I hate blank walls. I hate white walls more. I especially hate white walls you can’t paint due to landlord restrictions. So I try to hang some eye candy here and there to make our home more… homey. I also hate hanging a bunch of photos everywhere and like to use other art pieces to spruce things up.
With the invention of Pinterest there has been a explosion of ideas to choose from. And I found a simple and cheap one I love and you can adapt to any color scheme.
I had already bought three of the amazing blue plates from Target when they went on clearance a while back. I hung them on my wall and loved the look. When we after I saw a entire wall of plates I loved the idea even more. But the plates were sold out and I wasn’t sure what else to do. And then it hit me. Thrift stores (before they were a fad)! I love going to them and have found a few hidden gems in them.
I went to the china section and bought several plates; different sizes and patterns. For .50 cents a piece I got a great deal and even bought spares.
After we got home I started adding up the cost of plate hangers. The hangers alone would be more than the plates. I also realized I hate how you can see the plate hangers little grabby hands. So I went off and googled alternative ways to hang plates. I found some awesome hangers that basically suction onto the back of the plate and have a picture hook to use to hang on the wall. But just one was $5! With about $15 plates you can add up how costly that would be.
After brainstorming for a few days I came up with a idea; and it worked! So I share with you a DIY plate hanger that cost me about $5 for all 15 plates.
Supplies
Gorilla glue
Large safety pins
Flip your plate onto the back side and clean off any thrift store gunk.
Put a dollop of glue on the back and press the pin head into the glue. You need to leave the circle end out of the glue. This will be what you use to hang on the nail. The pin will start the fall because the glue is very soft at first. So the pin dried in the glue evenly for hanging, I put a plate under the pin to level it out. It took a few minutes to find a way to do this. I ended up having to find another plate or object to hold the plate in place that is holding up the pin. But once the glue hardens a little (a few minutes) you can remove the plate holding the pin up and move to the next plate. Finally, hammer in a nail into the wall and hang the plate!
