It’s no secret I have a large collection of blue and white pottery in our home. Recently, when cleaning out our kitchen cabinets, I noticed we had a bunch of platters and plates that we weren’t using and thought it would be fun to display them on a wall in our bedroom.
It took a little research but I came across these “display buddies” for hanging platters and plates and it made the process much easier. I will show you how we planned the wall and hung each of them below.
What I used to hang them:
For the largest platters, I used a hanger called a “Display Buddie” in a size large (medium would have worked but they were sold out). You can order them on Amazon or Etsy. For the two medium sizes plates, I used the small size. And for the four Blue Willow plates, I hung them using a standard disc adhesive. The display buddies can hold an item up to 10 pounds and the disc adhesives are better for lighter items. You can see the difference below!
How to hang them:
The display buddies just clip onto the plate and do not leave any marks. Each one has either 2 or 3 sets of hooks that can be adjusted to the size of your plate or platter. Then, you can cut the strings to keep them from showing. I decided to just tape the strings to the back that way I could use the hanger for a larger plate down the line if I needed to. The display buddies are much easier to adjust and remove than the disc adhesives. However, the disc adhesives are much cheaper and still fairly easy to apply.
To get them to stick, you just dab the back of the circle with water and let it sit for a few minutes. After a few minutes, the adhesive is ready to attach and you can stick them on the back of the plate. It is important to get them lined up properly though because they’re nearly impossible to adjust after they are stuck. I usually take a sharpie and mark a small line on the back of the plate at “12 o’clock” so I can line up the hook of the disc accordingly.
Deciding on the layout:
If you’re using plates that are different sizes but are still aiming for a symmetrical look, I recommend measuring the distances between plates from their center points. If you measure from the outside of the plates and the sizes differ just slightly, the display will look uneven. I know that’s confusing but hopefully the photo below explains the distances I am referring to. (Just don’t look too closely because I think one of my plates is slightly too high )
I laid the plates out on the floor first to get a feel of the size and amount of pieces to use. However, as I started holding them up on the wall, we removed a few pieces to keep it from looking too busy. If you’re hanging your display over a dresser or piece of furniture like I am, I found the lowest plate looks best 12 – 18 inches above the top of the furniture.
So far the plate wall has been up for just about 4 weeks and we haven’t had any issues with them looking loose or shaking on the wall – even when our wild children and pets are jumping off the walls. If these hangers can stay in place in our busy house, I can certainly recommend them to anyone else. You can click on the images below to find each of the different hangers:
Where to buy the plate hangers:
