Hanging your wood panel art on the wall is a great way to add some beautiful and interesting décor to any space. It’s also an easy DIY project perfect for both beginners and advanced do-it-yourselfers.
In this post, we will walk you through how to hang your panels, so they hang straight and level. We’ll also cover how to secure and place your wooden panel if you have drywall or plaster walls, as well as how to hang artworks with wire.
Contents
How to Hang Wood Panel Art: What to Prepare
If you hang your panels on the wall yourself, prepare some materials required for this task:
- Hammers
- Screws and nails
- Wires
- Levels
- Pencils
- Measuring tape
- Drill Saw
- Pliers
- Hanger
- Sandpaper/sanding sponge
Your artwork will look professionally done as long as you follow the instructions.
Hanging Wood Panels with Wire: Step by Step Guide
Step One: Get the Panel Measurements
First thing first, before installing wire onto the back of your panel, you need to take two measurements.
- Height – The height of your wood panel art is from the top center all the way down one side edge across the bottom center to the opposite side edge
- Make a small mark on your panel where the top center is located, then measure down from there
- Width – Next, you need to take two measurements to determine how wide each wire hang should be, each measurement for each side of your wood panel art piece
- The width of your hang needs to be measured from the left corner over across the bottom and up diagonally to the right corner with no space in between them (so they are touching)
Step Two: Measure out your Wire Length
After measuring out both sides of the wire needed for hanging your wood panel art, cut off an extra foot or so, at least to start with after making sure it’s long enough. You can always cut more hang wire off later.
Step Three: Cut the Wire Hangers
Now you need to cut your hang wires to be around the same length as measured in step two above.
If one side of a hang is not long enough, no worries! Cut another piece and attach it on top of the first hang with pliers by twisting them together tightly.
Make sure both pieces line up evenly with each other when attached. Or else, it will end up an uneven hang job that looks sloppy and won’t be straight along with panel art.
After cutting out lengths needed for hanging panels from wire, use pliers to twist ends where necessary. Once finished measuring/cutting into equal sizes that fit well over wood panel art.
Step Four: Drill Pilot Holes into the Panel
Next, take your drill and saw (or jigsaw) and make pilot holes in each corner of the panel you will be hanging on the wall. These small pilot holes will help guide your screws straight while drilling, so they go into the wall evenly.
If using a drill bit, start with a smaller size, then gradually go up in size until it’s slightly larger than your screw head. This way, the screw won’t pull out of the hole over time instead of using a hammer to pound it directly into drywall or plaster.
Tip: When drilling hangs wire onto the backside of the panel, try to do so where raw wood is showing as this will give you a little bit of strength and a more secure hang job.
Also, you can sand the wall’s surface a little bit if there are uneven areas.
Step Five: Attach the Wire Hangers to the Panel
Using pliers, attach wire hang pieces evenly spaced on the backside panel. Make sure they do not touch each other when finished hanging them up with screws later.
Tip: Make sure hang wires are placed in one line down center/middle of the wood panel art piece diagonally, or else your panel will look crooked! You don’t want that at all if you want it hung straight across.
Here’s an example of how it should be done properly. In fact, measuring out hang wire lengths is required before attaching to the panel itself. Also, the pilot holes have already been drilled into corners first using a drill and saw (or jigsaw).
Step Six: Hang the Panel on the Wall
Last but not least, after attaching hang wires onto the backside of your wood panel art piece, as mentioned in steps four and five, it’s time to hang it up!
If possible, find a stud in your wall by using a stud finder or simply knocking/hitting with your hand around where you plan to hang it.
If there is no stud behind where you want to place artwork, that’s okay – just use two screws instead of one when screwing directly into the drywall or plaster. Screws should be spaced out evenly while hanging your panel (usually about every 12-16 inches apart).
Make sure they are going into the pilot holes previously drilled, so artwork hangs level and straight. Viola! You’re done.
Conclusion
We have provided you with some helpful tips on hanging your wood panels. When installing the hang brackets, we recommend that you measure twice and cut once to ensure a perfect fit.
If you follow these simple steps, you can hang your wood panel art like a pro in no time – and with ease too. Just make sure to measure everything out beforehand. You should also have all materials ready and easily accessible.
Thanks again for reading our article about wall panel installation; we hope this information was useful to you.