Picture Hanging - How to Arrange Your Picture Frames and be Happy with the Result

I procrastinated and put off hanging pictures on my family room wall for the longest time. I didn't want to put holes in my freshly painted wall only to twist my nose at the result of my efforts. I knew it would be an all day affair if I was really going to do it right. Here I'll share with you how I went about it.

I had a number of picture frames and mattes that I collected over the years. My first step was to gather and clean the frames and glass. Next, I went through my drawings, paintings, embroidery, postcards I purchased at museum shops and wood cuts a dear friends father made decades ago.

The frames were of various styles, materials, colors and sizes. This wasn't a problem for me as I intentionally decorate in an eclectic style. My first step was to take the frames and lay them in an arrangement on the floor. I was fortunate to have enough floor space in the same room I was going to hang the frames, and measured and marked the floor so it was a representation of the wall the area. As I placed each frame on the floor, I paid attention to the visual weight each frame carried. I didn't want similar or identical frames concentrated in one area. Choosing the pieces of art and mattes was approached in the same way as the frames.

Balancing matte colors and the art that it was surrounding was important. Each framed piece needed to be balanced within the overall grouping. (I recommend laying the pieces on the floor on top of the frames to see how you like it--before enclosing them in the frame.) Once I was happy with the arrangement, I completed framing each piece and returned it to its spot on the floor. I gave the arrangement another look and found that I could improve the balance by moving a few pieces around.

Getting the frames properly hung was made easy by use of paper templates. I had a piece of paper for each frame. If you buy or have new frames, keep the advertising paper that usually accompanies most finished frames. Otherwise, use butcher paper, newsprint (not newspaper as it may transfer ink to your wall), printer paper etc. I taped these to the wall with masking tape until the arrangement was to my satisfaction. If you look below at the images, you will see that I placed my frames in a series of five columns. To get these on center, I folded each template in half to create a center crease. I lined up the crease with a yard long stick that also contained levels. This made it very easy to line the creases up and know the are on a straight vertical line.

I hung the pictures one vertical row at a time. I measured where the hanging hardware was on the back of the frame and then marked that place on my template and nailed the hardware through the template. That was a bit tedious. Next time, I will try marking the hardware locations on the template when they are still on the floor, before I tape them to the wall.

Soapnuts!

  (above: Soapnut solutions of various concentrations)

What are soapnuts?

I discovered soapnuts as an alternative to laundry detergent.  Soapnuts are the fruit of a shrub from Lychee family and are native to warm and tropical climates in China and India .  The genus is Sapindus.  The dried fruit, when immersed in water will release the saponin.  When the soapnut is simmered in a pot of water, a solution can be obtained for use in washing fabric. The soapnut solution is a mild but effective detergent.   It does produce bubbles and the soapnuts feel soapy to the touch when wet. 

Cooking the Soapnuts

Soapnuts can be used as is (the dried fruit can be placed in a little cotton bag and thrown in the washer), or cooked to make  a solution or concentrate.  The saponin will release more easily if the water is hot.  I prefer to wash most of my laundry in cold water, so I make concentrated solutions.  Another option is to soak the bag of soapnuts in a cup of hot water and add it to your wash.  Cooking soapnuts is simply putting them in a pot of water on the stove and simmering them until the nuts turn gray.  The more concentrated the solution, the less you need per load of laundry.  Since the solution contains no preservatives, I add a little salt and use it within a week or two.  I prefer to cook mine in large batches and freeze them in recycled plastic bottles.  The syrup bottles that we get for our soda maker are the perfect size to fit in my freezer door and the tops are made to measure the syrup and the drips run back into the bottle (like commercial laundry detergent/softener bottles).  Oh yes, and the nuts do smell when you cook them, I would describe it as a vinegary, but you don't smell this in your laundry.

