How to hang large plates on a wall
How To Hang Plates on the Wall (The Best Plate Hangers & More!)
Updated: by Kris Jarrett
Want to know how to hang plates on the wall? I’m sharing my tips & tricks and the plate hangers that I used to get the job done right!
For months I kept my beautiful new plates sitting in a cabinet where they weren’t used or seen. And the big bare wall in my dining room? It stayed bare. Because honestly the whole idea of designing and hanging a decorative plate wall intimidated me. But last month I finally did it – I hauled my plates out of the cabinet and hung them up on our dining room wall:
The trickiest part was figuring out the how-tos of hanging the plates so I thought I’d share what worked best for me, what’s worked for others, and why you may want to choose one method of hanging plates over the other (post includes affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here}):
Step 1: Figure Out How You Want to Arrange Your Plates
Take all the plates that you’re thinking about using in your plate wall and lay them out on the floor. If you space constraints for the wall that they’ll be hanging on, it helps to put some painter’s tape on the floor to mark the max width and height that you have to work with. Arrange and rearrange until you figure out a design that you love!
All of my plates are from Juliska – the ones with the printed scenes are from their Country Estate collection in Flint color that you can find {here}. I also have two of {these dinner plates} from their Berry & Thread collection, and multiple different sized plates from their Jardins du Monde collection {here}. The center platter is the Jardins du Monde grande charger that is no longer available but can sometimes be found on eBay {here}.
Step 2: Trace Each Plate on Paper
I wanted to see the arrangement up on the wall before nailing in 20+ hangers and realizing that I should have shifted it up or down or changed some plates around so I traced the plates on kraft paper and cut each of them out. Once each plate was cut out, I drew both a horizontal and vertical line through the center of each paper plate, which helped me line them up evenly on the wall using a level (I wish I was a girl who could just wing it and not worry if things don’t line up quite right but I know myself enough to know that it would bug me if the arrangement was visibly “off”…).
Step 3: Tape Your Templates to the Wall
Once I had my plate templates arranged and level on the wall, I taped them to the wall with LOTS of tape to make sure they wouldn’t fall down overnight (I was doing my hanging the next day). And then when I was getting my girls their breakfast the next morning, I heard a rustling in the dining room and found them in a heap on the floor. Nooo! I had used Delicate Surfaces painter’s tape and it didn’t hold. Ugh. Lesson learned. I redid the arrangement but this time used regular painter’s tape and put a tiny nail through the center of each plate just to be extra sure we didn’t have a repeat incident.
Step 4: Figure Out the Best Plate Hangers for You and Hang Them Up!
My original plan was to hang my plates using {these} Disc Hangers, which are adhesive discs that you adhere to the back of your plates. The advantages of the Disc Hangers are that they allow your plates to hang flat against the wall and they are invisible once you hang them.
Unfortunately, I realized that most of my plates have a raised pattern on the back – definitely not a good surface for adhering a flat Disc Hanger.
The other disadvantages of the Disc Hangers are that you can’t easily remove them to use the plates – I wanted to be able to take some of the platters off of my wall if needed to use them for serving food at parties every now and then and the Disc Hangers wouldn’t allow me to do them. Also, according to the reviews some people have had issues with their plates fall off the wall when using them. But there are others who have used them with beautiful results (and no broken plates!) such as Emily of Timeless Paper who used them to hang this gorgeous plate wall over her bed (don’t you love it?!):
Since the Disc Hangers weren’t going to work for me, I ended up hanging my plates using Tripar’s white vinyl coated plate hangers found {here}. Beware that they do “run small” – my 9″ plates did not fit the 7″-9″ hanger size – I had to use the 10″-14″ size.
Since they are vinyl coated, they won’t scratch the plates like plain wire hangers can and I love that when you use this type of plate hanger, you can easily remove the plates from the wall and use them. The key to working with these hangers is to bend the top of the hanger so that your plate will lay flat on the wall once hung. The best way to do this is to first attach the plate hanger to the plate and lie the plate on a flat surface. The top of the hanger should (barely) touch the flat surface that your plate is lying on. If it doesn’t, take the hanger off the plate, bend it, and place it back on to see if it’s where you need it to be.
