Hang Your Wall Art Like a Pro

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Have you ever wondered if you were choosing the correct art pieces, or placing them in the right locations? Read on to check out whether you have made the right choice.

Finding the Right Location

The first step is to decide where you would like the picture to hang. Recruit a helper to hold the picture on the wall while you evaluate its placement. Also, position pictures away from direct light and high humidity.

Hang at eye level

One design tip that will help you maximize the use of your wall space without losing sight of your art is to always hang your art at eye-level where you'll be able to see them without having to crane your neck up or look down your nose to see what you're hanging on the wall. The eye level is about 57 inches high. The center of the artwork, not the top of the piece, should be at that height. This means you need to do some math: Measure the distance between the wire and the top of the frame, and measure the height of the art and divide it in half. Measure 57 inches on the wall, add the measurement of half the art's height and subtract the distance between the wire and the top of the frame. Put the nail here.

Spacing Art Work

In Groups: When arranging several pictures as a group, experts recommend that you space them five to six inches apart, both vertically and horizontally. An easy way to check this is to simply measure the space using the width of your hand.

Above Sofas: Art work above sofas should be eight to ten inches above the highest point in order to leave room for people resting their arms along the back of the sofa.

Above the Bed: Pictures can be hung closer to a bed frame than to a sofa back.  A common recommendation is four to eight inches.

Scenario #1

Items placed in groups of even numbers have a calming effect compared to odd-numbered groups.  For this reason, you might want to have a pair of wall hangings, or a set of four placed closely together, in rooms such as the bedroom or study.

Scenario #2

Interior designers use 'Rule of Three' to create visual interest when they decorate a home: groups of items arranged in odd numbers create subconscious visual tension. When you hang wall art pieces or arrange decor items in groups of three, you engage your viewer's attention and are better able to highlight specific features of your home.

The wall space in which you choose to hang your artwork should be large enough to have space surrounding the work, and not too cramped. Besides, when hanging artwork on top of a couch or table, the bottom of the frame should be around 10-20cm above it, or about a hand's width. The frame should also be roughly ⅔ the width of the couch or table, for example a three-meter wide couch should have artwork hanging roughly two meters above it.

Scenario #3

You can also choose to align different-sized pictures horizontally according to their upper and lower borders.

Scenario #4

Imagine you have a set of same sized art paintings and the wall is somewhat spacious. In this case, hang the paintings in a horizontal line with equal spacing is the best option and helps create the illusion of width. This is when the tops of the frames align with one another from left to right. A vertical arrangement is when the left and right sides of the frames align with one another from top to bottom, giving the illusion of height.

Scenario #5

Things get more complicated when you are working with pictures of different sizes. One popular solution is to level the center of the artworks rather than the top or bottom of the frames and hang them so that their vertical center is in alignment, as below.

Scenario #6

Wall shelves turn empty walls into a great place to store and show off your paintings. You have lots of styles, coordinated with the rest of our furniture and you can find a shelf to match almost any space.

Scenario #7

Hanging art paintings on the stairway is tricky. It will not look beautiful if you align it horizontally or vertically. So, you can opt for diagonal placement, especially if you have many steps and art paintings.  

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