This Overlooked Spot Is the Chicest Place to Hang Art — I Promise!

Art doesn’t have to just hang on your walls, which is great news for people with limited wall space (or walls that are already filled with beautiful framed paintings, prints and photos!). If you’re not already hanging pieces of art on your bookshelves, you may be missing out on making a space look so much more interesting while also giving yourself more valuable wall space for other touches. 

One Instagram user is spreading the gospel of hanging art directly onto shelving in a video with over 16,000 likes. And once you see how great art looks positioned on a bookcase, it’s going to change the way you display art forever.

“True story,” Jolene from Desert Rose Market on Instagram wrote in a recent caption. “I just shared some vintage and antique art, and a friend said, ‘I love this piece so much, but I don’t know where I’d put it.’ I asked, ‘Do you have a bookshelf?’ Most people think art has to live on walls, but it doesn’t. Bookshelves are one of my favorite places for it!”

As Jolene demonstrates in her video, all you need to start hanging art on bookshelves are adhesive hanging hooks. Just secure a hook to the shelf on which you want your art to hang, making sure the crook of the tool is lined up to the edge of the shelf — and use a wire strung on the back of the frame to hang it. You can also hammer in a small picture nail or use a thumbtack for lighter artworks. 

“You just changed my life,” one person commented on Jolene’s post. Another person said, “I don’t know why I never thought of this, but that’s so GENIUS.”

You can use the adhesive hook to hang art on the cross sections of your bookshelf, or right in the middle of the shelf (wherever the piece fits best!). Smaller artworks give you better access to the books and trinkets on the shelves, but you can also experiment with larger pieces to help give the final look a bolder feel.

Art on the walls is great, but art on bookshelves is so much more inspired! Give it a try, as you might find yourself hanging art from every open bookshelf in your home.