How to Plan a Gallery Wall That Hangs Straight

Lay it out on the floor

Clear a stretch of floor as wide as the wall you have in mind. Lay the frames face up and move them around until the group looks balanced. Keep the gaps between frames about the same, and let the largest frame anchor the middle or one corner.

Take a photo of the layout from above. It saves you from rebuilding it from memory later.

Make paper templates

Trace each frame onto kraft paper or taped-together printer paper and cut the shapes out. Turn each frame over and mark on its paper where the hanging point sits: the top of the wire pulled tight, or the center of each D-ring or sawtooth.

Mark the hook points

Tape the paper shapes to the wall in the same layout. Step back, look at it from across the room, and move pieces until it sits right. Paper is free to move. Holes are not.

When you are happy, mark each hook point on the paper, then a second mark 1/4 inch above it. That second mark is where the hook goes in.

Hang it through the paper

Push each Monkey Hook through the paper at its upper mark, twist it through the drywall, and slide it home. Then tear the paper away around the hooks and hang each frame.

If one tip stops hard, there is a stud behind that spot. Move that one frame's hook sideways within its frame's width, or use a nail there.

A set that is already planned

If you would rather skip the planning, the Our Family 7-Frame Gallery Set is seven black satin hardwood frames with real glass and white mats, laid out as one arrangement 66 inches wide and 30 inches tall. The box holds one 11x13 frame for an 8x10 print, two 8x10 frames for 5x7 prints, two 8x8 frames for 5x5 prints and two 7x9 frames for 4x6 prints, with Monkey Hook hangers included. It sells for $90.97.

It will not suit prints in other sizes, because the mats are cut for those four. For your own frames, the Home & Office Pack gives you thirty hooks in three styles.