BoomerGirl Diary

Dear Mi-Ling: I have two pictures that I want on one wall. They are both 16 by 20 inches, but one is vertical and one is horizontal. How do I do this without looking tacky?

— Joy F.

Dear Joy: Hanging pictures can be hard on your walls. You don't want to put a lot of unnecessary holes in your walls because you'll spend a lot of time filling the holes and repainting the walls.

To avoid this situation, tape a few pieces of newspaper together to make the dimension of your picture frames.

Cut to the exact size. Tape the pieces of paper to your wall and play with a few options.

You can also put your frames on the floor and figure out exactly how you want them to look before you start hammering.

If you have to anchor screws in the wall, match the paper up with the back of the frame and poke through the paper into the grooves that the nails will go in.

Next, place the paper on the wall where you want to hang the frames and make a pencil mark.

Remove the paper and place your nail in the exact spot where you made the pencil mark.

You can hang a vertical and horizontal print side by side.

Make sure the horizontal picture is in the middle of the vertical print. That usually works for me.

You also can add a third horizontal or a third vertical picture to the mix. Just place two of the same on one side and balance with the other.