Cheap Hanging Gallery System

The hanging gallery system is finally finished and it works great!

The wife and I have some art we are proud of and wanted to increase our collection from some of our artsy friends. The old wood paneling in the basement was hideous and had to be painted over. We wanted a space where we could hang and adjust art easily, without putting lots of holes in the wood paneling that would be annoying to patch/paint.

Most hanging gallery systems are fairly expensive ($100-$200 per 6 feet). Here are some examples of what we were trying to emulate:

     http://www.amazon.com/Gallery-Looped-Picture-Hanging-System/dp/B004CUR0JI
     http://www.amazon.com/French-Gallery-Picture-Hanging-System/dp/B004CUTD98
(the first picture looks like something we might find at home depot)

The other alternative was gallery molding.

(We found this to be a little too dated, but might be a great cheep option if you want something that looks a little more traditional)

We wanted something that felt modern but wouldn't cost $200 or more. Here is the final solution.

Total Cost     $100

Materials for Rail

Aluminum c-channel x 5     $45

     Each rail is 96 inches and $9. You might be able to find a similarly priced j-channel for easier install.
Corner Braces (4 per pack) x 5     $10
     I used about 1 every other stud or 4 per 8 foot track.
Hacksaw
Metal File
Drill
Measuring Tape
Screws

Materials for Hangers

Hanging wire     $10
     We tried 40 lb and 25 lb wire. Both worked fine.
Ferrule and Stop Set (x5)     $7
Metal Mirror Hooks 4 per pack (x3)      $15
Grounding Lugs 4 per pack (x3)     $12
Needle Nose Pliers
Hammer
















Rail Instructions

Screw L brackets spaced appropriately along the wall. One at each end, and spaced every few feet in-between.

Measure, cut and pre-drill rails.

Screw rails to brackets. And done.


Hanger Instructions
Measure the length of wire. I cut them long enough so that we can hang 2 pictures from a wire when we get enough art to expand and double up.
Attach the wire with the ferrules.
















A few taps with a hammer helps the hooks hold tighter.
































For the adjustable hooks we used copper ground lugs, found in the electrical section. They are made for much larger wire but can hold thin picture wire if you flip the center around and give it a few taps with a hammer.

They come like this:















But you can flip them around like this:
















Then bend the bottom to become a hook that looks like this:

If you leave the end straight it is the perfect width to fit under sawtooth hangers.





















You can see the wire is held securely by tightening the screw.


Here is picture of the final gallery. There is plenty of room to expand as our collection grows.