How to Hang Plates in a Gallery Wall

Want to display your plates in a gallery wall without exposed hardware?  This simple DIY tutorial shows you how!  Great idea for  kitchen or dining room decor.

Probably the favorite decor I have in our whole house is my Blue Willow plate gallery wall.  I love decor with meaning behind it – and these plates have some of the best stories.

The platter in the middle and the plates to the immediate left, right, top, and bottom of it were my grandmother’s.  I remember eating off of these as a child – they have so much history!  If you look closely, they even have tiny chips and marks from years of use.  I love that about them – so much character and, every time I look at them, I think of my family.

My parents have been saving these for me for a few years.  Before we ever moved into this home, I knew that I wanted to display them somehow in the kitchen.  I thought it was the perfect decor tie-in (since I’m already a huge fan of decorating with blue and these are just so darn pretty).  It was just a matter of figuring out how to display them.  I wanted the plates to kind of speak for themselves – no huge platter hangers or exposed hardware, just something that focused on the beauty of the plates.

I originally just had my grandmother’s plates up, but have added to the collection here and there over the past year.  We have a local antique sale that usually has a good stock of Blue Willow china, so I buy a few plates every time I’m there.  I’ve used this method to add to the gallery wall, and it’s worked incredibly well – no dropped or fallen plates to report of yet!

Every time I post an update to this wall over on Instagram, I get questions about how I hang them – so I thought I’d do a little bit of a tutorial today.  It’s so easy – I almost feel weird typing the steps out!

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You only need a few extra supplies to mount these plates.  The first is an essential – E6000 adhesive.  It’s the strongest craft adhesive I’ve ever found…I’ve used this stuff for anything and everything since high school.  Trust me, if you let it cure correctly, this stuff can bond just about anything!

Turn your plates over on a flat surface, making sure you face the top of the plate pointing away from you.  Use the E6000 to attach D-ring picture hangers to the top of the plate (the flattest part you can find that’s pointing away from you).

It just takes a tiny dot of glue behind where you would normally screw in the D-ring…don’t use too much, or it will slide!

Once the D-rings are glued on, it is SUPER important you allow the glue to cure for 24 full hours.  I’ve tried to skimp on this before, and it makes the glue so much less effective.

Once you let the glue fully dry, it’s time to hang the plates!

I totally use the eyeball method when adding new plates.  I always buy two of the same type of plates at a time so I can make the gallery wall symmetrical.  Take the first plate and position it in the place where it looks even with the other plates on the wall.

(Sorry, my camera settings were weird and this picture is bad.) Once the plate is in position, take a pencil and mark where the nail will need to be through the D-ring.

Once your first plate is in place, repeat the process and use the other plate on the opposite side!  Easy peasy.

I am a huge believer in decorating with things that have meaning in your home – this is a perfect example of that.  This is such a great way to incorporate history and character in any room, but it’s perfect for the kitchen or dining room.  I’m thinking about using a similar method in our dining room – stay tuned!