Last October I shared my stair gallery wall with you. Guys- I loved this gallery wall! The art was so pretty together and the stairs never looked better! Here’s a picture to refresh your memory:
the issue
But let me tell you, it wasn’t super practical. Here’s the issue- I have a two year old who is learning to climb the stairs and has to hold onto the wall. This means that sometimes he held onto the pictures and pulled them down as he climbed the stairs. I have lost probably 5-7 frames this way. No one was ever hurt and it never damaged the stairs, just the cheap Ikea frames. I tried to secure them with a command strip, but it wouldn’t hold. Finally, I was sick of my stairs looking like this:
how to secure art
What’s a girl to do? I headed to my best friend that I always turn to in times of crisis- Amazon. First I found hardware to secure art:
It looked awesome, but I didn’t want to add a ton more holes to my wall. I’d use this option in an RV or if I was putting expensive art in a public place. I did some more Amazon shopping and found a genius option!
museum wax
Enter, museum wax. This is what museums use to secure their art. One hole for hanging the art, a little wax and you are good to go! I added it to my cart and 2 days later was putting it on! The wax looked like hard lip balm when I opened it.
It comes with instructions and a little spatula. All you have to do is use the spatula to scrape out small amounts of wax. You roll the wax between your fingers to create little balls. Use at least 4 per frame.
Next, you just place it on the back of the frame. You then put the frame on the wall and press it so that all corners are firmly touching the wall. By the time the wax dries, it is super secure on the wall!
after
Guys! This is such a genius little hack! We’ve had the art on the wall for a week and it looks amazing!
A side benefit is that it keeps the frames level! So if you’re a perfectionist, you can put it on any art that doesn’t stay straight on your wall. To remove the frame once it has wax on it, you can use floss to cut the barrier and then you’ll have to wash your wall. Easy peasy!
I also added the museum wax to the back of the art that’s above our bed. So if there’s an earthquake, it won’t crash on our heads! This would also be really nice for art over a crib. I’ve heard of people using it under nick knacks on their tables so cats don’t push them over. It was $5 for the little bottle and I’m kind of obsessed! Fingers crossed this will be helpful to someone out there!
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