Picture Hanging Nightmare

I bought these pictures at the beginning of January and had just the spot for them in the dining room.  I have stared at them for months now and hanging them up has been added to my to do list weekly. I have really struggled with hanging these pictures because I knew they had to be hung in an exactly straight line and I wasn't sure how I was going to do that without destroying my wall.  My style is usually not one of symmetry, it's easier that way. One of my piano students asked me how come all my pictures were on the floor.  I told her it was the latest trend, everyone just puts there pictures on the floor under the wall that it show be on.  I knew I had to tackle this project and get it done!

Gathering all my tools; my hammer, nails, level, screw driver, ladder, and measuring tape I felt as if I was ready for the task!  I started in the Family Room where I wanted to hang Dallin's and Landon's matching missionary bulletin boards where we put pictures of their mission experiences.  This was a challenge because I wanted them to be level and symmetrical plus, each picture had two hooks on both sides of the frame and the directions recommended not using picture wire to hang them because they were very heavy.  I had a plan for the first one and got to work with a masking tape method that I saw on Pinterest.....FAIL!!!  The tape pulled the paint off the wall, I unexpectedly hit a stud, the picture ended up crooked and I pretty much demolished the wall.  I threw a temper tantrum and I kind of left my picture hanging mess on the floor for a few days before I could get the courage to make another attempt at destroying my wall.  

I decided to tackle the picture in the living room because I thought it would be easier and I could hang it with picture wire.  Success!!!!

 Then I moved on to the Dining Room wall where again I could hang the picture with wire. It was pretty successful....there's only one extra hole behind that picture.  Success!!!

The matching dining room pictures proved to be more of a challenge because there were two of them, it had to be centered on the long wall, it was pretty high up there, and they had to be equally level.  I did some problem solving in my head and came up with the "thumbtack method" of picture hanging.  I taped a thumbtack to each of the hooks on the frame with the point of the tack facing the exact spot it would be as if the picture were hanging.  I then measured where to put the picture and drew a level line where the top of the picture would be.  Stephen helped me hold the picture in the exact spot on the wall, lining up the top of the picture with the level line and also testing it with a level.  Then we pushed the picture against the wall and when we pulled it away there were two perfectly placed dots on the wall from the thumbtacks where the screws would go.  After putting the screws in the right thumb tack holes, the picture was hung and I was so excited to see that it was perfect....seriously, it was perfect.  I repeated the procedure for the matching picture and the method worked flawlessly again!

With the success I had in the dining room I was feeling ready to head back to the family room and tackle those dang bulletin boards!  Using my thumbtack method I had both on the wall in less than ten minutes and they were level and even and they looked awesome.  Woohoo!  I did it!  DONE!