Updated November 7, 2026
You can hang pictures without nails using adhesive picture-hanging strips, adhesive hooks made for sawtooth or wire-backed frames, a picture ledge or a picture rail.
Strips and hooks leave no holes, but hold the least and never belong over a crib or bed, while ledges and rails take a few screws once and then let you change the art as often as you like.
Which one fits your wall comes down to two numbers: what the frame weighs and how big it is. Below is what each method holds, in its maker's own words, and where I'd use it in a kids' room.
Jump to a section:
- What can you use to hang pictures without nails?
- How much weight does each method hold?
- Which method suits our frames?
- Can you hang art over a crib or bed without nails?
- How do you make adhesive strips hold?
- Questions parents ask
What can you use to hang pictures without nails?
1. Adhesive picture-hanging strips
Each strip comes as a pair that clicks together. One half sticks to the back of the frame and the other to the wall, and the frame presses on.
Command rates each size by four pairs on one frame. Four pairs of Small strips hold frames up to 5 pounds and 18x24 inches (Command Small).
Medium holds up to 10 pounds at the same 18x24 size (Command Medium). Large holds up to 15 pounds and 24x36 inches (Command Large), and X-Large holds up to 20 pounds at 24x36 (Command X-Large).
Command lists smooth surfaces like painted walls, finished wood, tile and glass. Its instructions also say not to use them on wallpaper, not to hang anything valuable or irreplaceable, and not to hang them over beds (Command how-to).
Best for: light frames on a playroom wall, a rental, a kids' room wall well away from the bed.
I'd use strips for a playroom wall that changes with every birthday, and with smaller landscape prints like these: an excavator at work in warm earth tones, a dump truck in rusty orange and teal on a soft watercolor wash, and a pup gazing up at the butterfly on its nose.
The excavator and the pup are best sellers.
More for that wall is in our playroom wall art collection.
2. Adhesive hooks for sawtooth and wire-backed frames
Each one sticks to the wall with an adhesive strip, and the frame hangs on it by its own hanger, the same way it would on a nail.
Command's Sawtooth Picture Hanger is made for sawtooth, D-ring and keyhole hangers and lists a weight capacity of 4 pounds (Command Sawtooth).
Its Wire-Backed Picture Hanging Hooks are for frames that hang on a wire and list 5 pounds (Command Wire-Backed).
Command's instructions for these: wipe the wall with rubbing alcohol (not household cleaners or water), press the strip to the wall for 30 seconds, and wait an hour before hanging anything on it (Command how-to).
Best for: one small frame by a door, on a closet door or over a light switch.
Turn your frame over before you buy, because the hanger on the back decides which hook you need.
Single prints like these work well one at a time: a classic biplane above the clouds in warm watercolor tones, a boy and a big brown bear fishing in a forest pond under twinkling stars, and a monster truck flying through a desert night under a full moon.
3. Picture ledges
Think of a narrow shelf with a lip, where the frames simply lean. You do need screws to put it up, but only once, and after that you can change the art every week without a new hole.
Take IKEA's MOSSLANDA as an example. The 21¾-inch ledge lists a maximum load of 11.02 pounds (IKEA 21¾), and the 45¼-inch ledge lists 16.53 pounds (IKEA 45¼).
IKEA recommends both for pictures no taller than 17¾ inches, because taller ones may not stand on the ledge. Screws aren't included, so choose fasteners for your wall.
Best for: a playroom, a reading corner, layering small frames with your child's own drawings.
Leaning frames lift off easily, which is the point of a ledge and also the thing to watch with a toddler. I mount ledges above toddler reach and put kid-safe plexi in every frame on them.
Small upright prints suit a ledge best: an astronaut standing on a crescent moon among the stars, a girl and her dinosaur friend cuddled up in a meadow of pastel flowers, and a fairy in a blush pink dress swinging on a vine of roses among the clouds.
The astronaut and the girl with her dinosaur are best sellers.
There's more space art in our space wall art sets.
4. Picture rails
The track is slim metal, screwed to the wall up near the ceiling. Cords or thin steel cables hang down from it, and each frame sits on a hook you can slide up or down the cord.
The rail and the hook each have a limit. The STAS cliprail lists a weight capacity of 20 kg per meter of rail, about 44 pounds for every 3 feet 3 inches.
On that rail, a smartspring hook on a perlon cord holds up to 4 kg (about 9 pounds), a zipper hook on a perlon cord up to 15 kg (about 33 pounds), and a zipper hook on a steel cable up to 20 kg (about 44 pounds) (STAS).
Best for: a playroom or hallway where the art changes, or a gallery wall you like to rearrange.
A rail suits a set you'll add to over time. Animals on wheels, like a moose on a tandem bike and a badger driving a mustard tractor.
Safari animals in folk-art style borders, a giraffe framed in sage gingham and a leopard under an arch, in mustard, sage, rust and cream. Or farm animals out for a drive, a pig leaning out of a truck window and a calf at the wheel.
Each of these sets lets you pick 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 prints, all the same size, so the hooks line up.
I keep picture rails, and their hanging cords, to playrooms and hallways, away from the crib and the bed.
Browse every set in our gallery wall sets.
5. Leaning art (no hardware at all)
A frame propped on a dresser, a bookcase or a deep windowsill stays put with nothing fixed to the wall. No maker sets a limit here; the limit is little hands.
A leaning frame is the easiest thing in the room for a toddler to pull down, so I only lean art where a child can't reach it, and the furniture underneath gets anchored to the wall (CPSC).
