Don't Be Afraid To Put Holes In The Wall

Life can be messy and so can hanging pictures.   

Before I moved out of my parent’s house last year, the only experience I had in hanging pictures was using sticky-tack to put a collage of rock bands and other pictures on the back of my door.  And for most of us moving out on our own, that is basically the extent of our knowledge of how to put things up on the wall.

But, you’re a grown up now and grown ups use nails to hang up ‘art’ not posters. 

For me, the first time I went to hang up something in our new place I felt nervous.  “What if I hang it in the wrong place and have to move it and it leaves a hole there and you can see it and it ruins the wall and what if the landlord sees it and won’t give me back our deposit and???...”  That was my train of thought as I held the first nail to the wall with one hand and the hammer in the other.  I measured multiple times to make sure the placement was right, grit my teeth and hammered in the wall.  It was loud as I pounded into the wall and thought to myself, “What if the landlord walks by and hears the hammering and busts down my door to catch me red handed?”  Of course that didn’t happen and of course this just may be my own neuroses and everyone else might have no qualms about impaling drywall. 

Then, I got over it.  As I thought about limiting my nail holes to avoid wall disfigurement, I read something online that changed my mind.  It was basically this: you’re living in the space, not the landlord and while you shouldn’t completely screw up the wall, hanging a few things will make it feel like home while you’re living there.  Thinking about it this way, completely changed how I felt about nailing into an apartment wall. 

And also, if you have worries about how your walls will look come inspection time, this cheap little guy will be your best friend:

Lowes.com: $3.98

Please, despite what you’ve read about quick and easy wall fixes online, toothpaste shouldn’t go in your wall.  Why not use what’s supposed to go there, spackle, when it’s so damn cheap anyway and you can take it with you to use in your next place? 

So, don’t be afraid to put holes in your wall.  I’m not talking about slamming your fist into the wall in a fit of rage, but small, reasonably-sized nails that are strong enough to hold up your pictures.  And unless you want to feel like you’re living in an institution, you’ve got to have pictures (unless you’re my husband who really doesn’t care what we have up on the wall).