How to hang children’s artwork.

If you have ever wondered how to display your children’s artwork, I have one word for you – Painter’s Tape. {Okay, so two words that is.}

It used to be that when I had fewer kids producing masterpieces, I actually took the time to frame them and display them in my home. And by fewer, I mean one. That’s right, I pretty much lost that habit as soon as Asha stopped being an only child.

It also used to be that I saved most of what my children brought home. Over the years, I have grown extremely picky about what I keep, because as it turns out, saving every single piece of doodle is counter intuitive to the reason why you are saving it.

These days, as soon as a piece of art walks in my home (or is handed to me when created at home), I praise it immensely before making a mental note about whether it is going in the recycling bin or on the wall. In case you are wondering, the percent of time my kids have asked for something of theirs that I chucked = 0% so I suppose I am doing okay so far.

Back to the choice pieces that I do want to display – it used to be that I would waste so much time looking for frames, and nails, and wall space, that I’d get super lazy about the whole thing and then either lose the artwork or lose interest completely, or worse, if I did frame it, I’d stop caring about it enough to keep it on.

And because I am very cheap when it comes to such things, I also didn’t like the idea of spending money on objects to display art like a cork board, or wire hangers, etc. Also, I’d have to find a way to hang those objects which is more effort.

My solution now is to just keep a roll of painter’s tape handy. I like the green Frog Tape because it sticks better, is long lasting, and does not ruin walls which can’t be said of the blue kind in my experience. Each kid has a wall in their respective bedrooms where the artwork gets clustered together in a rather carefree way.

Not only does this add color and cheer in their room, but I rather like the idea of having a display that isn’t meddled with by us adults and our needs to put things in frames and oh so “gallery wall” esq.

Things come on and off over time as you’d imagine without any fuss. And if I find something that really really still catches my eye after months of being on the wall with painter’s tape, THEN my friends, I’ll make an effort to frame it.

So tell me, how do you save and display your children’s artwork? I’d love to know your tricks.