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We’re currently long-term housesitting for my in-laws and I wanted to add a little personality to our temporary home. It’s no secret I believe being surrounded by things you love goes a long way to making you smile each day!
It’s also no secret that I believe in making an effort with your surroundings, whether you rent or own and however long you intend living somewhere. Which is why I have always been a big fan of 3M Command hooks. Not being able to bang holes in walls has never held me back from decorating (just don’t buy the cheap imposter hooks unless you want to be woken in the night with a heart attack when your frames hit the floor) And I’ve always removed them at the end of a tenancy with no marks, flaked paint or dramas. Phew!
I recently discovered 3M Command’s Picture Hanging Strips. They work by having two interlocking strips which snap together. Unlike the hooks, they are designed specifically for hanging frames. The large strips allow you to hang frames up to 7kg in weight. That’s pretty damn heavy!
And if something’s less than 1.3kg, you only need one strip! You’re recommended to wipe the wall down first with rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) which you can pick up at most hardware stores and chemists.
They’re super easy to use. All you need is a clean wall and a little patience for pressing things for 30 seconds. OK, not that much patience even! They’re cheap too, with packs starting at $6.99. Placing a spirit level on the top of your frame as you mount it will help you to hang the picture straight.
I whipped up the gallery wall (above) in a corner of our temporary bedroom in about 20 minutes (you also have to leave the strips up for an hour before you affix the frames for good). You could take longer if you wanted to be more precise about your measurements and right angles, but I always prefer a more organic approach to a gallery wall, or French hang, as they’re sometimes called. Plus, if you get it wildly wrong, it’s easy to remove and start again without leaving a trace.
The typography print, which came with me to Australia from the UK, is a daily positive reminder. The bottom shot of my husband and I was an impromptu one that turned out brilliantly (my professional hair and makeup, lots of lashes and a professional photographer definitely helped!) and the top photo (with the frame deliberately tying in with the orange cushion, of course!) is one of the earliest of us together. Happy things to have on the wall!
If the in-laws freak (unlikely, but still) when they return from their European travels, I’ll be able to show them how simply they can be removed with no damage or even trace they were there. Holes in their walls? Never!
The only thing is, it’s so easy and you can create such great effects so quickly and cheaply, you could get carried away with wanting to stick everything to the walls. I think I could become addicted!
This quick video shows you how it’s done.
3M Command is encouraging everyone to love their walls. The gallery wall has been fashionable for years now and the trend isn’t going anywhere. If you’ve been thinking about trying it in your own home, why not give it a go with these strips? I’d love to see your results.
You can start small with three frames, like I did, or go nuts, covering your entire hallway or stairwell. How about a wall of inspirational quotes above the desk in your home office or frames full of your kids’ art in their bedrooms or the kitchen? You can easily remove them and change the pictures inside as often as you like.
Or of course, you can show some restraint and just hang a solo frame!
Find out where to buy 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips.
WIN
I have 3M Command prize packs worth $50 to give away to 5 lucky readers. Each pack includes 2 packs of Medium White Hooks, 2 packs of Medium Picture Hanging Strips in White, 2 packs of Medium Picture Hanging Strips in Black, 2 packs of Large Picture Hanging Strips in White, 1 pack of Mini Hooks in Clear and 1 pack of Utensil Hooks. To enter, simply comment below and tell me which project/s you’d create in your home if you won, by 5pm on Thursday 30 January 2014). Read the competition terms and conditions here.
Also check out the competition taking place on the Command Facebook Page, where you can show them how you love your walls by taking a picture and uploading it to Instagram with the hashtag #loveyourwalls or #3MCommand. Entries will be pulled into a gallery which can be seen on a special Facebook app.
Good luck!
Comments
I’d hang up wedding photos and the heavy guest fingerprint tree from our reception.
I’m planning on doing a gallery of family pictures in our hallway. I honestly don’t know what I’m waiting for…
I have loads of artwork and frames just sitting on the floor, under where I want to hang them. I bought some command hooks after I seen your post a few weeks ago and they worked a charm. It would be so good to win so I can finish hanging all the art and frames and turn this rental property into a home 🙂
I am making a cluster of ‘gods eyes’ (the woven wool stars you make in grade 1 with Popsicle sticks!), but using natural sticks from my backyard and beautiful earthy coloured New Zealand merino wool, complete with homemade Pom poms on the ends of the sticks. 3m hooks are just what I need to hang my project above my bed head!!
Im doing a jewelery wall display in my daughters room to make a feature of all the lovely necklaces they have at the moment.
I’ve been thinking and dreaming of creating a wall of frames in our Reading Room but I haven’t had the courage to – commission my husband to – drill 15-20 holes in our newly painted walls. The 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips would be perfect for this project, I could do this myself and not fear ripping off paint from our walls (which I may have done in 1 or 2 occassions, cleverly hidden from the husband with more frames :).
we have some wedding and vacation photos that i desperately need to put up
I would create a tribute to my Dad who was my best friend and the major influencer in my life and is the inspiration for what I do today. Miss him heaps
I use them ALL THE TIME and love the newer velcro range. My next project us a handmade canopy for my 5yo’s bedroom. A we live in a rental home, it will be suspended from the ceiling using a Command hook.
