Would you like to wake up in the morning to a gorgeous angelic print above your bed, or perhaps you have a home office in a loft conversion where the ceiling’s angled, and you’d like to hang a photo frame on a sloped wall to see when you’re at your desk. There are hanging systems you can use to accomplish that type of setup.
Safety first!
When attaching anything to a ceiling, safety is paramount. With picture frames, it’s even more imperative because of the weight. There are some weight recommendations for what can be anchored onto a drywall ceiling, however, it’s safer to be extra cautious and assume the maximum load of a plasterboard ceiling is zero!
When hanging anything to the ceiling (other than paper decorations that are so lightweight that they’ll have no impact), anchor the object to the ceiling joists. You’ll need a stud finder to find them. In most homes, ceiling or loft joists are usually spaced 16” or 24” apart. Given that they aren’t that thick, you’ll likely only be able to get a maximum of two anchor points to a single joist.
Another point of note is the maximum load weight of the hardware you use. All types of wall hooks and anchoring systems have a maximum recommended load. Know the weight of your frame and use hardware that’s strong enough to support it. Always check the recommended load weight of your hardware, and keep in mind that the recommendation is based on correct fitting, which means anchoring it to a stud. Not from a sheet of plasterboard.
Cable wire hanging systems
You’ll see these in retail stores where oversized prints of posters advertising specials or direction signs are hung suspended from the ceiling. You can buy these same hanging systems to use in your home. Naturally, to keep frames suspended, hung flat, and stable, you’d need four bullet hangers and four steel wire cables. Two hangers would be fine if you wanted the photo to hang down from the ceiling but displayed against a wall. To lay it flush against a ceiling though, you’d need four anchor points, and four sections of wire, each set to the same height.
Picture hanging tracks
Hanging tracks are ideal solutions for hanging photo frames from the ceiling so that they’re hung at a specific height, i.e. above a breakfast bar or a half partition separating a living area from the dining area. What’s more, is that a single track can have multiple photo frames hung from it. The system works similarly to a cable wire hanging system. The only real difference is that you can slide the frames from left to right after they’re hung, and you can add to them as you please.
The initial rail is the main hanging component, then hooks are attached to that, to which cable wire can be attached, and then your picture frames. As you can add to hanging tracks easily, it’s imperative to remember the maximum weight. When hanging multiple frames from a picture hanging track, choose lightweight frames such as aluminium photo frames or opt for canvas prints with or without a canvas floating frame.