Are you someone
who wishes they could recite this line and have it be true? Or does your version of Snow White’s
wicked queen sound more like:
“Mirror, mirror
on the floor behind the dresser for the last three years…”
It doesn’t quite
have the same flow, does it? And
neither do our homes when items, meaning to be hung, pile up in corners or get
tucked behind every couch, bed and doorway to gather dust or impinge on our
floor space.
There are many
reasons that might hold you back from hanging mirrors, pictures and the like:
·
Where do I hang it?
·
I
don’t have the right hooks or tools.
·
There’s not enough time to get it done.
·
I
need help to lift and measure.
·
I
don’t want to make holes in the walls.
·
I
might re-arrange or paint this room.
If all of this
sounds familiar, you are not alone.
For many, these obstacles put organizing and decorating your home into
an indefinite holding pattern. To
move forward, you need to address your roadblocks directly and come up with
solutions that will literallyget this
project off the ground.
To begin, start
by touring your home with a pad and pen.
Write down the name of each room and, underneath, list everything that
you already have that needs to be hung.
For Example:
Kitchen Hallway Bathroom
Clock Painting
Towel
Bar
Paper towel Holder Key
Rack Picture
Herbal Wreath Mirror Hooks
Visit every room
and area of your home and be as thorough as possible with your list.
Figuring between
ten and fifteen minutes per piece, add “wall-hanging” as a project to your
schedule. Knowing what and how
many items you actually have and grouping them together into one scheduled task
makes it easier to block out and maximize time. If you need help lifting, measuring or making decorating
decisions, check with a friend or family member to see what date works best for
them. You might otherwise consider
hiring someone to help out.
Handymen, interior decorators and professional organizers are all good
resources for this.
Now that you’ve
selected a date for your project, it’s time to gather your tools. You should have a hammer, measuring
tape, a pencil, level, enough picture hanging hooks and your list. Although you can get away without some
of these tools, I strongly recommend using hooks over just plain nails –
especially for heavy or costlier items.
They are less likely to make big holes in the wall and small holes from
picture hooks are easily filled and painted over.
For artwork,
don’t make the mistake of hanging things too high. Galleries will hang art at eye-level, with the center of the
picture about 5 feet from the floor.
Yet, if you’re hanging something above a dresser or couch, you will want
to measure about 8 inches from the top of the piece of furniture. Pictures will look as if they are floating
in space if hung midway between tabletop and the ceiling. If you want to group a bunch of smaller
pictures together and can’t decide how, try tracing the frames on blank
paper. Write a description of each
picture on it’s tracing and cut them out.
Use blue painters’ tape to position and reposition them right on the
wall, taking note of the order that you prefer.
Finally, if
you’re worried about marring the walls or changing the room décor sometime in
the future, then you may need to re-evaluate whether this is actually a project
you are ready to take on. If not,
then it may be best to store or pass these items along. Otherwise, make your plan to get that
mirror off the floor. The
reflection of your newly decorated home will be “the fairest of them all!”
To contact Annette Reyman for organizing work,
packing/unpacking help, gift certificates or speaking engagements in the
Greater Philadelphia area call (610) 213-9559 or email her at annette@allrightorganizing.com.
Reyman is a member of the National Association
of Professional Organizers (NAPO®) and Board Member of its Greater Philadelphia Chapter.
Visit her blog, http://www.areyofhope.blogspot.com
or her website at www.allrightorganizing.com
or follow All Right Organizing on Facebook.
