How to Display Your Children’s Artwork

​It’s glorious summer, and if you have children, perhaps they’ve completed a week or two at camp. What fun!  Now they’re home, and you have the results of their creativity - artwork galore - sitting on top of your dining room table.  Perhaps at the very bottom of the stack you also have the artwork that came home when school ended this year. Are you wondering what to do with the cream of the crop??  Well, it’s time to display some of your kid’s creations, and there are 4 ways you can do that without adding endless nail holes to your walls or committing to displaying your kid’s “early works” forever.   Are you ready?  Here’s how!

#1: Walker Display System 
You’ve probably seen this kind of display system at libraries and galleries, and it makes total sense to create a hanging system in your home to enable a changing display of your children’s artwork.  Yes, you have to have framed pictures to pull off this look, but it’s pretty easy to get inexpensive frames at Michael’s that come with mats, and complete the “framing” yourself.  Almost anything looks better with a black frame and a white mat, especially vibrantly colored artwork.  As shown below, the vertical rods holding up the pictures slide along a permanent horizontal bar affixed to your wall, thus allowing easy reconfiguration, addition, and subtraction.  And it’s quite doable in your own home with simple components you can order on-line at:  www.WalkerDisplay.com

​Here are the components and how they work together.

​Here’s an example of the Walker Display System featuring my client’s artwork in her eating area nook.

Here, on the left, is a third floor play space that has been outfitted with Walker System’s horizontal rails, ready for hanging. On the right you can see the vertical components and hi-hooks, which can catch a saw tooth or wire hanger on a frame. All ready for some terrific artwork….

#2: Easels for Displaying Art
Stand up easels are really handy for displaying your kids smaller pieces of art on tabletops among other photographs and accessories.  Here is a still life oil painting my daughter created that feels right at home in our dining room.

#3:  Picture Ledges
Pottery Barn, Ikea, and other on-line and retail stores sell inexpensive ledges for displaying pictures.  Installing a few picture ledges at various heights on a wall in your kitchen, entry, landing, or playroom can give a nice perch for new art, including sculptures.  Here’s a vignette from Pottery Barn using some rustic wood ledges.  With the ledges, you can switch out the artwork in the frames and create a new vignette every few months.  Maybe each child has their own ledge and makes the decision on what to showcase?  You could also put your children’s names (with alphabet blocks) on the ledges to properly attribute the work to the artists.  Maybe switch out art at every major holiday through the year—perhaps every time the kids get a Monday holiday off from school?  The key is to make it EASY to switch things out…and fun for your kids.  

Ikea also has versatile and long picture ledges, and there seems to be a whole part of the internet dedicated to Ikea hacks…ways to upscale and repurpose “basic” Ikea components into clever pieces.  In 2015 Lauren Smith of House Beautiful wrote about 12 ways to use Ikea ledges for ingenious organization:
                      https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/organizing-tips/g2810/ikeas-ribba-hacks/
I just love the ideas for hacks, and can envision lots of college students getting their dorm accoutrements together this month…  We have an Ikea in Stoughton, and I bet it is super busy with college students this month!

#4:  Easy Swap-out Frames
The fourth way to provide an easy way to display kids’ art is with a special frame that allows easy addition and removal of new pieces…without taking the frame off the wall.   Available at Amazon, the “Lil Davinci” is a special frame that holds 8.5” x 11” artwork AND stores up to 50 sheets in the frame itself.  Gotta love this easy idea and the name!
              https://www.amazon.com/Child-Artwork-Frame-Display-Masterpieces/dp/B000IF7JXS

​So, whatever mechanism you decide on to showcase art, I hope you and your little Picassos have a wonderful time creating and arranging your home’s gallery.  Kids’ art is so precious and imaginative…and very worthy of display!  Ya just gotta do it…