Best for: a high dresser top or bookcase in an older child's room.
A big brown bear carrying a mole, two bunnies and a bear cub through a moonlit pine forest, or a fairy dancing on a glowing mushroom with her bunny friends. Both are best sellers, and both look right propped against a wall.
How much weight does each method hold?
Here are the makers' own numbers in one list:
- Command Small strips: 5 pounds, frames up to 18x24 inches (four pairs)
- Command Medium strips: 10 pounds, frames up to 18x24 (four pairs)
- Command Large strips: 15 pounds, frames up to 24x36 (four pairs)
- Command X-Large strips: 20 pounds, frames up to 24x36 (four pairs)
- Command Sawtooth Picture Hanger: 4 pounds
- Command Wire-Backed Picture Hanging Hooks: 5 pounds
- IKEA MOSSLANDA ledge: 11.02 pounds (21¾ inches long) or 16.53 pounds (45¼ inches long), pictures up to 17¾ inches tall
- STAS cliprail: 20 kg per meter of rail; 4, 15 or 20 kg per hook, depending on the hook and cord
Packs change, so check the box you buy, and leave plenty of room under any limit.
Which method suits our frames?
The weight of a framed print depends on its size, the frame and the cover (plexi or glass), so the reliable number is the one from your own scale.
Hold the frame and step on a bathroom scale, then step on again without it. The difference is your frame. A kitchen scale works for small ones.
Size is the other half. A print size is the size of the art, and the frame adds a border on every side, so measure the outside of the frame before you compare it with any limit.
Here's how I'd match them up:
- A small print, like an 8x12 or a 12x18, usually suits Small or Medium strips, as long as the outside of the frame stays within Command's 18x24 limit and its weight within the strip's.
- A frame bigger than 18x24 on the outside needs Large or X-Large strips with their 24x36 limit, and only if your scale says the weight fits. A rail hook is the other option.
- A 24x36 print measures more than 24 inches across once a frame goes around it. That's past the biggest frame size Command lists for its strips, so a frame that size goes on screws into a stud or a proper wall anchor, or on a rail hook rated for its weight.
- IKEA recommends its MOSSLANDA ledge for frames no taller than 17¾ inches, so on one of those I keep to small prints, like an 8x10 or an 8x12, and I measure the framed height first.
If strips are your plan, choose kid-safe plexi over glass. Plexi is the lighter cover, and it's the one I'd want in a child's room anyway.
Our framed prints arrive with hanging hardware (our FAQ), and Command's instructions say to take hanging hardware off the back of a frame before using strips. Keep it in a drawer for the day you hang that frame the usual way.
For every standard frame size next to ours, see my Picture frame and print sizes: the complete chart post.
Can you hang art over a crib or bed without nails?
No. Command's own instructions say not to hang its picture products over beds (Command how-to), and I hold a crib to a stricter standard than a bed.
Art over a crib needs to hang securely with proper hardware, never tape or one small nail, and it should be the framed version with kid-safe plexi, not glass. Keep the crib itself empty except for a fitted sheet (NIH Safe to Sleep).
If a crib wall is the one you're planning, my nursery gallery wall post has the layout, and my How high to hang pictures (and art above a crib) post has the heights.
How do you make adhesive strips hold?
Command's instructions for its picture-hanging strips come down to a few steps (Command how-to):
- Wait 7 days after painting before you use them.
- Take any hanging hardware off the back of the frame.
- Click each pair of strips together, then stick two at the top corners of the frame and two halfway down each side.
- Press the frame to the wall, then peel it back off and press each strip against the wall for 30 seconds.
- Wait an hour, then line the strips up and press the frame on until each pair clicks.
To take a frame down, Command says to peel it from the bottom corners and pull each strip's tab slowly down along the wall, never straight toward you.
Hanging pictures without nails: questions parents ask
How do you hang heavy pictures without nails?
A picture rail carries the most: on the STAS cliprail, a zipper hook on a steel cable holds up to 20 kg, about 44 pounds (STAS). For a big frame over a bed, I'd use screws into a stud or a proper wall anchor instead.
Do adhesive strips damage walls?
Command says its strips remove cleanly when you pull the tab slowly down along the wall. Its instructions also warn that not following them carefully may cause damage, and they rule out wallpaper and freshly painted walls (Command how-to).
Can you hang pictures on a textured wall without nails?
Command lists smooth surfaces for its strips, and it says not to use them on wallpaper. On a textured or papered wall, I'd use a ledge or a rail.
How many strips do you need for one picture?
Command's weight ratings are for four pairs on one frame: two at the top corners and two halfway down the sides.
How do you hang a gallery wall without nails?
Light frames can go up on strips, as long as the wall isn't over a crib or bed. A ledge or a rail lets you rearrange the whole group whenever you like.
Plan it with paper templates first, and my Gallery wall layouts: how to plan one post has seven layouts with their measurements.
Can my child's drawings go up without nails?
Yes. A ledge or a rail is the easiest way to keep them changing.
Shop art that's easy to hang
Our kids' wall art comes framed or unframed, in oak frames with kid-safe plexi or glass. For a wall you'll rotate on strips, a ledge or a rail, our gallery wall sets keep every print the same size, so everything lines up.
Browse toddler wall art for the room that changes fastest, or our boys' wall art and girls' wall art. For the full plan of a gallery wall, start with my Gallery wall layouts: how to plan one post.
Weigh the frame, measure the wall, then pick the method.