larger stuff you are hanging.

Oh, also when you use more than one, make it groups of three or five.

[myleetlepony]

Another question...if you have a piece of furniture that is off center of a wall, do you hang pictures in the center of the furniture piece (also off center of the wall) or center to the wall?

[Simkie]

Without seeing the space, I would center on the furniture.

[smm20]

If you are afraid to start drilling holes in a pristine wall, take a photo of the wall from a distance (take the photo looking straight at the wall). Open it in photo editing software, and draw boxes on the wall that are the same size as the pictures you want to hang. Move them around until the arrangement looks nice.

I've actually done this with my horse - I photoshopped a saddle pad onto him to see if the color would look good.

[2DogsFarm]

I like to put pics in line of sight - where I'll see them when seated in a room.
Eye-level seems to work best. But, like Bluey, not my (5'5") eye-level - aim for a 6-footer's.

I agree they do not have to be matchy-matchy in frame, size or subject.

You can lay out everything you plan to hang on a table or floor to see how you like to see them arranged and then hang in the same order.

The Command hooks are a great idea!

[myleetlepony]

Without seeing the space, I would center on the furniture.

Unfortunately, I can't center the furniture; in the bedroom it would make the space between the bed and the dresser too small. In my living room, I have a couch and a loveseat corner to corner in an "L" shape. Centering the couch on the wall would force me to move the loveseat back too far into the walking space from front door to dining room.

[Bluey]

I would say, if you have a larger piece to hang, either over the middle of the furniture, or completely away from it, in the middle of the wall space between the door and where the furniture starts, either may be a good balancing option.

If you need to fill the space below that painting if not over the furniture, how about a very small stand, or very narrow longer light table, or a narrow basked or plant under the painting?

[Simkie]

Unfortunately, I can't center the furniture; in the bedroom it would make the space between the bed and the dresser too small. In my living room, I have a couch and a loveseat corner to corner in an "L" shape. Centering the couch on the wall would force me to move the loveseat back too far into the walking space from front door to dining room.

??

I did not say to center the furniture. I said I would center ON the furniture. Canter the art on the furniture.

[Pookah]

I love this tip that Apartment Therapy posted - can't say that I always use it, but I do think it's a useful guideline: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-hang-you-6174. I am fortunate to live in an old place with picture rails, so it is the easiest thing in the world to move pictures around (I have no idea why we stopped using those and started putting holes in the walls instead). If you can't do that, I get that this is maybe not as easy - but just hang stuff up and live with it. You can always change it later if you don't like where it is, and you will be so much happier without bare walls!

[Bluey]

I prefer for the tops of the pictures to be even, about 36" from normal height ceilings, unless one looks a bit off, then tweak it a bit, mostly up.

Why?
Maybe because being so short, pictures are already above eye level and looking from below up to them, an even top seems more pleasant than centered, even on centers.

[BuddyRoo]

Eye level. But also in balance with the size of the wall. My hubby wanted to hang some stuff in the middle of a huge, blank wall and I was all "where is the balance???"

If you don't have something big enough for the space, cluster. BUt kind of randomly. Choose a bit of a theme...like say, black wood frames of different sizes and textures and then do a collage!

[Superminion]

This is my dining room wall. I had the HARDEST time filling the huge empty space.

I used this web site to help. Once I got into it, it was really fun! I want to to our stairwell next, but we're moving, so I have all the frames, but there isn't any point in hanging anything!

[randomequine]

Command makes picture hangers.....they're the best.

I'm pretty restless with my pictures/decorating......now I can change/move stuff AND not put holes in the walls (which our management company dictates that we cannot patch ourselves, we have to pay them to do it. Whatever).