A guaranteed way to hang the picture or shelf off-center, not to mention filling in all the nail holes you made in error. Buy a stud finder, and then you can rent a power screwdriver and power drill. Ursula says the idea is to hang the picture from the center of the stud the strongest place and to do that you ll need power tools to get through the drywall and plaster and into the stud. All that s for the heavier pictures or shelves. Lighter pictures will be just fine with a regular picture mounting kit.
Duck tape fixes everything.
Button s recommends the Mallard Duck tape, or, if you re working on a real fancy project, the Duck a L Orange tape, with a side of wild rice and cranberries. It s built specifically for lifting pieces of drywall into place and holding them there while you attach them, and simultaneously save your relationship with your assistant. Know when to be a friend. When a friend asks you to help lift that old, stone laundry tub up out of the basement come one, it ll only take a couple minutes with the two of us look him square in the eye and tell him you ve never seen him before. The same people who built Stonehenge and Easter Island statues made those sinks, Ursula says, adding that an amusing yet little known feature of those sinks is that the stone was held in place with wire mesh while the sink was formed and dried.