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I spent an hour perfectly measuring the position of 3 nails to hang 3 identical picture frames on my wall. Everything went fine and I'm certain that from a mathematical point of view the nails are exactly in the right positions.

But once I hang the picture frames on them, it looks totally crooked. They all lean towards one side and the edges don't line up. Maybe the frames are really a bit heavier on one side, or my wall isn't really smooth, but every time I nudge them into level, they just move back into their crooked positions.

How can I level a picture frame that hangs from one single nail?

I won't accept solutions that:

• require driving in any more nails


• are visible in front of the frames


• leave permanent marks, like some glues and tapes do

This is the back of a frame and I hang them from the little hanger marked in green. The hangers are positioned perfectly at the center.

The hook marked in green has a ribbed top edge.

Adjust the position of the picture so the nail is located at one of the indentations, so it hangs level.

If it droops one way on a particular groove, and the other way on the next groove, then you need to counterbalance the picture.

You can do this by attaching a weight, such as a clean nail, to one of the clips on the left or the right of the picture, perhaps with cotton or string, which can be removed later.

Maybe the pictures really are level, but their subject matter creates the illusion that they are crooked.

I'm assuming you have the typical braided wire across the back of all the pictures and you're hanging the pictures by putting the wire across the nails. If the picture isn't level, it means one side is heavier than the other by a small amount. You'll need to slightly slide the picture across the wire away from the direction of the lean. This will effectively add a little weight to the other side of the nail and the picture will hang straighter. You might have to do a couple of small adjustments to get it just right. If there is an equal amount of weight on each side of the nail, it will hang level. Of course you'll have to do this with each picture in turn.

If you don't have a wire, but are hanging the pictures from the top edge of the frame, then the procedure is still exactly the same. The idea is to balance the weight equally on each side of the nail. If you can do that, the picture will be level.

Tape:

Make a small loop of masking tape or some similar non-marking stuff like painter's tape with the sticky side out. Place the loop of tape on the bottom edge of the frame so that it does not show when the picture is hung. The tape will help hold the position of the frame so it does not swing to alter the position of the frame when you let go.

Tacks:

Alternately, I have used thumb tacks with vinyl-coated heads that also help keep the frames from changing position. The thumbtacks are put into the painted walls at the position of the frame corner. The thumb tacks have the added benefit of creating a slight air space between the wall and the frame so that the the paint will tend to discolour less after some time.

Good luck