How to hang your art
How do I hang my art?!!
Hanging art can be one of those tricky things that can make or break a room. When you invest in a piece of art whether it's be a $20 print or a $10000 original painting, you have purchased it because you generally love the piece. You have seen it online or in a store/gallery and thought about where it would look amazing in your home. Now you have it at home and you're stuck on how high it should be, how close to the furniture it should be, should it be centered or off centered.. etc etc
Here are 5 key points to consider when it comes to hanging your new piece of art.
1 - Height.
Generally speaking you're art should be at eye level. I know what your thinking, what a bout the variations in people heights!? My general rule of thumb is to use an average height person and have the center of the artwork level with their eyes. Now this rule doesn't work in every situation. If your ceilings are low try and have it close to eye level but aim to be about 8 inches below the ceiling. If the piece is going above a piece of furniture like a sofa or console then aim to be about 5-8 inches above the furniture.
2 - Alignment.
Center vs off-center. It comes down to balance. You want your space to be balanced and that might require a bit of trial and error. It is always handy to have 2 people when it comes to alignment and position. Get one person to hold the piece up and test while the other person stand back and gauges the position. I often find that a portrait piece looks more balanced when off center and a landscape piece looks better centered. But this is totally dependent on your space of course and the accompanying items.
3 - Hooks.
Figure out the type of hooks that your piece requires. Stick on vs nailed. You might want to think bout the damage that nailed hooks leave in walls and whether that is ok. They are usually easily fixed with some putty and paint but definitely something to consider. Stick on hooks are a great idea for renters or people who like to change rooms up often. Be careful to take the weight of the art into consideration when choosing this option as there are limitations to how much they can hold! And nobody wants their newly framed piece falling off the wall!
4 - Light.
Important for a couple of reasons, You want your art to be seen obviously but you also want to think about having direct natural sunlight on your piece and whether that may affect and damage the art. If you cannot avoid natural light being directly on your piece of art you might want to chat with your framer about using UV protective glass when framing - Its more expensive than regular glass but might be a worthwhile investment. Or rotate the pieces around the house to avoid long exposure time.
5 - Spacing between artworks.
This can be tricky too. My advice would be to take your time and tape out the pieces on your wall. When you're using larger pieces of art you can generally have a bigger gap between them and for average sized pieces usually around 2 inches is about right. Try to envisage your pieces as one large piece of art!
Happy hanging guys and gals!
Rohan