Once you’ve become well acquainted with picture hangers—that is, your art hangers, wall hooks, gallery systems, and so on—you’ll expand your knowledge and gain a desire to refine your picture hanging setup with more specialized hanging hardware.

Our full hardware collection goes beyond picture hangers, including supplementary yet essential hardware to primary hangers. This selection also includes hardware that levels up your hanging display or helps you display other decor or items on the wall besides the traditional picture frame.

For instance, what hardware should you use to hang a frame with D-rings? How can you prevent your pictures from scratching your wall? Which hardware is ideal for more practical settings, like the office? 

This guide will walk you through each category and type of hanging hardware outside picture hangers and their applications, then point you to our in-depth resources for understanding these tools better. 

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And if you’re ready, dive right in!

Like picture hangers, hanging hardware should be utilized only when it’s suitable according to wall type, weight rating, and an item’s material or hardware. This only applies to some of them, though, and only one or two of these factors will be relevant for some hardware. Read more about these crucial aspects in this article:

And now, it’s time to get familiar with the hardware itself.

Each hanging hardware belongs to one of these hardware categories:

Picture hanging bumpers are small adhesive pads that act as a protective cushion between two surfaces. They come in rubber or felt to suit a variety of applications. These sticky bits of hardware are easy to miss, but they are handy and useful in many situations, like:

• Keeping pictures straight and level on the wall

• Protecting walls from being scratched by a frame

• Holding objects from slipping

• Elevating an item (like a keyboard or picture frame) from a surface

• Dampening noise, shock, and vibration

• Acting as replacement feet for items

You can use bumpers not only on pictures but also on electronics, cabinetry, furniture, tabletops, mirrors, wooden boards, and other similar surfaces. They come in many shapes for these various purposes, such as flat, tapered, cylindrical, and square bumpers.

Picture hanging wire is just what it sounds—the wire you attach to the back of a picture or some other item and hang on a wall hanger. There are three types: stainless steel wire, braided wire, and vinyl-coated wire. Each comes in a variety of wire sizes according to their thickness. The thicker a wire (i.e. the bigger the size), the more weight it can support. Picture wire is best paired with D-rings and strap hangers. 

Screws are essential in almost any hanging project. This category covers auxiliary screws for hanger installation as well as screws that serve as standalone wall hardware. Wall anchors are also a subcategory under this type of hardware given their function as support for screws and picture hangers. Both screws and wall anchors are designed for use on one or more types of wall substrates.

Standoffs are hanging hardware configured for professional settings and purposes, like those in offices and other working spaces, businesses, and commercial areas. They’re mainly for displaying material meant to inform, guide, or attract. 

The mechanism of a standoff involves a barrel, cap, wall screw, and clear acrylic panels to hold the material or item for display. Standoffs are so called because of the elevated effect this mechanism produces, making signs, posters, maps, etc. appear as if they’re floating from the wall, instead of the desired flush-against-the-wall look we aim for when hanging pictures. They come in several sizes in acrylic and also in brass and aluminum.

Decorating our spaces is not just about hanging pictures and using picture hangers—some decor projects will call for specialized hanging hardware and niche hardware that are key to making not just picture displays but any decor project more polished and professional. With the power of hanging hardware and niche hardware combined with your picture hangers, you can achieve an interior decor that is effortless and more beautiful than ever.

Happy hanging!