Why I Always Use Tape to Hang Frames

I've lived in my rental apartment for three years, and a few months ago, I finally received my landlord's permission to decorate.

The first project I decided to take on to make my space feel more personal was to start building a gallery wall filled with artwork, photographs, and mementos from my time traveling and living in Australia and Europe.

Although I do have the blessing to start putting nails in the wall, I still want to be careful and cause as little damage as possible with my display—especially because there will be so many different types of pieces going up on the wall.

If I can place each frame perfectly on the first try, my security deposit will look much healthier when we decide to move out and buy a home. During my daily scroll, I came across this genius hack by creator Leyla (@livingwithley), who used painter's tape and a level to nail (pun intended) where she was hammering into her wall every time.

I gave this TikTok home trick a try with a framed poster of Budapest that had been resting against my wall for months, and these were the results.

This hack isn't just meant to be simple—it can also be done with tools and materials you likely already have at home in your toolbox or art drawer.

All you need to grab is a pen, a pencil, a nail, a hammer, a level, and some painter's tape (I opted for a pretty pastel purple).

The Spruce/ Nishaa Sharma

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Next, I placed my poster frame on the floor face down and placed painter's tape just below where a nail would sit on the hook. My frame had one hook with five different notches, so I used my pen to ensure I had the middle notch marked for a