How to Create an Organized Picture Hanging Kit

Create an organized picture hanging kit and make it easy to hang up family photos, wall art, mirrors, and more!

I may or may not ask Donnie to hang, rehang, or rearrange wall art on a pretty frequent basis. I’m always changing my mind, coming up with new ideas, or wanting to experiment with different configurations, and he is a pro at spacing and hanging pictures straight.

Since installing wall art and photos uses pretty much the same supplies every single time, Donnie got smart and put together a picture hanging kit to make the jobs quick and easy! (Have I mentioned that I am only the second most organized person around here? He’s the real organizer!)

This kit has been really handy to have around, and it saves us from having to locate everything we need each time we want to hang something on the walls. (Which happens more often than I’d like to admit! 😉 )

If you’d like to create an organized picture hanging kit of your own, here’s Donnie to let you know what all you should include…

How to Create an Organized Picture Hanging Kit

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

When Abby is feeling bored or anxious, her favorite thing to do is hang things on the wall and re-arrange things already on the wall. And somehow, she always recruits me to help. I’m ok with that. 🙂

I used to search around the garage or basement for little picture hanging hardware pieces and other things I needed for the particular job. Looking and not finding what you need is always way more frustrating than the hanging itself, which is actually kind of fun.

Not long ago I decided to make things easier on myself and cut down on wasted time by making my very own picture hanging kit. I looked around on Amazon for some pre-made kits, but they always had things missing that I use all the time. I decided to purchase all the parts separately and put together my own kit.

What to Include in an Organized Picture Hanging Kit

Here’s what I included in my kit…

1. Small part organizer (similar). A little container like this will fit all your various picture hanging parts and keep them all in one place.
   I have a number of small parts cases with the removable dividers, and I really like them. The price is great, and the latches are very secure, so I don’t have to worry about all of the little D-hooks and nails spilling out everywhere.
   
2. Tape measure. Simple, but oh-so important!
   
3. Nail-less sawtooth picture hangers. Abby has this habit of turning picture frames on their side. Usually I have to add a little sawtooth hanger to the side of the frame to make it work. These particular sawtooth hangers are nice because no nails are required to attach them to the frame.
   
4. Zinc self-drilling drywall anchors. I use these all the time. They are incredibly sturdy and easy to remove (unlike the plastic ones) when they are no longer needed. The strength of these is unmatched.
   The only negative thing about these anchors is that they put a big hole in the drywall. Nothing that can’t be patched!
   I keep a lot of these in stock because I use them for other construction applications besides just hanging pictures and decorations on the wall. It’s my go-to drywall anchor method when a stud is not available.
   
5. Padded brass hangers. When using a wire method to hang pictures, these hangers are great and can hold a lot of weight.
   
6. D-Rings. This set includes 100 D-ring picture holders as well a the mounting screws. These are great for heavier pictures. For whatever reason some frames don’t have D-rings, and you have to add them yourself.
   
7. Sawtooth picture hangers with screws. For more delicate operations that require a screw instead of pounding in the sawtooth with a hammer, these work really well.
   
8. Command Strips. Abby uses these all the time to hang lighter objects and stabilize frames that want to hang off center, so I included them in the kit.
   
9. Vinyl coated wire. If I’m having a hard time getting a larger picture with two D-rings to hang level, I’ll connect the D-rings with some wire and hang the picture from the wire.
   
10. Heavy duty drywall hanger support. I have yet to actually use one of these, but I know the day will come and I’ll be ready!
    
11. Finishing nails. For lighter items, I use a simple nail that the sawtooth on the picture frame will sit on. This assortment has all the possible sizes I need.
    
12. 24″ plastic level. This size seems to be perfect for creating level picture heights for gallery walls. I use a cheap poly level. You can make sure it’s true by testing the level on a surface and then flipping the level upside down to make sure you get the same reading.
    
13. Laser level. This is kind of a luxury, but it sure is nice when you need a long, level line. I love my Bosch laser level.

Organized Picture Hanging Kit: Final Thoughts

There you have it, my custom picture hanging kit! The only things I didn’t list that I keep close to the kit are a little hammer and a pencil.

Spending a little time and money to put together the picture hanging kit has saved me multiple hours already this year, and this kit is going to last me for a long time.

[Psssttt… Get our top 100 tips for organizing every room of the house here!]

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Anything else that you like to use when hanging pictures? Let me know in the comments below.

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.