How to hang a canvas in a kid's room safely, over beds and cribs

Hanging a picture is a ten-minute job. Hanging one in a kid's room takes a little more thought, because kids jump on beds, slam doors, climb furniture and pull on anything they can reach. A light canvas falling isn't a disaster, but you still don't want it landing on someone who's asleep. Here's how to pick the spot and the hardware so it stays put.

Not over the crib

Start with the simplest rule: keep the wall directly above a crib clear. The American Academy of Pediatrics' safe sleep guidance is that nothing should be in the crib except a fitted sheet, and something that falls off the wall ends up in the crib. New Zealand's Natural Hazards Commission, the government agency that deals with earthquake damage, puts it plainly in its nursery safety advice: fix pictures away from where they can fall on a sleeping child, and don't put pictures or shelves just above a cot or a child's bed. You don't have to live on a fault line for that to make sense. Wall anchors loosen, doors get slammed, and a baby who learns to stand will grab whatever is in reach.

So in a nursery, hang the art on a different wall. While you're arranging things, keep the crib away from window blind cords and from anything with a cord, like a baby monitor.

Over a big-kid bed: possible, with the right hardware

Over a toddler or twin bed is a judgment call. Lots of families do it, and a canvas is a much better candidate than a framed print under glass. If you do, three conditions:

• Use screws or hooks into a stud or a properly rated anchor. Not adhesive strips. Command's own instructions for its large picture-hanging strips say not to hang them over beds, as printed on the product listing.
• Use two hanging points, not one. A single nail lets a picture swing and work loose every time the headboard hits the wall. The New Zealand guidance above also says to avoid single nails.
• Check it twice a year. Give it a gentle tug when you change the clocks. If anything wiggles, fix it then.

If your kid is a bed jumper, or the headboard bangs the wall, put the art somewhere else. The side wall next to the bed looks just as good.

How heavy is a canvas, really?

Lighter than most people expect. A stretched canvas is fabric on a wooden frame, with no glass, so it weighs far less than the same size framed print. But "light" isn't a number, and the hardware decision depends on the number. The easy way to get it: step on a bathroom scale holding the canvas, then without it, and subtract. Do it once and you'll know which of the options below you can use.

When adhesive strips are fine

Adhesive picture-hanging strips are good for renters and for light pieces on walls away from beds. For Command's Large strips, the listing says four pairs hold 16 pounds and the maximum frame size is 24 by 36 inches. The same instructions say:

• Wait seven days after painting before you use them, so the paint can cure.
• Clean the wall with rubbing alcohol first, not a household cleaner.
• Don't use them on wallpaper, and don't hang valuable items with them.
• The room should stay between 50 and 105°F.

Read the package you actually buy, because ratings differ by size and version. In practice that means a 12×16 or 16×24 canvas on a playroom or dresser wall is a reasonable job for strips. Anything bigger than 24×36, or anything over a bed, isn't.

Studs, anchors and hooks

For everything else, use real hardware.

• A stud is best. A cheap stud finder works, or knock along the wall and listen for where the hollow sound goes solid. Studs in most American homes run vertically at regular intervals, so once you find one, the next is usually about 16 inches over.
• No stud where you need it? Use a drywall anchor rated for more than the canvas weighs. The rating is on the package. Give yourself a good margin.
• Plaster walls (common in older houses) crack if you hammer nails into them. Drill a small pilot hole first, and use anchors made for plaster.
• Picture hooks that go in at an angle with a thin nail hold more than a plain nail and leave a small hole. For a light canvas on drywall they're often all you need.

Hanging it level on two hooks

Two hooks keep a canvas level and stop it from tilting every time a door closes. Here's the method:

1. Pick the height. Decide where the top of the canvas should sit, and mark it lightly in pencil. For guidance on height, see the size and height guide.
2. Measure the hanging points. If the canvas has a wire, hook it over two fingers spaced about a third of the way in from each side, pull it taut toward the top, and measure from the wire to the top edge. If it has two sawtooth hangers or D-rings, measure the distance between them and from each one to the top.
3. Mark the wall. Measure down from your top line by that amount, and mark two points the same distance apart as your fingers or hangers, centered on the spot where the middle of the canvas should be.
4. Check level before you drill. Put a level, or the level app on your phone, across the two marks.
5. Hang it, step back, nudge. With two hooks, a tiny adjustment usually means sliding the wire a quarter inch, not re-drilling.

If you're still choosing a portrait for that wall, the FAQ covers sizes and frame options, and our canvases are printed and stretched in the USA.