Back when there were all the Black Friday deals, I splurged and bought this gorgeous tiled console from West Elm. I’d been eyeing it for far too long and really wanted to get rid of these hideous ladders. I was so over them. It fit perfectly, loved how it looked, but I now had an entire empty wall. I had no idea what the hell to do with it. I’m not really into art and wouldn’t even know where to begin to find something that big.
So after browsing ideas on Pinterest for hours, and shopping for art as if I knew what the hell I was doing, I decided to just throw some hats up for the time being. The bare space was bothering me and I needed to put something there because my house started to feel undone. I grabbed all my hats, popped in a few thumbtacks (yes that’s all that’s used) and called it a day. I was actually pretty excited because it freed up an entire shelf in my closet. And fun fact, my closet is TINY. Like the tiniest you’d ever imagine. No joke. After I placed each hat on the thumbtacks, I took a step back and thought, shit that looks good.
How To Make A Hat Wall
Step One
Gather your hats and lay them out on the floor to see what kind of design you want. Either go symmetric and organized with rows and columns. Or create a cluster.
Step Two
Use thumbtacks or thin picture frame nails and add them to your wall. If you’re going freeform, start at the top and work your way down and out. If you’re doing a more organized approach, you will want to line up the top of the rim of the hats so your nails may not be perfectly level.
Tips For The Perfect Hat Wall
- Try to use similar sized hats (if possible). If you have a lot of varying sizes, you may want to go with the cluster approach.
- Line the top of the hats up so that they’re even. Your nails won’t be perfectly level since the brim of hats will vary in width.
- Place your thumbtacks in the wall, or a small nail, and just hang the hats from there. The thumbtack is plenty and won’t damage the hats.
- If you’d rather go the less organized way, a cloud of hats is also fun. Just create a cluster of them and hang a bunch!
Photos by JNelly
