It might seem like it’s less stressful to just throw photos and artwork up on the wall quickly to get decorating out of the way, but it won’t be in the long run. You’ll always notice that one frame is slightly higher than another, or that the pictures don’t really fit the theme of the room. Besides, the point of decorating your walls is to emphasize a room’s décor—not to simply fill wall space.

Here are some tips for hanging arranging photos in your home:

• Before you put holes in the wall, figure out your photo or artwork layout. If it helps, cut shapes of the frames out of paper and tape them to the wall to get a feel of the space. Keep arranging until you find the right layout, and then hang the real frames.
• When hanging frames in rows, make sure they are level and identically spaced.
• Create a theme when hanging smaller photos or artwork together. For example, pictures from all of your vacations can be grouped together.
• Wall décor should be between 66 and 75 percent of the width of the furniture they are above, as it will better utilize the wall space and bring balance to the setting.
• Hang larger photos or artwork of landscapes on the wall to make a small room or small area look bigger.
• Find similar color frames when hanging photos or artwork in the same area. The frames don’t need to be the same style, just the same color, as it will make your walls look less cluttered and more organized.

Remember the biggest rule of decorating your walls—if it doesn’t have a purpose or a meaning, don’t hang it on the wall.