Once all of your plates have hangers, it’s time to get them up on the wall! I used {these OOK picture hooks} – hook your OOK hook onto the wire hanger that is attached to your plate and measure the distance from the top of the plate down to where the nail will go into the OOK hook. Transfer this measurement to your plate template and gently tap the OOK hook nail in just a bit.
Then remove the template from the wall, put the nail through the OOK hook, and hammer it in at the same spot that you tapped it into moments ago. Now hang your plate!
Repeat.
It’s definitely my favorite thing about our dining room – you can take a tour to check the entire space out including a bunch of fun “before” and “after” pics (it wasn’t too pretty when we moved in!) {here}!
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Categories: Decorating Tips Tags: wall art
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How to Hang Plates on a Wall
Look, we all love a good gallery wall. But in the same maximalist spirit that moves me to constantly find new places to wallpaper, I've often thought, "what else could I hang on my wall?" While art is a necessary staple of any home, that art doesn't have to be confined to paintings and prints in frames—there are plenty of other objects to add to your decor.
Take, for example, plates.
People have been hanging plates on walls for essentially as long as decorative plates have existed. After all, with the fine craftsmanship and detailed painting on Limoges and other porcelain, these pieces are just as much works of art as useful serving pieces. From England to France to the American South, tabletop lovers have long hung plates on the wall both as a form of decoration and, sometimes, a clever storage option.
My blank wall.
Kathryn WirsingNo one knows this better than John Derian, designer, shop owner, and decoupage artist extraordinaire. He has earned a cult following for his decorative plates, featuring repurposed motifs from vintage books and prints. Too pretty to eat off, Derian's plates make the perfect fodder for a decorative wall. So, when his company generously sent me an array of plates after I moved into my new apartment, I set out to create a plate wall of my own. Here's how I did it.
Don't have a stash of plates lying around? Try tag sales or Etsy for sets of inexpensive dinnerware you can use for this project.
Measuring the plate backdrop.
Kathryn Wirsing1. Measure your background
Find the bare wall (or section of wall) where you want to hang your plates, and measure out the width and height of the area you want to cover. This will be the canvas for your wall art.
Plates arranged on a table roughly the same size as the hanging background.
Kathryn Wirsing2. Arrange your plates
Using your measurements as a guide, lay out your plates on the floor or a surface the correct size, moving around until you get an arrangement you like. Tip: If you're using plates of varying sizes and shapes, vary them throughout, but keep larger pieces towards the bottom so the arrangement doesn't feel top-heavy.
The taped outline.
3. Tape out your plan
Using blue painters tape, translate the arrangement on the table or floor to the wall. I find it easiest to start by measuring the placement of the center piece, then working out from there for the others, mapping out the distance between each plate and its size to get a mock up on the wall.
Creative Hobbies Deluxe Plate Display Hangers
Creative Hobbies Deluxe Plate Display Hangers
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4. Attach hangers
The big difference between framed art and plates is that art—since it's created to hang on a wall—usually comes with a wire or hanger. Plates, obviously, do not. That's where your new best friend comes in: plate hanging wires. Get the kind with springs, so they'll hold your plate tightly, and with coated edges, so they won't crack or chip them. The wires come in various sizes for every kind of plate, and most come with hooks and nails to hang them on.
Attach the wires to the plates.
5. Hang!
Now it's time to hang! For each plate, measure the distance from the top of the plate to the wire that will catch on the hook behind it, then nail a hook into the wall that same place on your taped outline of the plate. Tip: If you live in an older building and your walls tend to shake a lot when you hammer into them, nail in all the hooks before hanging all the plates.
My wall before and after.
