Posters are great budget-friendly wall art that add visual interest and decor to any room. Along with their variety in design, you can choose to style them one of two ways – unframed or framed – and both ways come with their own installation process. If you have posters around your home you’ve been wanting to hang, we’ve created this guide for you. We’re teaching you how to hang posters – both unframed and framed – so you can up the style in your home in a matter of minutes.

How to Hang Unframed Posters
How to Hang Framed Posters

How to Hang Unframed Posters

Skipping the frame? Here’s all the steps you need to hang an unframed poster.

What You Will Need

• Your new poster
• Heavy books
• Tape measurer
• Pencil
• Cleaning cloth
• Warm water
• Poster adhesive like mounting putty or adhesive strips
• Leveler

Tip!

Have canvas art you want to hang, too? Check out this guide: How to Hang Canvas Art

Step 1: Choose Your Poster

As you shop for a poster, pay attention to the dimensions. Whether you already have a spot in mind to hang the poster, or if you’re going to wing it after purchasing, you should know how much space your poster will require when it’s hung up. See Step 3 for more details on choosing a spot.

Step 2: Flatten the Poster

If your poster comes rolled, you will need to flatten it so it hangs straight on the wall. A rolled unframed poster takes a few hours to flatten completely, so start this step as soon as possible.If your poster didn’t come rolled and is already flat, you can skip this step.

Lay your poster face-down on a clean surface (this means the side with the design is on the surface itself). Place materials like a stack of heavy books or something similar in weight on the four corners of the poster to keep it flat, and leave it like that for several hours.

Step 3: Find & Clean Your Hanging Location

Once your poster is flat, find the spot on the wall you’d like to hang your unframed poster, and complete the following steps: ensure the space is clear to fit the poster and then clean the wall.

To ensure your poster has enough clearance, use a tape measure to measure the free space on the wall. Check the length and width of the open space on the wall to make sure it matches with the dimensions of your poster. If there isn’t enough room, you may need to choose a new hanging spot.

When your spot is clear, take your poster (still without adhesives) and test it by holding it up in your planned spot. When you have your corners against the wall, use a pencil to mark where the corners will attach to the wall once your adhesives are on.

Next, you will need to clean your wall. This is an important step so your poster adhesive will stick properly – it will not stick to your walls if there is dirt and grime along the surface.

Wet a microfiber cloth with warm water and then gently wipe your wall to remove dust, dirt, and grime. Make sure the wall is completely dry by rubbing it down with a dry cloth to soak up any excess water, then let the wall finish air-drying before moving onto the next step.

Tip!

Make sure you wash your hands as well before hanging an unframed poster. This will remove dirt and oil to keep the surface of your poster smudge-free.

Step 4: Attach Your Adhesive to the Poster

Once your walls are clean and your poster is flat, it’s time to start hanging it on your wall! Start by attaching your poster adhesive to the four corners of your poster. Stick one piece of putty or adhesive strip on each of the four corners of your poster before moving to the next step.

Step 5: Attach Poster to the Wall

Once your poster adhesive is on all corners, press your poster onto the spot on the wall you’ve marked. Press down firmly on the corners to ensure your adhesive is sticking firm to the wall.

Step 6: Check With the Leveler

Once you’ve hung your poster, take your leveler to the top of your poster to ensure it’s level. If your leveler is off, gently pull the adhesives off the wall to reposition your poster until it’s level.

How to Hang Framed Posters

Hanging framed posters is very similar to hanging picture frames. If you’re hanging a framed poster, here’s everything you need.

What You Will Need

• Your poster & frame
• Tape measurer
• Pencil
• Hammer
• Frame hardware or nails
• Leveler

Tip!

If your poster doesn’t come with a frame, or if you’d like a different style, you can choose a frame that fits your poster’s dimensions.

Step 1: Note Your Frame’s Dimensions & Hangers

Before installing your poster frame to the wall, it’s important to note its dimensions. Noting your frame’s specific dimensions to help determine the right placement on your wall.
Next, you’ll want to locate the attached hangers. One of the perks of framed posters is that they come equipped with sawtooth hangers, ring hangers, or hanging wire already attached to the back, which means you will not need to attach your own hanging method. Because of this, you will need to check the back of your framed poster to see how many hangers or wires your frame has and where they are positioned. Once you’ve located the mounting hardware on the back and your frame’s dimensions, move onto the next step.

Step 2: Find Your Location

Similar to hanging unframed posters, you will need to find a spot along your wall with enough space to accommodate your frame. Taking your frame’s dimensions, use a tape measure to measure the free space on a wall in your preferred room to ensure there’s enough room. You may need to remove any decor along the wall or find a new spot if there isn’t enough space.

Step 3: Hammer Mounting Nail(s) Into the Wall

When you’ve found the spot you want to hang your poster and know it has enough clearance, it’s time to start hammering in your mounting nails. Push your frame flush against the wall in the spot you’d like to hang it in, and mark with a pencil where your nails need to go – which depends on the location of the hangers or wire. For sawtooth or ring hangs, this will be either on the sides of the frame or the top. For hanging wire, this will be the curved point at the top of the wire. Know that since your frame will be sitting on its installed hook method, the frame may sit slightly lower.

Once you’ve marked the wall with your pencil, take a hammer and nails from the mounting hardware that came with your frame (or nails you’ve purchased if your frame didn’t come with a kit), and hammer in one nail per mark. As you start to hammer in your nails, pause midway-through to balance your leveler on your nails to ensure the angle is straight. Don’t hammer your nails all the way. Leave the head of the nail out of the wall so your sawtooth or ring hangers/picture frame hook can properly attach.

Step 4: Hang Your Frame

Once all nails have been hammered into the wall, hang your frame by sitting the sawtooth hangers, ring hangers, or hanging wire on the nail heads.

Step 5: Check With the Leveler

When your poster is hung, check once more to see if it's level with the help of a leveler. Sit the device on top of the frame to see if it’s level. If it’s not, start by repositioning the frame on the nail until the device shows that it’s leveled. If it’s still not level, you may need to take the nail out and reposition it.

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Now that you know how to hang posters, it’s time to decorate your walls!

Tip!

Learn know how to hang other picture frames properly with tips from our guide: How to Hang a Picture Perfectly