This post was originally published on DIY Network’s blog Made + Remade in October 2015.
Hanging art and decorations can be challenging and damaging, but there’s a trick! Before you chip your brick or mess up your masonry with wall anchors, there are a few amazing products you MUST know about.
Hang art on brick surfaces using specialty clips.
Two Must-Try Products
- I tested two different products, one is the Brick Clip® Fastener (above, front) and the other is a block clip from The Hillman Group (above, in the background). (You can buy them both on Amazon – Brick Clip® and Block Clip)
- These products are to be used with brick for good reason. Bricks are manufactured for consistency and the products are designed to fit common brick sizes. My home has stacked flagstones, so my true curiosity was in whether I could use them too. Spoiler alert, one works, the other doesn’t, but they are both GREAT on traditional brick.
- Bricks can vary in height, so the Brick Clip® Fastener is available in 3 sizes to accommodate this variance. Flagstone walls are a different story – at the narrowest points, my stones are all roughly 1″ tall with a 1″ mortar gap. If you’re reviewing this product for your own stonework, keep in mind that natural materials are subject to greater variance.
Block Clip Review
Block Clips by The Hillman Group were a better fit for my flagstone walls. With this design, the clip creates tension between the bottom of the top stone and the top edge of the lower stone. The tabs at the top are rigid, but still thin enough to be bendable, so I adjusted the angles to fill the wider space between the flagstones.
Block clip works well on both brick and flagstone.
The teeth of the product clamp on the top of the stone, and the tabs act as a force holding the accessory in place. The product itself is very narrow. This allows your decor to rest flush against the wall. The clips hold 25-50 pounds, making them useful for most artwork and decor.
A block clip can support the weight of a large picture frame.
The Brick Clip® Review
While I don’t have brick at my home, I know plenty of people who do. I bought the other product, the Brick Clip® Fastener to see if any of its sizes would attach to my stone. To attach correctly, I would have needed a very large clip, one in the 3-4″ range, that would attach around the height of two horizontal flagstones and the thick mortar mashed between them.
While it wasn’t perfect for my stone, they did work wonderfully on classic brick, even in instances when the mortar was nearly flush with the brick surface:
Brick clips come in many sizes to fit many different bricks.
Damaging your stone, brick, or mortar for the sake of decorating is irreversible, so I’ve been really impressed with this option. If you hang things on brick, these products will simplify decorating indoors and out.
A brick clip supports the weight of outdoor decor.
5 Comments
I have been searching for ages to find a way to hang art from my stone fireplace background. Thank you so much for reviewing these. I purchased the Hillman clips and love them! They worked perfectly.
Awesome! I still love them too. Glad you found a solution that works for your home!
Thank you! Purchasing these to hang a painting over our new stone fireplace. Finding your page saved me from drilling into our brand new masonry!
Thanks for the tip that brick fasteners would be a reliable way to hang up art and decorations on brick walls. I’m planning to have brick masonry applied on my living room walls in order to make its walls look a but fresh. I also plan buy some paintings to spruce up the place since it’s been a bout two years since I last bought an art piece from a gallery.
Thank you, this was really helpful. I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to hang a wreath on an irregularly shaped stone fireplace. I was already thinking the Hillman block clip was the way to go — you confirmed this!
Thanks again!!