How to Hang Pictures on Plaster Walls

This is so funny to me, but I find that a LOT of folks out there complain about plaster walls and how it’s difficult to hang things from them.

You ever hammer into the wall and your hammer just bounces back and you hear something falling behind your wall? You are actually damaging your plaster by making the plaster keys fall off of the lath (which is how the walls are supported). It’s not great!

May I present to you… the picture railing and how to use it.

Have you every seen that skinny band of trim along the upper part of your walls in houses from 1930s or earlier? This is your picture railing and you are supposed to use this to hang your pictures. There are several ways to do it - you can even hang multiple pictures for a beautiful gallery wall from different hanging systems. I love the brass chains because… I have a brass problem, but I have plenty of plain wire at home.

Picture railing and lime washed plaster walls. Is this my heaven? Yes.

Brass just looks like house jewelry to me. This system that I ordered recently worked well and was easy to use. You just hang the hook on the railing and hang the wire or chain from that and either tie or hook in your artwork at the desired length. That’s it! Much easier to move around than a nail and less damage, too!

Here are some fancy hooks (I now want to update mine ha!).