Hanging Canvas Prints - The Ultimate & Easy Guide

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Whether you order prints of your family, your four-legged friend, a landscape, or something in between, the pièce de résistance is hanging canvas prints on your wall.

There's just one catch...

Hanging canvas prints (and other types of prints, for that matter), can be more complex than it seems.

You need to pick the right spot to hang the print, find and mark studs, and determine the height at which the print will hang, just to name a few.

Sometimes you might mess up and hang the print too high, or you might miss the wall stud with the nail for the hanger, or you might try hanging canvas prints in a location that isn't ideal.

So, to spare you from making these mistakes, use our guide for hanging canvas prints to lead the way.

The Basics of Hanging Canvas Prints
Hanging Canvas Prints: Where to Hang or Not to Hang
Tricks for Making Hanging Canvas Prints Easier
The Best Hack for Hanging Canvas Prints

The Basics of Hanging Canvas Prints

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Let's first get the basics out of the way...

To hang a canvas print, you'll need the following:

A stud finder
A pencil
A tape measure
A spirit level
Mounting hardware (if your canvas print didn't come with the hardware already installed)
Hammer and/or screwdriver
Drill

The first order of business is to select a location for your print. The size of the print will factor into this: if you have a small print, you don't want to hang it on a large wall space. The same goes for a large print in a small area.

A rule of thumb is that a print (or a group of smaller prints) should cover roughly 70 percent of the available wall area. So, measure the width and height of the available space you have and multiply both measurements by .7. The resulting dimensions can serve as a rough guide for how large of a print or group of prints the wall can accommodate.

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Additionally, you want the print to be at eye level. To avoid hanging the print too high, try to keep the center point of the print at roughly 57 inches above the floor.

After determining where you can hang your print, it's time to find the wall studs. Usually, wall studs are 16 inches on center, though some might be 24 inches on center. Since canvas prints (even large ones) are relatively lightweight, you might not even need to find studs for hanging the mounting hardware. Instead, you can use drywall anchors as your mounting points.

photo by DjordjeDjurdjevic via iStock

In either case, you'll need to use a pencil to mark the location of the anchor point. Remember that the top of the canvas will be higher than this point, so take the distance between the mounting hardware and the top of the canvas into account when marking the location on the wall.

If using a picture hanger, attach it to the wall by hammering it into the wall stud. If using a drywall anchor, drill an appropriately-sized hole for the anchor and tap it into place with a hammer. You'll need a screwdriver to drive the hanging screw into the anchor.

Once the picture hanger or anchor is attached to the wall, it's a matter of hanging canvas prints and getting them level. Use your spirit level to ensure the print is hanging correctly.

Hanging Canvas Prints: Where to Hang or Not to Hang

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As mentioned earlier, one of the key components of hanging canvas prints is simply finding the right location for the artwork.

Aside from sizing the print appropriately and hanging it at the correct height, you need to consider the physical location of the print in your home.

Usually, it's not a good plan to hang a canvas print in a room that has a lot of moisture, like a bathroom or laundry room. The humidity in the air can have a detrimental effect on the canvas as well as the frame.

Likewise, it's generally recommended that you don't hang canvas prints in direct sunlight. Hours of direct sunlight each day can cause the ink on the canvas to fade faster than normal. Therefore, to preserve the quality of your canvas print, choose locations to hang them that avoid excessive moisture or sunlight.

Tricks for Making Hanging Canvas Prints Easier

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Fortunately, there are some easy tricks you can use for making hanging canvas prints a much easier task.

For example, if you're having trouble deciding how big of a print can go in a space, use painter's tape to outline different sizing options. This will help you visualize if a 20x30" print will suffice or if you need to upgrade to a 24x36" print.

Another way you can use painter's tape is to determine the height of a group of photos. Since the recommended height is around 57 inches, run a strip of tape at that height, and you'll have an easy guide for hanging multiple photos at the right eye level.

There are plenty of other tricks you can use as well:

Press a push pin into the frame of the canvas print. Then glue another pushpin to the first, back to back. This gives you a means of marking where the mounting point should be on the wall while minimizing the guesswork!
Alternatively, you can use a small spot of toothpaste to mark the spot. Just add the toothpaste to the back of the hanging hardware on your canvas print, press the print to the wall, and voila - the toothpaste marks the spot!
Use craft paper and painter's tape to lay out a collage of canvas prints. Cut the paper to correspond to each print's size, then hang the paper on the wall to determine an arrangement that looks pleasing to the eye.

The Best Hack for Hanging Canvas Prints

At the end of the day, hanging canvas prints isn't rocket science, but it can be more complex than you initially think.

I, for one, am all about working smarter, not harder, so I want to share the ultimate hack for hanging canvas prints...

I found a tool online that allows you to arrange your photos on a virtual wall with the greatest of ease.

As you can see above, Wall Design Wizard from Printique takes all the guesswork out of hanging canvas prints. Simply choose the room where you want to hang your prints (or upload a photo of your actual room, if you like), enter the number of prints you have, the arrangement of prints that you like the best, and you're all set.

From there, you can upload your photos, select the type of substrate you want, and pick the size of print you want, too.

Heck, you can even adjust the size of the virtual wall, change the wall color, and add items like lamps, chairs, tables, and windows to the scene to help you replicate the setting in your own home.

In other words, Printique's Wall Design Wizard takes all the hassle out of planning where to hang your art. In just a few clicks, you can see what your print will look like before you even order it!

I've been hanging canvas prints for years, and while most of them look great, I missed the mark with a few that are a little too high or a little close to other prints. If I'd had the Wall Design Wizard at my disposal back then, I wouldn't have encountered these issues.

So, if you want to make it easy on yourself for hanging canvas prints, take a moment to explore Printique's online design tool!