How to Hang Decorations Without Damaging Walls

• Instead of posters, use stickers: There’s probably a poster for your favorite band, movie, sports team, cartoon, or hobby.

Several companies that make posters now make decals that are the same size as posters and have a semi-permanent adhesive. This means that you don’t have to use tacks or nails to hang them. You don’t have to worry about damaging the wall when you take these stickers off.

One big problem is that they’re only meant to be used once, so once you take them off the wall, you can’t put them anywhere else.

• Use Hooks or Velcro with Removable Adhesive: These are the go-to options for many people. The product is a simple hook or Velcro-like strip with a special adhesive strip. This glue works because it keeps your wall’s surface area. When you’re ready to take the product off, you can simply stretch out the adhesive strip, reduce the area it covers, and pull it off without damaging the paint or wall.

You can use these solutions almost anywhere, and some of them can hold several pounds of weight, so you can hang things like framed art or planters.

• Use Magnetic Paint: This might sound crazy, but there are a few brands of paint that can make any surface magnetic. Then you can “pin” posters or photos to the wall with magnets or use magnetic hooks to hang larger pieces of art. If you rent and aren’t allowed to paint your walls, you can’t use this option.

• Installing No-Damage Wall Shelves: Advances in adhesives have made it possible to buy full shelves that don’t need nails. Even though these shelves can’t hold as much as stud-mounted shelves, you can still put smaller items on them to make your home more interesting.

• Use putty to hang pictures. This is probably the best way to hang pictures without nails, since you won’t have to do anything to the wall and you won’t even need frames or hooks. Putty has been used for a long time in classrooms, dorms, and apartments. It lets you put art on a wall wherever you want.