Grouping art can be quite a challenging job for many people. This is a grouping we did for a client who wanted to set up a workshop instead of a dining room. This example is for ‘living’ as you would take this down for staging because it’s too personal. The space would also need to be converted back to a dining room for selling!

After hanging 1000s of pieces of art, photos, sculptures, baskets, fabric wall hangings, swordfish (yes swordfish, several of them) I’d like to share some of my ‘hanging art’ guidelines. These are guidelines so there will be variations on the theme, but these work pretty well in any home or office. A few years ago I wrote an ebook ‘Trade Secrets of Hanging Art Like a PRO!‘ and you can find some You Tube videos I recently created for hanging single pieces of art.

This is the method I use and you may find it works for you.
- select pieces of art that work together i.e. find a common element that allows you to form this grouping – in this case it was a mixture of art that she loved with sayings and she had some emotional attachment to the pieces
lay my grouping of art on the floor

Place Grouping On Floor

- leave about 2″ between all the art pieces (this can vary on the size of art you are using e.g. for a small grouping space about 1″ apart.
- find center on your wall, find center on your art and stick a piece of sticky tack at both centers
- measure up from the bottom of your wire to the top of the frame to determine how far down your hanger needs to be
- hang your first piece on the bottom – see You Tube video – using the floating art guideline of 56 – 60″ as the height of the middle of the art grouping; level it
- place your next bottom piece 2″ apart and hang it; level it

Start with lining up the center; measure 2" apart and level

- continue to build the grouping up using your levels to keep the measurements accurate

Grouping Completed - whimsical & fun!

- She now has a whole new look in her home where she can host her workshops!

A truly personal space!

TIP: for more detailed information check out my You Tube videos, my ebook and previous blog posts on Home Staging Tips – Hanging Floating or Gallery art.

This is Part 2 of ‘home staging tips for hanging art – ‘floating or gallery’ art which means there is nothing underneath it. After hanging 1000s of pieces of art, photos, sculptures, baskets, fabric wall hangings, swordfish (yes swordfish, several of them) I’d like to share some of my ‘hanging art’ guidelines. These are guidelines so there will be variations on the theme, but these work pretty well in any home or office.

A few years ago I wrote an ebook ‘Trade Secrets of Hanging Art Like a PRO!‘ and I just recently produced two You Tube videos to demonstrate my process.

Here are my quick tips for hanging art that is ‘floating or gallery’ art…

FLOATING ART

1) HANGING ‘FLOATING or GALLERY ART’ (click here for You Tube Video)
- determine where you want to hang the art – in this example I chose to hang it just to the left of center
- mark that spot with pencil or sticky tack
- find the center of your art – mark it with sticky tack
- if it is over 30″ wide I suggest using 2 hooks/hangers, (f not then one is fine in this example as shown in the You Tube Video I use 2 hangers)
- if using 2 hooks then make 2 measures from the center to the ends of the frame – mark center with tack which you place on the art- this becomes the mid-point from center
- now you need to measure up from the floor to a height of 56 – 60” – use a piece of sticky tack to mark that on the wall
- find the side halfway point of your art – mark it with sticky tack
- match up the side art tack with the 56 – 60″ measure on the wall (the larger the piece of art the closer to 56″ you hang it)
- at the same time line up the center and line up the mid-points that you have marked with sticky tack
- make a mark with the pencil for the two mid-points
- if your picture has wire on the back then measure the wire from the top to the bottom for the two mid-points (if over 30″)
- take that measurement and measure down from the top/center of where you are hanging your art and mark it on the wall with a pencil (like an inverted T)
- the intersecting point is where you put the bottom of your hanger
- nail in your hangers and use a level to make sure it is even

It takes a lot of practice to make it perfect but these guidelines should help a bit! Next post will be ‘floating or gallery wall art’ tips…

TIP- the best measuring tape for this is the Lufkin Self-Centering found at Home Depot; buy sticky tack at Home Depot or office supply store; levels can be purchased at Home Depot.

