How to Hang a Tapestry so it Doesn’t Look Like It’s In a Dorm Room

You love it. Don't lie.

I don’t always hang classy howling wolf tapestries, but when I do, I use YOUHANGIT. Let’s face it: not unlike the Most Interesting Man in the World, most of us are not well hung. We’re talking about artwork, of course. Tapestries and Japanese scroll wall hangings can present especially interesting struggles, especially if they do not already come equipped with wooden drapery rod-like batons at the top and bottom. These allow the tapestry to stay straight, not sway in the wind, and the added weight at the bottom keeps the tapestry from being all college dorm-style wrinkly.

Tapestries are a fun way to kitsch up a room (as seen in our image for this blog) but can also be serious interior design and room decor business. If you’ve ever been to a castle in Europe, some of those wall-hung tapestries weigh—and this is just a guesstimate here—around a billion metric tons (see how we went metric there?) The main issues are that: a) you don’t have an 11th Century tapestry, and b) you don’t have the kind of hardcore castle wall it takes to hold one up. No fear! We can equip you with the perfect way to hang it right the first time, using our sharp pointy things (read on, that is NOT innuendo we swear) and our Sexy Metal Hooks if so desired.

Oh college. The days of hanging tapestries of Jerry Garcia style patterns with thumbtacks. Please stop doing this. Immediately. For all things there is a season. That season is over. If you have a cool, linen or cloth tapestry that you still think is cool, or even a legit tapestry from the 1960s that has real street cred and deserves a spot in the den or living room, you can hang your tapestry with a level like ours (the YOULEVEL) much easier if you roll it at the top onto a wooden curtain rod. You can go to most hardware stores and pick out a wooden bar style you like and they can cut it to the size that best suits your tapestry. Next you will want to roll the top and bottom of the tapestry and either use a sewing machine to create a channel for the bar or slip the baton into a fold you’ve made and use an automatic staple gun to affix it there permanently.

Now you are ready to hang the tapestry on the wall. You have a couple of options. You can use the YOULEVEL along with the YOUHANGITs, which you will affix to the back of the tapestry rod, and do the old, “Peel, Stick, Level, Squish,” to make your marks for small keyholes or sawtooth hangers you can affix to the back of the rod. Your other option is to find a cool piece of strong twine or string that matches your tapestry and can handle its weight, and then use one single 30 to 50-pound Sexy Metal Hook to hang from the string—this is an especially popular trend for Japanese and Kanji scroll wall hangings as well.

Best of luck, tapestry hangers! Post your tapestry hangings to our YHI Facebook Page by clicking here!