One of the most common design mistakes most people make, is hanging their wall art way too high. Some people have amazing photographs and pieces of art but you strain your neck just to see them.

Gallery of framed images hanging over sofa

Everyone deserves to hang their favourite pieces in their home, fill those blank walls. Just make sure you put them in the right spot so you make the space look better and not worse.

I have put some tips or you today so that you understand where and how to hang your artwork and at the perfect height.

These are my guidelines for hanging your photographs and artwork on your walls.

Good riddance Eye-Level Rule: If you are tall or have high ceilings this create issues. Here’s a thing, imagine your wall is divided into 4 horizontal sections from the ceiling to the floor. Now, your artwork should appear in the third section up from the floor, NEVER the second or fourth because that creates the too-high or too-low issue.
Hello 57-60 Inches Rule: If you are hanging on an empty wall, ideally you want the centre of your artwork to be roughly 57 to 60 inches up from the floor. This would make it eye level for an average height woman. It is a great starting point and obviously doesn’t work for every situation. But when in doubt . . . . you know where to start.
Hanging over furniture: Position your artwork 6-8 inches above furniture. If you hang it too high, it feels disconnected from the furniture and looks like it is just floating.
Multiple frames: When hanging multiple frames, position each from 3-4 inches apart. Keeping them close together will help the eye to see the art as one unit.
Choosing the size of artwork: Make sure your artwork fills 2/3 the width of the furniture it will hang over. Too small and the artwork will feel unbalanced.

5 black framed artworks hanging on the wall

Hanging artwork above furniture

If you’re hanging a piece above a sofa, dresser or bed, you don’t want it to feel like it’s floating way too high. The eye level rule will make it feel very disjointed. To provide visual balance I like to go 4 to 8 inches above the top of the furniture piece.

For example, the table in our front porch is quite low. Had I installed the art piece at eye level, it would be way too high and far away from the table. Instead, I placed the bottom of the frame about six inches above the table. I find this is the best way to make this entire area work in harmony.

One framed photograph hanging above sofa

How high do you hang a gallery wall

If you want to hang a gallery wall, it is important you think of the entire collection as one piece of art. The very top and the very bottom of the grouping shouldn’t be hung too high or too low. Instead, think about the centre of the grouping. Then hang the centre of the artwork collection roughly 57-60 inches off the floor. You then want to space your frames about two to three inches apart. If you spread them out more, the entire grouping will look disjointed.

a group of 8 framed artworks hanging on a white wall

The Wrong Scale

Hopefully you now understand how high to hang your artwork, but the other hurdle, how large should your artwork be? The bigger you go the more pricey this project becomes.

How many homes do you go to where people hang small art pieces on a large empty wall? They just don’t look right, so let’s ditch the small pictures.

Scale is extremely important when it comes to wall art and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Look at how much better a room looks when the artwork is the right size on a large wall! It’s now the focal point of the space and it’s hung at the ideal height.

Framed art hanging between two windows and above sofa

An easy rule of thumb for hanging art above a bed, or any piece of furniture, is that it should fill at least 1/2 to 2/3 of the space.

If you’re going with a single piece of artwork, please make sure it is large enough.

How to make sure you choose the right size:

Over Furniture: Make sure the art (or gallery) takes up at least 1/2 – 2/3 the width of the piece of furniture.
Fill up the Wall: Take up as much of the wall space as possible.
Bigger is Better: When in doubt, try an oversized piece. It looks so much better than a tiny piece on your wall.
Take a Picture: Get someone to hold up the artwork and take a photo of it on the wall. Now review the piece and decide if it really works in that space. Alternatively you can use tape or even cut out a tissue paper template of the artwork to see how it looks in place before you put any holes in your walls.
Group Closely: If you are hanging a group of 2-4 symmetrical frames or even a gallery wall, then make sure you hang the pieces closely. A couple of inches between frames will ensure that the grouping looks cohesive.