Plate Wall Tutorial

LivingEtc

A green plate wall for St. Patrick's Day so I don't get pinched!  

I think blue plates would look even better on this wall and really pop.  But they didn't ask me, so onto my plate wall tutorial! 

First of all, it's really easy, even if you are doing a more structured configuration.  If you are planning something more freeform, just attach your plate hangers and go to town.

The first thing I did was plan where I wanted each plate to go and how large the spacing between should be.  

Then I attached plate hangers.  These are quick and cheap, but I have heard rumors that they can damage or even break your plates and the stick-on ones are better.  I decided to live dangerously and use these - I figure even if a plate breaks, it's better that they are out where I can see and enjoy them than in a box somewhere.  After you have them laid out, here is a good trick.   Trace around each plate/platter (if you don't have paper wide enough, tape pieces together, it doesn't matter what they look like), marking a little dot where the top of the picture hanger will hold the nail and then write a brief description of the piece on the paper.  If you are like me and moving is a way of life, you are so excited because you have a template that you can keep and your next plate wall will be fabulously quick and easy!

Then you can just (lightly) tape the papers up, moving them around and measuring the spacing.  When they are all perfect, nail the picture hangers into the wall where you've marked it on the paper.  

I forgot to snap a pic before I took the rest of the templates down - sorry!  

So, here they are all hung up and looking pretty.

This wall is what you see from the living room too and now I love it.  That blank wall was driving me crazy!  Now I just need to paint the chairs, get a rug, maybe paint...lots of projects to blog about for sure.

I hope this was helpful.  Do you have any cheap and easy ways for filling a blank wall?  I still have quite a few left around the house!