Kathryn Wirsing6. Adjust if needed
Even the best DIYers make mistakes, and despite your measuring, something might look a bit off when all is said and hung. If so, don't be afraid to adjust, swapping plates or moving the hooks a bit—your plates will likely cover any extra holes!
And voilà! Now you have a new kind of wall art.
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Hadley Keller
Digital Director
Hadley Keller is House Beautiful’s digital director. She oversees all digital content for the brand as well as working on the print magazine. She has covered covering design, interiors, and culture for 10 years in New York. She served as Associate Market Editor, Design Reporter, and News Editor for Architectural Digest and AD PRO before joining House Beautiful. Hadley is a staunch maximalist and vocal opponent of the Open Floor Plan.
How to arrange decorative ceramic plates in the interior: 15 beautiful ways
The easiest way to beautifully place plates on the wall is to create a geometric shape out of them. Rhombuses, squares, circles, ovals from plates look great in spacious rooms where there is no other decor on the walls except for a ceramic installation. True, such huge plate figures are not suitable for Scandinavian interiors - they will violate the concept of a restrained style.
2.
Symmetry The symmetrical placement of the plates is perfect for classic interiors. Two identical plate compositions can be hung on opposite walls, on the sides of furniture or around the perimeter of a mirror. Regardless of which item will be the centerpiece, it is important that the plates are placed at the same distance from it. If the plates have a small pattern, it is better to hang them closer to the center point, plain dishes or plates with a large pattern - higher and further from the center.
3. Vertical
For interiors in the style of minimalism, hanging decorative plates strictly in a row is a good decor option. For such an accent, only three or four items will be enough, which will not take up much space on the wall, but at the same time they will play a decorative role no worse than voluminous installations. If you want the interior to become more contrasting and dynamic, hang plates of different diameters in descending order.
4. Wave
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Large wall surfaces that are not crowded with furniture can be decorated with a wave-like composition of decorative plates - it will create the illusion of a lack of boundaries, due to which the room will seem larger than it really is.
On a dark background, waves from light plates with delicate painting look spectacular, on the walls decorated in pastel shades, multi-colored plates with large patterns will play a more interesting decorative role. nine0003
5. Free flight
On a small section of a free wall, for example in an opening between windows, plates can be hung in any order. So that they do not dissonate with each other, choose one connecting element for them: if the plates are combined with each other in shape or color, the chaotic decor will turn into a spectacular and unusual one. Another plus of such decoration is the ability to modify it at any time, because you can always replace one plate with another without violating the composition. nine0003
6. Collage
Do you need something extraordinary? Make a collage of decorative plates on a wrought iron stand. To get a really interesting composition, combine plates of the same size but different shapes, or use bright plates, but the same configuration.
Do you have a fireplace in your living room with an empty wall above it? Create an organic arched composition of plates there. By the same principle, any piece of furniture can be distinguished, be it a TV or a mirror, which look rustic and boring without decorative reinforcement. nine0003
8. Original figure
Would you like to hang a whole service on the wall? Create an interesting shape out of it, such as a snowflake, cloud or star. True, for its design, accurate calculations are needed. To get the desired result, first think over a sketch of the installation, put it on paper, make markings on the wall according to the scheme, place cardboard patterns of plates on it and evaluate the composition. Did you like what happened? Then feel free to change the cardboard for ceramics and enjoy the result! nine0003
9. Painting
If you are still at the stage of choosing a wall decor, pay attention to the sets of plates, which, when laid out in a certain order, form a plot depicting a beautiful landscape or an original abstraction.
This option will be a godsend for those who love both paintings and plates, but there is not enough space for all this.
10. Doorway
The walls of your interior are already decorated with wall decor, and the space around the door looks lifeless? Decorate it with plates, placing them symmetrically on the sides of the doorway, so it will become visually wider. So that the plate decoration does not weigh down the interior, choose elegant models that echo in color and pattern with other decorative elements and textiles. nine0003
11. Window cornice
If there are no curtains on the windows, and the empty gap between the ceiling and the window opening is very striking, create a cornice there from decorative plates. But do not use too voluminous compositions - just a few plates placed in one horizontal row will hide the gaping void and mask the transition between walls and ceiling, due to which the room will appear higher.
