I’ve been toying with the idea of hanging plates on our staircase wall for age, but as usual finding the time to actually put it into practice has been the challenge. We had a rare child-free couple of nights away down in Brighton recently (pure bliss) and I lapped up the chance to wander round the shops without two small people under my feet. I bought some simple, inexpensive white plates from a shop I fell head-over-heels in love with called Utility.
When we got home and unpacked our purchases I resisted the urge to do what I normally do and put them away until I eventually carve out some time to hang them, and decided to just get on and do it there and then.
So here’s my very straightforward tutorial on how to hang plates on the wall. I have to apologise for the finished photograph – unfortunately I have discovered that my staircase is the most difficult area I’ve ever tried to photograph, and the fact that it still needs a lick of clean white paint (the beige left by the house’s previous owner is not my shade of choice) doesn’t help.
1. Take a piece of old newspaper and draw around each plate you want to hang, and then cut the shape out.
2. If you’re hanging a variety of plates, number your template and the corresponding plate (writing a number on a bit of masking tape does the trick) so that you know which template is which.
3. Put a plate hanger onto the plate (I advise getting the right sized hanger the first time round so you don’t have to make an extra trip to the shops) and then measure the distance from the hook to the top of the plate.
4. Fold the template in half and measure the same distance from the top of the template and mark with a cross.
5. Using masking tape, stick the templates up on the wall, moving them around to get the arrangement how you want it.
6. Using a bradle (or a sharp pencil), push the point through the cross on the template to mark the wall beneath. Take down the template.
7. Take a drill and drill into the wall. Hold a dustpan underneath the hole to collect the dust as you drill.
8. Insert a rawl plug into the drill hole.
9. Screw a screw into the hole (leave the head protruding from the hole so that you can hang the plate from it).
10. Hang the hook of the plate hanger over the screw.
I did also film all these steps and at some point I’ll manage to edit the clips together to make a handy video tutorial, so check back here soon.
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