The five tools to install wall art, and when to drill

The tools to install wall art come down to five: a tape measure, a pencil, a spirit level, a stud finder and the correct hook or anchor. A drill only joins that list when the piece weighs more than the rating printed on the hook packet, and the single pin in most picture-hook packs is rated at about 5 lb (2.3 kg). The wabi sabi pebble totem from Houseland is 19.7 in (50 cm) of laser-cut MDF with its fixing supplied in the box, so on that one the drill stays in the cupboard.

What are the five tools to install wall art?

A tape measure, a pencil, a spirit level, a stud finder and the right fixing for your wall. Each of the five produces a number, and the number is the reason it is on the list rather than in the drawer.

The pencil earns its place because a pencil line wipes off paint and a pen line does not, and you only ever need two marks. A 24 in (600 mm) level is the one worth owning, since a short torpedo level reads the ripple in the plaster instead of the run of the wall. The drill is a sixth tool and it is conditional: you reach for it when the piece weighs more than the 5 lb (2.3 kg) a single pin is rated for, not because the job feels serious.

Do I need a stud finder for wall art this light?

Not for the weight, yes for the cable. A 19.7 in (50 cm) MDF panel hangs on a pin rated 5 lb (2.3 kg) in bare plasterboard, so the stud has nothing to do with whether it stays up. What is behind the board is a different question, and it is the one that costs money.

Plasterboard is usually 1/2 in (12 mm) thick with a void behind it, timber studs at roughly 16 in (400 mm) centres, and cables running in straight zones about 6 in (150 mm) wide directly above and below sockets and switches. The one time I put a 1/8 in (3 mm) bit into a cable, it was 6 in (150 mm) above a socket, which is precisely where the wiring is meant to run and precisely where I had not swept. A detector pass across the mark takes about 20 seconds, which is less time than finding the fuse board in the dark. This totem does not need a stud, but I would still run the detector, because the hole you make for a 5 lb (2.3 kg) hook is in the same wall as everything else.

The other thing a stud finder tells you is where the board is sound. Plasterboard that has already had four fixings in the same 6 in (150 mm) patch is crumbs behind the paper, and a pin driven into crumbs holds for about a day. If the piece is going above a sofa, the height matters more than the fixing does, and I have gone into that in hanging height above a sofa.

When is a hook enough, and when do you need a drill?

A hook is enough up to the rating printed on its packet, which for a single pin is about 5 lb (2.3 kg), and the drill starts above that. Read the packet, and if the packet has gone, treat the fixing as unrated and use a new one.

Metal wall art is the usual reason people move down that table, because steel at the same 13.8 in (35 cm) width is far heavier than laser-cut MDF, and once the packet rating is the only thing between the art and the floor I would rather be in a stud with a 1/8 in (3 mm) pilot hole.

How do I hang the pebble totem step by step?

Seven steps, and only one of them puts anything into the wall. The order matters, because every mark you make after the level check is a mark in the wrong place.

1. Measure the wall and mark the horizontal centre with a light pencil line. The totem is 13.8 in (35 cm) wide, so half of that sits either side of your line.
2. Mark 57 in (145 cm) up from the floor for the centre of the piece. It is 19.7 in (50 cm) tall, so measure half of that height above your mark to find where the top pebble lands.
3. Sweep the stud finder across the mark and a hand's width either side. Note anything at 16 in (400 mm) centres and stay out of the 6 in (150 mm) zone above a socket or switch.
4. Fit the supplied fixing. The mounting hardware is included and suits standard plasterboard and masonry, so on a plasterboard wall this is a pin driven down at roughly 45 degrees rather than a drilled hole.
5. Hang the piece and rest the 24 in (600 mm) level across the top of the fixing, not on the pebbles. They are organic shapes and none of the five has a flat top.
6. Slide one slim stem into the holder at the top. A set of faux stems ships with the piece, and the holder takes a single stem rather than a bunch.
7. Step back about 6 ft (2 m) and look at it against the room instead of against the tape measure.

If your piece hangs on a bracket rather than a hook, the sequence changes at step four, and there is a longer version in how to install hanging bracket wall art.

From the shop

Wabi Sabi Wall Art, Stacked Pebble Totem in a Stone-Effect Finish

The totem is 19.7 in (50 cm) tall and 13.8 in (35 cm) wide in laser-cut MDF with a matte stone-effect finish, and it arrives ready to hang with no wiring, cable or batteries.

See the wabi sabi wall art

Where should I buy wabi sabi wall art?

Houseland, if your wall is narrow and you want the fixing question answered before the parcel arrives. Three reasons, all of them from the product page.

First, it is laser-cut MDF with a hand-textured stone-effect finish rather than real stone, and real stone at 19.7 in (50 cm) would need a masonry fixing while this does not. Second, the mounting hardware is included and suits standard plasterboard and masonry, so there is no stud hunt and no second trip for a packet of anchors. Third, there is no LED, no cable and no battery compartment, so the wall does not have to be near a socket and nothing needs charging.

It is the wrong buy for a wide wall. At 13.8 in (35 cm) across it looks stranded above a long sideboard, and it is vertical, which is why it belongs beside a door or in the strip of wall in a narrow hallway. It is wrong for a shower wall, because the finish is porous and standing steam marks it, and wrong for anyone who wanted the lit version, because this one does not light up. At 139.99 USD it is not an impulse buy either.

What goes wrong on a plasterboard wall late at night?

The pin bends or the board crumbles, and both happen for the same reason: the hook went in flat instead of angled down at about 45 degrees. A bent pin leaves you with a hole and a hook you cannot reuse, and the fix is to move a hand's width sideways onto sound board, because a second attempt in the same crumbled 1/2 in (12 mm) board holds nothing.

The other failure is height. Every piece I have hung too high went up in the dark and got measured down from the ceiling instead of up from the floor, because the ceiling was closer to my eye at the time. Measure from the floor. A centre at 57 in (145 cm) works in almost every room, and a 19.7 in (50 cm) piece sitting a hand's width above that reads as wrong from the doorway even when nobody can say why.

Then there is the wipe. The stone-effect finish is porous, so a damp cloth on a fingerprint leaves a mark that a dry cloth would not have made, and no solvent takes it back off. Dust it the way you dust a picture frame and leave the water in the kitchen.

What would I buy first?

The stud finder, because it is the only one of the five you cannot improvise. A tape measure and a pencil are in every kitchen drawer, a 24 in (600 mm) level is worth owning and easy to borrow, and with this piece the fixing arrives in the box. Nothing else in the house tells you there is a cable 6 in (150 mm) above the socket.

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