The most affordable and basic way to enjoy a QAQ decorative screen is simply to hang it upon a wall as decorative wall art. Hanging a screen flat against the wall would seem to be the most obvious method, but it is also the least flattering. Screens are more three-dimensional artworks than flat canvases, so you want to make the most of the sculptural aspects of the inner cut-outs by hanging it a few millimeters from the wall, creating shadows, depth, and ultimately more of a visual impact in your home.

Most of the screens hung in the QAQ headquarters have been hung in this method, using a bolt called a standoff or separator. These can be easily purchased at any local hardware store, or purchased with the screens from QAQ. The standoff is a small two-piece bolt that has one bottom barrel that screws into the wall, and one top, flat-head piece that screws into the top of the screen and screws through to the bottom barrel. Two plastic washers sandwich the screen in between the two main pieces just to give it extra grip and protect the screen surface.  It looks like this:

Standoffs come in many a variety of sizes and materials, such as: brass polished chrome or gold; brass satin chrome, silver, or gold; and in aluminium satin, blue, black, chrome silver, and satin silver. They should be matched to the color of your screen or interior decorating scheme.

Here’s a black aluminium standoff on a black powder-coated aluminium ‘Valencia’ screen.

And here is a blue aluminium standoff on a blue powder-coated aluminium screen.

The larger the screen the more standoffs required, so we recommend one standoff per every 600 millimeters. If you purchase QAQ standard sized screens, this equates to:

• 6 standoffs for a 600 x 1200 mm screen
• 8 standoffs for a 1200 x 1200 mm screen
• 10 standoffs for a 1800 x 1200 mm screen
• 12 standoffs for a 2400 x 1200 mm screen
• 16 standoffs for a 3600 x 1200 mm screen

Two of the larger screens we have in the QAQ showroom are an aluminium ‘Pretoria’ and corten ‘Cayman’.

The corten screen has a brass polished chrome standoff and the aluminium screen has a matching aluminium chrome silver standoff. You can see the decorative possibilities of this simple detail in coordinating your screen with your overall interior or exterior decor scheme. And as any fashionista will tell you, style is all in the details!

How to Install a Decorative Screen on a Wall Using Standoffs:

Installing a screen onto a wall using standoffs is easy and will only take a few minutes work, though it’s best to have an extra pair of helping hands to help you hold the screen in place for marking and screwing it into place. Here’s how:

1. Place the screen on a wall and mark your drilling points.
2. Drill the marked holes in the screen.
3. Drill or awn a hole in the wall. Drill hard materials like concrete and awn into drywalls. The harder the wall, the stronger the anchor will be once it has expanded inside the wall.
4. Insert the nylon anchors that come with each standoff into the wall holes.
5. Screw through the long, bottom bit of the standoff into the nylon wall anchor.
6. Place a washer on the standoff cap screw and pass it through the screen holes, then add another washer onto the same screw before bolting all together in the bottom standoff barrel.

QAQ screens typically weigh around 4.5-5 kilograms each, while the larger, 2400 x 1200 mm size weigh up to 20 kilos, so be sure to hang the heavier screens on a hard wall for a maximum security hold.

So there you have it, our complete installation guide using standoffs. If you have any questions or issues regarding standoff installation, I am happy to assist you.

~Christine