How to Hang Unframed Art

Rustling through the bins in a thrift store, one rarely finds good art in a good frame. It's usually one or the other—and in most cases, the art is what you've reached for in the first place and the dated, or broken, or unstylish frame has to go. Danielle Krieger, who runs the vintage-packed Etsy shop Microscope Telescope when she's not directing films in Seattle, is very familiar with this situation. Rather than bother framing vintage paintings, anew, she often hangs them just as they are—sans frame.

"I really love vintage items and, to me, putting a new frame around a vintage artwork seems kind of wrong in a way," she explains. Whether you want to hang unframed art to preserve its olden feel—or simply because you'd rather save some cash on framing—here's how to hang a picture without a frame.

Lightweight art—paintings on board and works on paper, for instance—can be affixed to the wall without any concern of excess weight taxing the hanging device (or damaging the piece itself). Canvases can be secured on the wall without a frame, too, but only if they're not too large or unweildy—and they'll look better if the sides of the canvas are painted rather than blank; simply prop the open section inside the wood frame onto two sizeable nails (which will keep the piece more level than using one).

If a certain paper artwork is not too precious—and not too permanent, either—Krieger will often tack it directly to the wall using map tacks, and she's seen others us washi tape or even vintage tape to the same end.

Besides being yet another way to diversify the look and feel of a gallery wall, or any wall art selection, hanging the occasional unframed artwork is also as satisfyingly non-committal as leaning your art. If you like to change up your look often, you should try it.

"I think the way you hang art can become part of your own unique style," Krieger says, and that occasionally foregoing a frame "allows you to rotate and change your art as often as you wish."