This is Part 1 of ‘home staging tips for hanging art over an object’. After hanging 1000s of pieces of art, photos, sculptures, baskets, fabric wall hangings, swordfish (yes swordfish, several of them) I’d like to share some of my ‘hanging art’ guidelines. These are guidelines so there will be variations on the theme, but these work pretty well in any home or office.

A few years ago I wrote an ebook ‘Trade Secrets of Hanging Art Like a PRO!‘ and I just recently produced two You Tube videos to demonstrate my process.

Here are my quick tips for hanging art over an object like a fireplace…

Art over an object

1) HANGING ART OVER AN OBJECT (click here for You Tube Video)
- perfection is to find a piece of art 2/3 the length of the object you are hanging it above
- find center of your wall – mark with pencil or sticky tack
- find the center of your art – mark it with sticky tack
- measure 4 – 10″ above the object you are placing the art
- line up the centers – put a pencil mark at center at the top of the piece of art
- measure the wire from the top to the bottom
- take that measurement and measure down from the top/center of where you are hanging your art and mark it on the wall with a pencil (like an inverted T)
- the intersecting point is where you put the bottom of your hanger
- nail in your hanger and use a level to make sure it is even

It takes a lot of practice to make it perfect but these guidelines should help a bit! Next post will be ‘floating or gallery wall art’ tips…

Having the right tools to hang art just makes our jobs as home stagers easier as art can take up too much time if you don’t know how to do it. We all use lasers in our home staging projects and over the years I have tried several out and finally settled on one I like. I actually call it ‘Larry Laser’ because it’s vital to my success. The only challenge is that once it’s stickiness is gone it no longer stays on the wall so I end up holding it. The manufacturer needs to work on that!

One of my PRES graduates Catharine Barbosa, introduced me to this new laser and I love it! It’s a Black & Decker product called Sure Grip Laser and it suctions onto the wall so you can measure hands-free.

Black & Decker Sure Grip Laser - love it!

My other essential hanging tools are my levels which are also products I buy at Home Depot.

Home Depot levels and two laser levels with grips on the wall

All of these tools make hanging art easier and more accurate for us.

Sure grip laser in action!

and the finished look….

Using 56 - 60" as the half way mark they look fantastic!

On another note BIG THANK YOU TO HOME DEPOT Store Manager, Tony Main of the Park Royal Village Store. I was looking for Move-Alls a product I buy all the time and usually ‘gift’ my students with it. One of my pet peeves is that the gliders/sliders that I want are never with the other gliders so I waste time walking around the store looking for them. As it happened Tony and his team were standing around talking and I asked them if they knew where this product was. We ended up talking for about 1/2 hour and I told them the products that home stagers use the most – and they were unaware of some of them. Their THANK YOU to me was paying for my purchases that I made that day! How generous is that! I look forward to some kind of a partnership with them because they are the DIY home seller’s dream store – priced right and good products!

Any woman who loves decorating, design and/or home staging watches lots of television shows of the experts showing us the latest trends, what’s in – what’s out, and they keep us up-to-date with the industry. You don’t have to be a professional to enjoy watching these shows – they’re fun, educational and entertaining. None more so for me than WNetwork’s Love It or List It! with Hilary Farr and David Visentin. One of my serious pet peeves with David’s listings is that they are almost NEVER STAGED and they look terrible! Hilary’s work is so remarkably incredible – tasteful, stylish, functional and with special touches of added value to the home seller/owner.

We all have our favourite television personalities and favourite shows and over the years I have enjoyed designers like Debbie Travis, Steven & Chris, Jane Lockhart, Candice Olsen, Sarah Richardson, etc. It’s such a treat when these tv personalities come to town and present at Home & Garden and design shows. It’s even more of a treat when you get to meet them in person.

Last week I spent several minutes hogging time with Hilary Farr because I admire her design ability, her people skills, her determination, her confidence and the fact as she says ” she loves giving her clients the ‘home’ that speaks to them and meets their needs.” I can relate to that. We are fortunate to have such talented women designers creating more beautiful spaces one home at a time.

