How many nail holes are living behind the artwork you have hanging in your home? If you’re like most of us the answer is probably several. You hang it and stand back to admire your handiwork and realize it’s too high. Next attempt, too low and so on and so on until you have created your own small piece of art with all the holes in your wall.
It might seem like an easy task to hang art, particularly when it’s a single piece. Trust me, even designers can make mistakes in this area. If you’re about to embark on this type of project save the images below and you’ll thank me later!!
5 EASY TIPS FOR HANGING ARTWORK THE RIGHT WAY
1/ SPACING BETWEEN ARTWORK
One of the most common mistakes I see in artwork displays is too much space between multiple pieces of art. Whether it’s just 2 pieces or an entire gallery wall, spacing matters a lot. Negative space isn’t just a bit of empty wall space, it’s where your eye will be drawn when it’s excessive or more than 5″.
Try using 3″-5″ between pieces of art for the optimal spacing. When there are more than 2 pieces, stay consistent in that measurement. For instance, if you are using 4” between pieces then be sure to use that for all the pieces.
The exception to that rule is for times when you’re creating a gallery wall and you want to incorporate textiles or other art aside from canvas or framed art. They can have their own spacing and this tends to be done by eye versus according to a rule of thumb. Add the artwork first and then play around with the placement of the textile art. You’ll find a place that is just right and you’ll know it when you get there.
2/ CONNECT TO FURNITURE
This is one of the trickier points because there’s a little bit of oppositional advice. Often, you’ve been told to place the centre of artwork at the eye level of an average adult. When there’s furniture like a sofa or a buffet that advice needs to be overwritten by the following:
Connect your artwork visibly to your furniture using 6″-10″ as the standard height above the furniture piece to hang your artwork. More than 10″ will make the artwork float by itself.
3/ SCALE TO FURNITURE
If you decide you prefer a single piece of artwork over a large piece of furniture pay close attention to the size of the piece and how it relates dimensionally to your furniture.
The perfect size should scale to 2/3 of the size of the furniture it’s hanging above. If your sofa is 90″ your artwork should be approximately 60″ in width.
4/ ABOVE A FLOOR
This is another confusing area for non-designers. If you place your artwork too high with no furniture to anchor it, it’ll look lost as if it’s just floating around in your space.
The way to deal with this most effectively is to keep the distance from the floor to the centre of your artwork at 57″-62″
5/ SCALE FOR SMALL FURNITURE
Here’s another contradiction that can cause confusion for people. If the furniture is less than 32″ high you should avoid using rule #2.
If you were to place the artwork too close to the short furniture you might end up with art hanging at your waist level creating a doll house effect.
Instead, use the same rule as above in #4 and centre the art at 57″-62″ above the floor.
It’s not easy to learn how to decorate your home. You need to spend more time than you think learning some of the basics. Hang in there, it’ll all come together. I promise!!
I know that seems like a lot of rules but it’s unlikely you’ll be doing all of them at the same time. Focus on the rule that applies to what you’re hanging but like I said, save these images for future reference. You know the feeling of frustration when you need an answer, you’ve seen it somewhere before but you forgot to save it? Don’t be that guy!
And let me know if this was helpful. I’ve got loads of tips like these. If you have something that you’re struggling with, shoot me an email. Maybe your question will be answered on an upcoming blog post.
