Alphabet Wall

So I have had a few people ask how long it took me to get all the alphabet letters straight. The answer is only about 1 hour total time. Here is how I did it. Of course, as I was hanging them I thought of about 45 other quicker easier ways to hang them, but this worked like a champ and was super fast (and I literally made NO mistakes which is unheard of when I hang things).





The letters are just chipboard letters ($1.99 a piece at Hobby Lobby...I should have waited until they were 50% off, but I wasn't patient).




I didn't want to spend a lot of money on picture hangers for the back of the letters, so I spent $1 on a box of paper clips and hot glued them to the backs as hangers.

I measured exactly 1/4 inch from the top of all the letters, then glued the paper clip so the top was at the 1/4 inch spot. (Side note, always put 2 paper clips, one on either side of the letter, to keep the balance...it is just physics 101).



I was thinking of a way to get a straight line on the wall without having to measure each time. So I took painters tape (Frog Tape is AMAZING)and used a level to stretch the line across the whole wall.



After laying out all the letters on the floor, I realized that I would have to put the letters literally right next to each other in order for them to fit.



Starting with letter A I put the letter up, looked behind it where the paper clip was and made a dot on the tape.





To make sure the letters were straight I hammered the nail in at the top of the tape.



Once I hung each letter, I would move on to the next letter. This was REALLY important to not mark all the spots and then hang the letters, but rather do one letter then move to the next, because if you want them really close, as you hang the letters they shifted just enough that they won't all fit.




Just a side note, this was a really long wall (17.5 feet), but if I didn't have such a long wall I would have just wrapped the letters around 2 or more walls if I need to. I still think that would look cute.

Anyway, this was my very homemade system, but it worked for me and I will definitely use it again when I try to hang straight picture frames.