(above: Dried soapnuts, reused soda syrups bottles and reused #10 tin can to store bulk soapnuts)

Washing with Soapnuts

It took me a while to get use not seeing all those soap suds in my wash machine.  It was very tempting to use more solution than needed. My husband was skeptical, I couldn't blame him as I was having my own doubts.  But I read about textile restorers using this mild detergent and I figured they wouldn't use it if it didn't work.  Today, two years later, I am extremely happy with the performance of the soapnuts.  I add some oxygen bleach and baking soda for a little extra cleaning power on those loads that need it.  I like to hang my laundry as much as possible and find the laundry is softer when I used soapnuts than when I washed with detergent and fabric softener. Soapnuts do not leave residue in the washer and dryer like the products I previously used.

Other uses

Suppliers of soapnuts offer other uses for soapnuts some of which I didn't have much success with and others I wasn't inclined to try.  I tried soapnuts as a shampoo, didn't work for me.  My hair still felt unwashed.  I may have not used a strong enough solution.  Some say you can use it in the dishwasher or as an all purpose cleaner.  I didn't try that either as I have a very nice all purpose cleaner that is excellent.  I have tried it in the carpet cleaner and I am pleased with the results.  The carpet cleaner solution that came with the machine had such a strong fragrance we couldn't be in the same room for days.  I use my all purpose cleaner to pre-treat spots and soapnut concentrate (in place of the manufacturer supplied cleaner) and fill the reservoir with water.

Other reasons I like soapnuts

I have all kinds of requirements when I shop.  I only want to buy what I really need.  I want the best buy for my buck. I don't want to drag a calculator to the store and figure out what today's best buy is because frankly, I'd rather spend those extra minutes on something else.  In fact,  I want to buy in bulk once a year or less!  I'm tired of filling my recycling bin up with plastic containers.  Rinsing out soapy bottles takes time and  a lot of water--what a waste!  I need products that the sensitive/allergic members of my family won't react to.  Soapnuts fill these requirements.  I split a bulk purchase with a friend and it has been two years and I still have more than half of them left.  (If you want to do this, to keep them fresh, divide them into batches and store in airtight containers with a little desiccant which you can find at the hardware store). 

Where I have found soapnut products

Local wholesale  businesses that offer herbs, teas and other natural dry goods (dried soapnuts)

Local retailers of natural grocery and organic products (liquid concentrate)

Amazon.com  (both dried and concentrates)

Blue Glass Pendant

I finished this piece this past weekend. It required two firings and a lot of cold working. 22 gauge silver wire and a fresh water pearl to finish it off. Overall I'm pleased with the final outcome.

Refurbishing Old Doors - Don't Toss 'em, Fix 'em up!

I posted this sometime ago and I am revisiting my blog with the intention of keeping it current. In the next week or so,  I am going to write the steps used to refurbish these doors with a price estimate of what I paid for the materials and hardware.  I still have some doors to do and there are others I've done since...I will add photos of the finished ones and take pictures of the technique I use on the next ones.

before and after swatches

before and after

close up with new hardware

Installing Floating Floors - 1000 Square Feet in 5 Weekends

 

I had 50+ year old hardwood floors in my home and they had seen better days.  They were unsightly!  The living room, hallway and foyer were once carpeted and the perimeters had noticeable nail holes.  The floors had dents, gouges, stains and gaps.  The wooden baseboards in some areas contained rug fibers stuck to the paint.

My first thought was to refinish them.  That presented a number of issues.  Where are we going to put all the furniture and stuff from four rooms?  Could we survive being in our home during the process (we both suffer allergies).  There was only so much a refinisher could do and one of the things I really wanted was lighter floors, and the floors would not be much lighter than the currently were. 

The other option was to cover them with a new product.  I could have a new hardwood floor floated over the old one.  But did I really want hardwood?  How practical was that for us?  Accidents happen in our house.  I needed a floor that could take a beating.  I dreaded the thought of maintaining that much wood flooring.  Bamboo flooring was out of my budget.  That left me with laminate.  I called my contractor and ask him to give me a quote and he came back with $7000.  I slept on it…for about 2 years.

Can I do this?  I can do it!