Hilary Farr & Dana J. Smithers at the Vancouver Sun booth at the BC Home & Garden Show…

Hilary Farr of Love It of List It! Fame

If you live in an urban city and you are a home stager chances are you have access to networking groups that support home stagers and related-industry professionals. In the Vancouver area we are fortunate to have a company like Fluff Rentals host breakfast meetings once a month now. Patti Houston owner, likes to bring in speakers who can provide on-going learning in the ever changing growing world of home staging. Today Aura McKay a professional photographer was the guest speaker today and she shared some great tips with us. I even learned how to lighten my photos in my camera instead of in photoshop!

Fluff attendees learning about photography at Fluff Breakfast Meeting

Aura McKay captivatingly entertaining!

The Fluffians provided the hospitality, a great meeting area and some fantastic networking with fellow stagers, decorators and designers. I’ll be doing a breakfast meeting and setting up some workshops in the near future.

A home owner contacted me about a brand new sofa, white leather (?), small 3 seat sofa that is less than one week old (never even sat on). Was purchased to “stage” her condo and the condo sold the same day it went on the market. She wants to sell it so if you are interested here is her contact information:

Original shipping box was kept for transporting to your next staging job.
PAID: $975.00 + 12% HST ASKING: $650.00
Anne Kennedy 604-646-4044 – queenanne2000@hotmail.com or go to this Craiglist Vancouver posting to contact her.

I did let her know that renting from a PRES home stager would have been less expensive in terms of time, money and energy! She’s elated she sold it so that’s good.

Are you looking to purchase new furniture or appliances, paint your home, build a deck, build an addition, renovate your kitchen or bathroom, design a garden, hire a plumber, install a home security system, hire a home stager, refinance your mortgage or sell your home?

Are you looking for daily news and tips on home ownership issues? How about looking to find the date and location of the next home show near you? BC HomeOwner, Alberta Home Owner and Ontario Home Owner offer Canadian homeowners an opportunity to find all of the above and more in Canada’s ONLY regional websites for home owners.

Use the online Business Directory to source local reputable contractors, home stagers, real estate agents and more. Check out our linked resources page, events page and latest news sections. Join our community of Twitter followers, Facebook and Google+ friends to keep up-to-date on the latest news and trends on home ownership in Canada as well as comments and feedback from homeowners just like you.

Arnie Gess is the founder of these resourceful websites so make sure you check him out!

BC Home Owner– The regional website for British Columbia homeowners
Alberta Home Owner – The regional website for Alberta homeowners
Ontario Home Owner– The regional website for Ontario homeowners

One of my tag lines is ‘the way you live in your home is not the way you sell your house’ and this point needed to be understood by the home seller. Not all (and in fact not many) potential buyers can visualize what a room ‘should’ look like. As home stagers we know that ‘function’ is first but it took some convincing for the home seller to understand why we were doing what we were doing.

Let me explain…this home seller lives in a very spacious 5,000 square foot home and like many people with a home this size, the family doesn’t use every room. However, when it comes to preparing your property for selling – which includes home staging – you don’t want to rely on an empty space not making sense to potential buyers.

In this downstairs area – which could be a nanny’s suite, an in-laws suite, a bed & breakfast guest area etc. we wanted it to have some appeal to potential buyers. Keeping it the way it was, to us, was going to be a lost opportunity for the seller.There is a nice size kitchen in this area along with a bathroom and bedroom!

Kitchen area with opportunity for eating and living

So by just using some of his home furnishings from other rooms, we created a nice eating area with 2 comfortable chairs to create a small living room-type space. Now potential buyers can ‘see’ what the possibilities are for this room!

By creating a nice eating and living area it's more inviting!

Home staging expert – trainer and author Dana J. Smithers appeared on the CTV Morning News February 1st. It’s a great way to kick of February as it’s a busy time for home sellers and home stagers. Preparing your home is a very BIG JOB and starts with decluttering, depersonalizing and cleaning…and then the staging.

This clip (show) won’t stay up forever but for a few days you can go to CTV Morning News site and watch the show.

Dana's Tips for Neutral Paint Colours - Accent in brights!

On the set of CTV Morning News