Design Tips

How High to Hang Art

If you are wondering how high to hang that picture or a beautiful piece of art, look no further. You are not the only one who has this question. So I’m going to point out a few things you should think about before hanging.

Keep in mind the location and everything that surrounds the art. This definitely plays a huge role in how high to hang it. Here is more of a breakdown that will hopefully answer your questions are at least get you to think more clearly about where the art or picture should properly be hung for viewing.

Eye Level

Hanging a picture at eye level is a great rule of thumb and is pretty much right on until you start considering that different people are at different heights.

This is where it could get a little complicated, but the best thing to do is to consider the average, most common height. This would mean you would hang the artwork 60 to 65 inches from the floor. This will allow the picture or artwork to be eye-level viewing to most people.

The Scale of Your Space

Even though eye level is the most common practice for hanging artwork, there may be some exceptions to that rule and several places where the rule just doesn’t work. If you have extremely high vaulted ceilings as we do, you may want to move eye level up a few inches.

This will help the art from looking so out of proportion with the room. This is also where you would consider the size of the art you hang. You should choose a piece of art that is proportional to the size of your room or the area in which you are hanging it.

How Does it Relate to Everything Around

Just as your art needs to fit the area you are hanging it, you also need to consider what surrounds it. This could change the height at which you hang the art. For instance, if you are hanging a piece of art or picture over a sofa, you may have to hang it a little higher to allow enough room in between the sofa and art.

Another situation may be on a wall with a wall sconce or picture light. Lots of times we use these lights to showcase art or pictures. This is a great idea but may not fall under the rule of eye level. This will all depend on the location of the light itself. Just keep in mind to leave enough room to not crowd the light, but enough to where it looks as if it is connected.

Multiple Pictures or Art

The main thing to think about when hanging more than one picture is to consider it as one piece of art. So again you could fall back to the eye level rule in most places unless its location calls for something different. Another great idea is to make templates to hang up before putting those holes in the wall. This will allow you to visually see what you have and play around with it before deciding.

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