Photo: ballarddesigns.com
12.
Headboard In the bedroom, few people welcome plates as wall decor, believing that there is no place for dishes in this room. However, as practice shows, even here the plate decor looks impressive. Empty space above the head of the bed - use it to place a small composition of plates, they will make the room more comfortable. Plates above the head of the bed in the nursery look no less interesting - they, for example, can be used to zone sleeping places in a room with two children.
13. Entrance hall
Do you have a small hallway with no room for decor? Use plates there too. Place them on a free section of the wall closer to the front door - the plate composition will instantly fill a boring room with an atmosphere of hospitality and home comfort, but it will not take up a single centimeter of valuable space.
Photo: addicted2decorating.com
14. Composition in the bathroom
Plates as a decoration for a bathroom or a bathroom are a rather bold and unusual solution.
It will come to the aid of those who want to create an extraordinary and original interior, which will not be equal. Moreover, the plate decor in the bathroom is interesting not only from an aesthetic point of view - the glossy surfaces of the plates perfectly reflect the light, which is always insufficient in small technical rooms. nine0003
15. Kitchen apron
In the kitchen and the atmosphere is conducive to the appearance of plate decor. You can beat him here much more interesting than in the dining room or living room. For example, place the plates not on the wall, but in the space of the kitchen apron. Agree, you will not find such decoration of the working area in every home.
fixing methods, necessary tools, tips
Looking for an original way to decorate your home? Take a closer look at the interiors in your favorite foreign films. In large houses, the walls of the living room are usually decorated with plates with unusual ornaments. This design technique has long migrated to us.
Now it has become fashionable to decorate the walls of your office, bedroom, nursery or living room in this way. In this article, you will read useful tips on how to hang a plate on the wall. You will be surprised how many ways there are for this. We will also talk about the rules for decor placement and saucer placement patterns. nine0003
So, let's figure out how to hang a plate on the wall. Mounting is the first thing to consider.
Method #1: no nails
If you are looking for a way to hang a plate on the wall without drilling, then this tip is for you.
Take a plate and glue a small block of wood to it. Wait until everything is dry. Now using this piece of wood and liquid nails or cold welding, glue the plate to the wall.
This base is needed to increase grip. The fact is that the smooth surface of the plate will not be fixed on the wall. Porous wood is a great helper in solving the problem. In addition, it is rare that a plate has a flat surface at the back.
Now you know how to hang a plate on the wall without nails. nine0003
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Making your own holder
Take any ribbon or leather cord. Using the same glue as mentioned above, glue it to the plate in two places to form a hanging loop. Close the edges with pieces of felt, paper or any fabric. This will make the rear view more aesthetic, and the mount more secure. Drive a nail or screw a screw into the wall, and hang the plate by the tape. nine0003
Tape or plaster
Light decor can be fixed with things that are in almost every home. We will need white tape and a band-aid. Stick a long piece of plaster on a plate vertically. Now, with horizontal stripes, fix it again on a plate. Insert the holder into the end of the electrical tape and seal it. Cover the end again with a few horizontal strips of electrical tape. This is a fairly reliable method of attachment.
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Paperclip, wire and hairpin
It is very convenient to use an eyelet from tin cans for fasteners. If there was none in the house, then a wire, hairpin or paper clip will do.
You can use a hot glue gun (silicone sticks) for work. The back surface must be degreased. For better adhesion of surfaces, you can walk a little along the back wall of the plate with sandpaper. But this is optional. The fact is that if you scratch the surface a little, then the materials stick together better and there is less chance that your plate will fall and break. nine0003
Ready-made wall holder
If you don't like to mess around on your own and hand-made is not your thing, then look for special plate holders in decor stores. There you will definitely be prompted how to hang a decorative plate on the wall. As an option, a mount-stand is suitable for you.