I have a wall with cavity sliding doors behind (definitely can’t use hammered in hooks or nails!) I plan on hanging 3 beautiful mirrors on the wall. I have had the mirrors for ages, they are so beautiful I have to hang them soon! I use 3M all the time, in all of the homes I have lived in. I take them with me and just buy new sticky backs. They are the best invention – especially if you like to change things up often!
I would love to create a picture montage/ gallery wall of images from our travels.
It would be a great way to illustrate the beautiful places we’ve visited and people we’ve met. I would have to show some serious constraint and try not to go overboard in creating a shrine to our around the world adventures!
It would be a great feature in our new home, a gallery of our travels and journey to where we are now. And no doubt a constant temptation to ditch the real world and jump on the travel bus once again!
Thanks Jen xx
My son is a photographer and has done so many beautiful prints for me! I want to create a gallery of his work in my hallway – they will look fabulous (as long as they’re straight!)
What a great idea! We are renovating our first home and got married in December, I really want to hang up
some wedding photos so that we can reminisce and
relive the best day ever! But we can’t put holes in the walls to
hang them! This would be the perfect alternative!
Always great tips on here thanks Jen, we love your design ideas
and practical advice we have used it for quite a few projects!
Thank you X
Just before I went on maternity leave (Oct) we stripped the walls and coated with fresh paint, they are still bare and eagerly waiting for some personality – first project will be the hallway above the stairs and the nursery. I have some beautiful professional maternity shots and newborn baby shots of my son which I would love to create a family gallery with and then spice up the nursery with some cool prints I have recently purchased.
Thanks!
I would hang up some photos of child #2…there is only so long I will still be able to convince her that “of course that’s you in the baby photo!” LOL
I would love a whole heap of these so I can go nuts in my children’s new playroom.
I’m usually quite restrained in my decorating of walls, but I feel building this specific room just for fun and play has given me license to have some fun myself! I have some amazingly fun prints, photos, maps and quotes just ‘hanging’ out to be hung and if I can do it without a million holes in the wall. I/hubby will be a happy camper!
I have an amazing SPICE RACK! I will mount a flat metal base plate to the wall. I have 24 hexagonal glass jars with magnetised lids that will stick to the metal plate. This will give me a honeycomb-shaped spice collection on my kitchen wall which will be as much art as it is practical. I’ll test the 7kg limit! 🙂
I have some great trendy things hung all around my house which looks really pleasing on the eye, but I have a dark dirty secret that behind some of my pictures and art are missed attempts to get the hanging straight and instead I’ve left more than one hole in the wall. My project would be to slowly fill the holes and touch up the paint and replace them with 3M so I don’t feel like I’m hiding anymore .
We are gallery wall FREAKS in our house, so I’d use these to add to big gallery wall in the living room. Or start a new on in the guest bedroom… or the hallway… or…
I have a ton of children’s artwork that I’d really like to organize and group together in my kids rooms.. I think it’s appreciate their art in this way as well as a confidence builder. Because the stickers are temporary, I can let my children change the display as the work they create develops. This also accommodates the very fluid taste they have. One week it’s Spider-Man the next week captain America. 🙂
My baby is turning one next month and we have lots of new clothes that he has worn only once or twice and have outgrown them. I would love to divide his one year in four parts and make 4 cute wall arts with clothes ,get them framed and hang them in his room .It will be a great decoration to the room – good use of clothes and memories for our lifetime.
In a few weeks I am moving into my first rental home. I’ve always loved to hang pictures and create frame walls so 3M will be perfect for me to make my new rental my home. I will create a wall of my favourite pictures in a little nook we have opposite our kitchen so I can be inspired while cooking.
I would use the 3m command hooks to do a photo gallery in my entryway and a little collection of quotes in my daughters room.
I have already created a great picture wall in my lounge room with the 3m tags (sorry cant attach photo here), they are so fab I just want to keep going and add more and more, so many things to hang and so few walls!
Being a mature age student, I can’t afford to travel like I used to and it can be quite depressing sometimes when I think about it and realise that I won’t be able to do any big trips for at least another 3 or 4 years. To remedy this situation, I’ve been thinking about creating a world map with my photos from places that I have already visited, ie. put them up on the wall in the same spot where that country would be on a world map. I may even get my brother-in-law who is a bit of an artist, to sketch me a world map on the wall to make the photo placing a little easier. I think it will be so inspiring to see where I have already been and be thankful for that. Hopefully it will give me the patience I need to stay focused on my study goals and then I can reward myself with a big trip to new places when I graduate!
I would use them to help get over the disappointment at no longer being able to drill holes in the walls when we move to a rental place in Hobart next week.
I have bought a ‘#’ and some letters from Typo and would love to put “#DELICIOUS” onto the wall above my kitchen cupboards. I’ve been wondering how to mount onto the wall and the 3M Command’s Picture Hanging Strips would work perfecting!
“Stay Gold Pony Boy” will be the first addition to my gallery inspiration wall above my desk. Then I will add a positive, life affirming quote that I have double tapped on the gram lately, an artsy cross or two and a bird in a frame. When a change of “inspiration” is required I love the versatility of replacing the image within the frame and putting it back on the wall – simple! I move furniture around to suit our needs and I love the fact I can also move my inspiration wall around with out damage to walls. One wrong hook placement “old school” style and a whole wall needs repainting. Damage free hanging 3M style IS the new black. Thanks for the great post.