[Easy DIY] How to Display Art in a Rented Condo — Purchasing & Preparation

Displaying Art

As an art lover, I have no hesitation whatsoever about displaying works in my room. But it’s a different story once you live in a rented condo or apartment. You can’t drive nails into the walls or pillars, so some kind of workaround becomes necessary no matter what.

Part of the author's bedroom. Renting a room with white walls was nice, but displaying things directly on this wall would be… — Part of the author’s bedroom. Renting a room with white walls was nice, but displaying things directly on this wall would be a bad idea.

I want to hang paintings, I want to place three-dimensional art too — I thought and thought about all kinds of things…

For reference, please take a look at an article like this one, too.

https://art-on.jp/postcard-management/

Living in Art

On a slightly different note, I’d like to reflect on living together with art.

Displaying art in the home where you live your daily life should make the everyday brighter and more radiant. It’s an approach advocated by Yusaku Maezawa, president of ZOZOTOWN, famous for his collection of high-priced Basquiat works, and it’s captured by the phrase “Living in Art.”

Yusaku Maezawa spoke about the appeal of art in an interview as follows.

◆What is the appeal of contemporary art for you, Mr. Maezawa?

Speaking for myself, it balances out my right brain and left brain. After overworking my left brain with numbers, turning my eyes to art stimulates my right brain.

As everything is turned into information, mechanized, and made efficient, art holds the things that cannot be put into words, the things that cannot be quantified. When I face that value that cannot be quantified, I feel my own sensibility is put to the test.

Because I live in the business world, forever chasing numbers, placing myself in a world of sensibility — its polar opposite — brings me into balance. For society too, art, in which sensibility matters, will surely become ever more necessary and grow even more vibrant going forward.

— From the Mainichi Shimbun (November 11, 2017)

Art polishes the human sensibility, and being with it every day simply lets you steep in a happy feeling.

Two-by-Four (2×4 )

Now, getting back to the main topic — the method I ended up choosing is the so-called “two-by-four (2×4 ).” Many of you have probably heard the term “2×4 (two-by-four)”; it’s a word that expresses a lumber size of 2 inches × 4 inches. In reality it’s “3.8×8.8㎝” *sizes vary in mm units.

Because it’s so widely distributed, it’s easy-to-work, inexpensive lumber. This time there’s a wonderful shop that will paint it up gallery-style, cut the sizes to match your ceiling height, and of course ship it to your home (Rakuten mail-order).

Note that the listing states a load capacity of 「30kg」 per shelf board, shelf lengths up to 「120cm」, and up to 「4 tiers」. Please plan carefully, taking the conditions of the installation site and so on into account.

LABRICO

And what you use to fix it to the ceiling and the floor is a part from a maker called “LABRICO.” Basically, if you have lumber and LABRICO, you can fix it firmly in place without driving nails or scratching your home.

Similar products are available from other makers too. Among them, DIAWALL is a brand that stands shoulder to shoulder with LABRICO, and it too seems to enjoy steady popularity. You’d do well to pick whichever brand you like.

The LABRICO series comes highly recommended!

Basically there’s no difficult assembly involved, and you can put it together easily in a short time.

If you’re a woman, I recommend bringing in someone to help and installing it with at least 2 people. When the lumber is cut long, it’s quite heavy…

Price

In the case of the Okamoku Rakuten Ichiba store I used this time, I’ve laid out below roughly how much it comes to.

For a setup with 4 tiers of shelving on 2 posts

I had the posts cut to a length of “2285mm.” For the shelves, I had 910mm cut from the 1830mm length.

Painted two-by-four lumber 【approx. 38×89×2440mm】@1,680 yen × 2 pcs = 3,360 yen
Painted two-by-four lumber 【approx. 38×89×1830mm】＠1,390 yen × 2 pcs (further cut into 2 pieces) = 2,780 yen
LABRICO 【2×4 Adjuster】＠1,080 yen × 2 pcs = 2,160
LABRICO 【2×4 Shelf Bracket, Single】＠600 yen × 4 pcs = 2,400 yen

Assuming you put in 4 tiers of shelving, that comes to 10,700 yen in total (excluding shipping). What do you think? Very cheap, isn’t it!

What to Prepare

There isn’t much you need to prepare.

Scissors

You’ll need them when unpacking. Conversely, that’s the only time you’ll use them.

Screwdriver

The shelves come with screws, but even without an electric drill, you can install them by fastening the screws to the posts by hand. The screwdriver in the photo below is the one I used this time — please have at least this on hand. A ratchet handle makes it easier; recommended!