Things I Love – 3M Picture Hanging Strips

So you wanna do a cool gallery wall but what scares you? The lining up and planning right? Well there are a ton of tips on how to do it right from wax paper drawings to laser level light shows. And I have done them both and ya know what? I still fuck it up. To an OCD person like myself, it KILLS me.

Well when I created Landon’s family wall, I went crazy psycho with painters tape and laser levels. 4×4 grid seemed like a 2 week project to make sure it was perfect. Add in that the frames were the same but not…it was a logisical nightmare. But I just happened to be strolling through Michael’s and saw these:

hanging strips

3M Hanging Strips: Velcro for the walls! No need for 16 holes!  ADJUSTABLE! Too good to be true, right? Wrong. They are magical. I have found them most places. Target, Walmart, etc. Not super elusive.

Layout the grid roughly with small pencil marks and a yard stick. Then pop those suckers on the back of the frame and stick.  Off by a hair? No problem. Undo the velcro and snap over a smidge.  It is so perfect.

Family Gallery Wall

The only downfall is the design for when your frames aren’t flat on the back. These need some surface area to stick to so no just metal frames. So choose wisely on frames if you want to go this route. Otherwise, I can’t see the downside.  You can get different sizes based on different weights. Also, in the case above, those frames are above the changing table. Once old enough, he learned to take them off…and? NO PROBLEM! No nail sticking out and we could snap them back on. Even rearrange if we want. I recently took them down to paint them and refill and no worries. RIght back to a perfect grid.

So I put it to the test again with Dolphin’s photo booth wall*. I bought 9 $1 frames from the Dollar Tree and voila:

Photo Booth Wall Gallery

 I love it and it was super easy. So hooray for 3M and their magical solution to a timeless problem. I will never use a hammer again…unless it’s to some toy that won’t shut the fuck up. Then all bets are off.

*Better quality pics and nursery tour coming.

9 thoughts on “Things I Love – 3M Picture Hanging Strips

  • July 26, 2012 at 1:05 pm
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    Love these things. Now get to pushing that dolphin out Momma!

    Reply
  • July 26, 2012 at 3:03 pm
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    I tried this 2 years ago when I did the photo wall in my family room. 2 weeks later they started falling down. And I was using the heaviest weighted strips. Just a fyi, it may not be a perma fix.

    Reply
  • July 26, 2012 at 6:14 pm
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    I could kiss you for this post as I’m about to collage some photo’s up in this bitch (mainly my living room). Also: amen for representing the Dolla Holla Tree!

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  • July 26, 2012 at 6:55 pm
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    Looks amazeballs. Let me take some pro photos to post on my photo blog!

    PS. I used the super strong ones with a super heavy frame from Target for my office. The frame fell down a few hours later, taking a HUGE chunk out of my baseboard. Stick with lightweight frames!

    Reply
    • July 26, 2012 at 7:37 pm
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      Yeah I wouldn’t do heavy. Those wood frames also don’t have glass. Dollar store ones are even lighter. The other gallery wall has heavier frames that I couldn’t use these.

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  • October 24, 2012 at 9:40 pm
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    Thank you so much! I have been looking for a way to hang my wooden letters for my daughter’s room. I didn’t want any holes in the wall because I am renting right now. Can’t wait to get these! Great blog and pictures.

    Reply

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