I wondered if I could install the flooring myself.  I had experience installing vinyl tile on two separate occasions and I did a pretty darn good job.  I went and researched installing laminate flooring.  The major tools I would need were a miter and circular saw.  I knew I could borrow those from a friend.  I had never used them, but how hard could it be?  I went on line to various sites to see what the laminate floor options were.  I found iFloors.com and found a wide variety of styles, colors, quality and prices.  They also offered free samples.  I gave myself a budget of $2000 for the laminate and narrowed my choice to four (samples).  The samples came and I gave myself a week to make a decision.  

Making a Decision – Which Floor Product?

I mulled over the choices.  The color I thought I would like best was too light and it looked unnatural.  A couple of the samples had a pattern simulating multi-plank wood flooring, but the surface was flat and the seams (which would be visible especially at an angle) also looked unnatural.  I ended up selecting a style where one piece represented one plank of wood and the surface was embossed to look like wood grain. There were at least 3 unique patterns to this style so that it could be laid in varying configurations to mix up the pattern and not detect the repetition.  The color was lighter than my current hardwood floor and the style meshed well with the other elements of architecture in my home.  The padding was already attached to the underside of the flooring—I intentionally looked for this as I did not want to lay rolls of cushioning material. ( Beware that some underlayments have a strong odor.)

I ordered the flooring, the flat delivery rate was reasonable  There was an option to have it delivered to a local business for free, but reloading and unloading that amount of heavy material wasn’t worth saving $99.  We had it delivered to the house.  The transaction went smoothly and the delivery timely.  There were a couple boxes with damaged corners and the merchant replaced them with no hassle.

Getting to Work

There was no question this was going to be a lot of work.  It wasn’t that it would be so hard, but it was going to take time and patience.  First, I removed the doors and pulled all the baseboards.  With a Sharpie pen, I wrote the origin/ location of each piece (door ends and the backs of the baseboards).  I used a nipper/plier tool like the KR nipper Pliers to pull the nails out of the back of the baseboards.  (I decided on reinstalling the baseboards after a little sanding and repainting.)    There were too many door jambs to cut by hand (10 in all), so I invested in a Bosch undercut saw.  It’s a nifty little basic saw I can use for other projects in the future.  My friend lent me his floor installation kit which contains some basic tools you need…spacers, pull bar and a tapping block (Harbor Freight has a kit for $6).  I already had the other basic hand tools.

Planning the Layout – Executing the Plan

The original hardwood floor was continuous with no thresholds.  It flowed through five distinct rooms and areas.  This had to be true of the new floor.  I really couldn’t find any information to guide me on this so I thought it through carefully and decided I needed to start with the master bedroom, work into the hallway and then into the bedroom on the other side of the hall way.  It was not possible to lock in the plank at the threshold, so I scraped the edge of the plank, applied wood glue and slid in the plank on the hallway side. I made sure to secure the planks so they would not separate until they had thoroughly dried.  I took heed and made sure that the planks along the wall of the master bedroom would be no narrower than 2”.  I did some basic math to ensure that once I made it across the hall and into the adjacent bedroom, there would be a plank width at least or great than 2”.   The rest of the installation measured out accordingly. 

The baseboard

There were a lot of pieces of baseboard.  I used empty laminate boxes to collect some of the smaller pieces.  Somewhere in between installing the floor and painting rooms, I sanded all the baseboards on my patio using one of the doors covered in newspaper set on top of two saw horses—as a table.  I moved the operation inside, into the living room to do the painting.  I used evenings to put on a coat of paint and let it dry overnight.  Reinstalling the baseboard was easy, I could see the indentations where the nail holes were and I placed nails in all the holes (once piece of board at a time) and nailed it back up to the wall.  I used a “nail set” to counter sink the nail and then filled the depressions with a caulk, wiping off the excess with a damp rag.  I went back and touched up the baseboard with a little paint.

What I learned!

Everything went well with the installation.  I am very happy with the result.  I did find early on, when I completed the master bedroom, that for the style of  floor I used, it is important to vary the length of the board so the seams aren’t predictable.  This gives the appearance of a more natural wood floor.  I already laid the floor when I noticed this, but fortunately once the bed went in, it wasn’t visibly obvious.

I hope after reading this you will be inspired and have the confidence to install your own floating floor.  If an inexperienced person like me can do it anyone who has the patience and takes the time to follow the instructions can do it!