[AD] Tips for hanging, displaying and framing art with eFrame

[AD – This is a paid partnership with eFrame. The black frames were gifted for the purposes of this post, but the art within them is my own – the striped Kristina Krogh print is from The Poster Club, I was gifted the grass print from Stengun Drawings and my friend Hannah gave me the Carl Hansen & Son poster]

Following on from my blog post about where to find affordable art, I received a couple of questions about framing art and specifically, the best places for affordable frames and made to measure frames. A good frame can really make or break a piece of art – the difference between dull and boring and allowing the work to sing and show it off to its best.

I’ve always hesitated when it’s come to framing art, forever having frames leaning against the wall on the floor or prints rolled up in tubes for fear of commitment. That was either because I couldn’t decide where to put it, didn’t know the best way to hang it or because I hadn’t found the right frame to suit the piece yet.

For ages I had this Carl Hansen & Son poster archived away – a lovely gift from my friend Hannah – but because it wasn’t a standard size I had never got round to framing it. So I was delighted when eFrame approached me and introduced me to their bespoke service – they’re a UK-based online company that provide artwork prints and hand crafted frames that can be custom made to any size.

Founded from a garden shed in 2002, the website eFrame was first started to help take some of the stress and cost out of traditional framing. Based in Cambridge, they now have 60 skilled framers creating thousands of different style frames. There’s lots of choice, from black stained frames, through to natural oak frames and silver aluminium frames, many starting from as little as £9. For me, the appealing bit is that the frames are handmade in the UK. I was sent two frames to style in my own home and I can really attest to their quality – they don’t feel flimsy at all as the frame edges are secured neatly with metal pins.

To go alongside these images of my new frames in situ, I thought it was a good opportunity to share my tips for hanging, displaying and framing art in case you’re looking to do the same and are just as stuck as I was, so here goes:

– Firstly, walls require different fixings depending what they’re composed of. Understanding what type of wall you’re going to be hanging your art from will help to ensure it’s secured properly and won’t fall off. You can tell by simply knocking on the wall – a concrete, stone or brick wall will sound very hard, while a stud wall with plasterboard will appear hollow. Usually you can count on the structural, exterior walls of a home being more solid than the interior partition walls.

– For heavier art you might have to rely on a drill, making a hole for a wall plug so that you can secure a screw to hang the work from. Your local DIY store can advise on what screw is suitable for the weight of your art. If you’re dealing with a hard, concrete wall you can use a nylon picture hook where you hammer in pins to secure it flat. Hardened, brass head, picture pins are good for hammering into plasterboard walls and hanging lighter pieces of art (I used them on the gallery wall in my hallway).

– If you’re renting or are worried about damaging your walls, there’s also Command strips. Some people have mixed things to say about these but I’ve found them to be really handy for quickly mounting A4 or A3 pieces of art without the need for any tools. They’re basically like sticky Velcro strips that are secured to the back of a frame and the wall, locking into position when they’re meet. It means you can unlock and reposition work until it’s straight and they supposedly come off without leaving any marks or holes on the wall.

– If you’re hanging more than one piece of art, you can arrange them either symmetrically or asymmetrically. Symmetry is achieved when objects are repeated or arranged along a central axis – ideal if you like order and a bit of formality in your home. You could have three equally spaced pieces of art above a fireplace for example.

– For me, symmetry can feel a bit contrived and forced, so I often like to style asymmetrically – where items are arranged in a more natural way. Instead of relying on repetition and equal spacing, asymmetrical arrangements cluster a variety of pieces together to create a dynamic display. A gallery wall with frames of different sizes, styles and materials is a prime example. It’s quite a difficult style to get right – because it often comes down to have a good eye for balance and it’s something you have to play around with – but when done well, asymmetry can really make a space come alive with texture, interest and colour.

– When I’m working out where to hang an art, I find it’s always useful to have another person and spare set of hands about, so they can hold up the work and you can stand back and check it’s in the right place… ‘Just a little bit left, no back again, a smidge to the right, stop, perfect!’ You can then get them to move the piece slightly away from the wall and make a mark of where it should go with a pencil.

– For a gallery wall or several pieces of art, I like to arrange them on the floor before making any holes. That way you can move them about until you find something that works, get them in the right position and then take a photo so that you can remember the arrangement, before marking where they should be on a wall and getting the drill or hammer out. That’s how I did the gallery wall in the hallway, shown below. I wasn’t too picky about the spacing between them and did most of it by eye once I knew the rough layout of the frames. Alternatively, you could measure out the frames on the wall and use masking tape to draw out their outline – that way you can see if the arrangement really works without damaging the wall.

– Saying that it’s always useful to have a tape measure and spirit level to hand. I downloaded a spirit level app on my phone and it works surprisingly well! I think the iPhone may even come with one already on it too.

– When you’re hanging art, you also need to consider the furniture in the room. You don’t want to bang your head on a frame if it’s too close to the headboard of your bed, for example. Likewise here, I didn’t want the frames to overlap with the top of the dining table because that would have just looked silly.

– As a general rule, I like to hang art at eye level as I think it’s easy on the eye and gives the appearance of balance. In most homes, that probably means that the top of the frame is approximately two thirds the way up the wall from the floor. But each home is different, with different ceiling heights and more often than not you can just tell if something sits right or not with your eye.

– If you want to give the illusion of ceiling height, hang your art lower but if you want to make a space feel cosier, hang more pieces and pack them in.

– When deciding on what frame to use, I think it depends on the piece of art and if the print or work is full bleed (where the ink or paint goes right to the edge). For me, full bleed works need a bit of space around them to breathe so you can get their full impact, so I’d recommend using a mount to frame them. Having a mount means that the white trim or edge brings focus to the artwork. If it’s a poster you’re less likely to need a mount because it wouldn’t suit the style of a bigger piece.

– Choosing a frame finish comes down to the colours and tones of the art piece you’re framing as well as the style of your home. I chose these very thin, black metal frames because they match well with the monochrome art they’re displaying. I like that they have a minimal, crisp and clean look which fits with the simple, pared-back, contemporary surroundings of my home. I find that black frames tend to make a piece of art ‘pop’ out more. But, more colourful pieces might suit a more neutral frame, like metal or white, while wooden frames or chunkier designs could fit better with more traditional-style homes.

– You might also want to consider the window of the frame; some hold glass fronts, while others have acrylic or perspex. eFrame use Clarity+ glazing – it doesn’t scratch easy, has a high UV resistance and doesn’t yellow over time. I find glass shows smears and marks more and I like that acrylic or perspex is less likely to break and shatter.

– But you don’t necessarily have to hang art on a wall to create a beautiful display. I love leaning framed pieces against the wall, for example on top of chest of drawers and sideboards to give a more casual, relaxed look, or even on the floor (my little secret for concealing ugly plug sockets!).

– Framing and displaying art doesn’t have to cost the earth – there’s many ways to make it more affordable, whether it’s buying postcards from exhibitions or tearing pages out of magazines and framing them, buying a standard size frame, or getting a frame with a simple finish rather than lots of detailing. My guide to buying affordable art is a good place to start if you’re looking to put something new on the walls.

I hope that’s given you some food for thought and some useful tips for framing and hanging art in your own home. This corner in the kitchen was always missing something and I feel that these two frames from eFrame finish it off beautifully. I like that the slender black frames connect back to the gallery wall in the hallway and it now all feels part of the same space.

There’s something about framed art that just makes an interior look instantly complete and considered. Now when I work from the dining table, I can look up and see more than blank walls – I see a little of my personality in the space; my love of stripes and streamlined forms, and my passion for well-crafted design.

All images: Cate St Hill