Just fix it to the wall, and put a decorative element into it.
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Factory holders are divided into two types:
- steel with spring;
- round sticker with eyelet.
How do you determine which type of commercial fastener you need? Focus on the weight of the plate. If it is heavy and large, then you need a metal mount. If it is small, then you can get by with a neat sticker.
Mounting the plates on the wall
If you are going to attach a group of decorative items, the first thing you need to do is draw a layout - how you see the arrangement of the plates. Now put each product on paper and circle. Cut out each "pattern". Take a sheet of drawing paper and tape the paper plates to it. nine0003
Let your imagination run wild and you will surely find your own original drawing. It can look like a waterfall or a rainbow.
Or maybe you gravitate towards strict geometry? You can draw a sheet into even squares or rhombuses. Now you have a good idea of how your plates should look on the wall. Never rush to fix the decor without thinking through the composition. After all, any method can leave a mark on the surface that will be difficult to disguise.
Now remove the paper plate models from the wall and, peeking into the “cheat sheet” on the Whatman paper, fix the sketches on the wall surface. It is best to attach to the wall with masking tape. It is made of paper and will not leave marks on the wallpaper. nine0003
Now trace around the blanks with chalk or a disappearing marker. Below you can see some ready-made layouts. Perhaps they will help you create your own version and you will immediately understand how to hang the plates in the best way.
You can also play with some beautiful and massive object, for example, a mirror in a beautiful frame that hangs on the wall. Plates located above the fireplace or an old chest of drawers look great.
The plates look beautiful above the bed. In the corridor, they can decorate the space around the doorway. nine0003
How to hang plates on the wall beautifully
Most romantic people love "creative mess". Don't like strictness? Try to arrange the assorted decor in a chaotic manner.
Plates can be combined in the same theme or be in the same color scheme. It is not necessary that all objects be round or square. The combination of different geometric shapes looks more interesting. Next, consider several schemes.
Instead of travel magnets
Do you travel a lot and bring back magnets from your trips? Try to replace them with plates with the sights of the cities you have visited. Magnets are nice, but it's better to admire the plates in the living room than to be constantly tempted to steal something from the refrigerator during bouts of nostalgia.
Plate puzzles
There is a kind of decor. One ornament is drawn on a group of plates. You can understand what exactly is shown if you place the products side by side in a certain order.
Very interesting game and a great idea for interior design. nine0003
Strict geometry
If you are a pedant and like everything to be regulated, then the question of how to hang a plate on the wall will not arise for you. Naturally - along a flat line, or a circle, or a rhombus. In general, along a given coordinate axis.
For dreamers
But if creativity is in full swing, then something unusual can be formed from decorative elements. For example, sun, waves, sunflower, car. This arrangement is especially relevant in the children's room. Get your child involved. Perhaps he will tell you the most unusual solution. nine0003
How to hang plates on the kitchen wall
It all depends on the style of your kitchen and the available space on the walls. You can arrange the plates however you like. There are no fixed rules here.
But which plates to hang will depend on how this room is designed in what style.
- If the kitchen is decorated in ethnic style, then copper trays and dishes painted in folk style (Gzhel, Khokhloma, Indian motifs) will look very organic on the walls.
nine0119 - A country-style dining room will sparkle with new colors if you decorate the walls with wicker dishes. Also bright plates with floral ornaments are suitable here. The more saturated colors on them, the better.
- In a large kitchen, which is decorated in a classic style, white, grayish, milky plates on the walls will be appropriate. It is desirable that they be of different sizes and shapes. Make sure that the group of saucers has something in common. Plates look beautiful, the edges of which resemble knitted napkins. nine0119
Nursery decor
There is no limit to fantasy. There are a great many products with a children's theme, and let the owner of the room tell you how to arrange them correctly.
Buy white decorative dishes and paints (acrylic or special for ceramics). Let the child paint them on their own, and you will help him with this. No one will have such an original design for a nursery! Next to the plates, you can hang a palette of paints.
