The complete guide to hanging wall art

The core principle: scale vs room

Before choosing a size, read the room. Three things decide how a piece will sit on the wall:

1. Ceiling height, sets how much breathing room you have above the art
2. Wall width, determines how large a single piece or grouping can go
3. Furniture density, how much of the wall is already visually claimed by furniture below

As a starting point, artwork should span roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of the wall segment or furniture piece beneath it. Much narrower, and it reads as an afterthought; much wider, and it can overwhelm.

The standard rule: eye-level hanging

The gallery standard is to hang the centre of the artwork at 145–150cm from the floor, roughly eye level for most adults, and it's the rule to fall back on whenever there's no furniture to anchor to. For very tall ceilings, the centreline can shift upward, closer to 150–160cm so the piece doesn't feel dwarfed by the space above it. In rooms with lower ceilings, staying close to 145cm keeps the art from feeling cramped against the top of the wall.

Living room

Above your sofa or armchair, measure from the top of the backrest rather than the arm, cushions and pillows shift more than the frame does. Seating height varies, roughly 70-80cm for an armchair, a touch higher for a sofa, so your centre point should land around 140-145cm, with a 15-20cm gap above the backrest. If a lamp or side table sits alongside, keep the art within your seating's own footprint, so it reads as anchored rather than competing with what's beside it.

Gallery walls

A gallery wall is really one large piece made up of several frames, and it should be treated that way. The same two-thirds to three-quarters width rule and eye-level centring apply to the grouping as a whole, not to each individual frame.

1. Keep spacing consistent at 5–8cm between frames throughout
2. Hang the largest or anchor piece first at eye level, then build outward from there
3. Choose a symmetrical grid for a clean, ordered look, or go looser with a salon-style layout that feels collected over time
4. Odd numbers, three, five, seven, settle into a composition more naturally. Even numbers can feel like they're searching for a symmetry they haven't quite found

Bedroom

The bedroom has two natural anchor points, the headboard and the nightstands, each at a different scale.

Above the headboard

The same two-thirds to three-quarters width rule applies here, with one addition, pay attention to symmetry with nightstands and lamps on either side, since the eye reads the whole wall as one composition. Leave 15-25cm between the top of the headboard and the bottom of the frames.

Above the nightstand

This is a seated or lying sightline, so it sits lower than the standard eye-level rule, and the frame itself should be smaller in scale.

1. Keep the frame at 50-75% of the nightstand's width, anything wider starts to look top-heavy
2. Hang the bottom 20-30cm above the surface, leaving room for everyday items without blocking the art
3. Align the centre with the nightstand's midpoint, not the bed
4. If there's a table lamp, let the frame sit slightly higher, or offset the lamp toward the bed so it only partially overlaps the matting

Bringing them together

A headboard piece and nightstand pieces should feel like they belong together without matching exactly, a shared tone or theme works better than an identical frame or style.

XL art

XL pieces call for a different approach depending on what's below them, a furniture anchor changes the usual proportions, an open wall doesn't.

With a furniture anchor

This is the one case where the usual two-thirds to three-quarters rule flips, a single XL piece can extend beyond a low anchor like a stool, so long as the overhang reads as deliberate rather than accidental. Centre the piece and keep the overhang even on both sides. A stool sits lower than standard furniture height, so measure the 15-20cm gap from its actual styling line, around 60-65cm, not the usual 85cm.

Ceiling height affects how much room this leaves above, roughly 35-40cm on a standard ceiling, 80-100cm or more on a taller one, and it also guides orientation. Keep it vertical above a narrow anchor like a stool, where width is tight either way. Above a sofa, where width is already generous, horizontal makes better use of the space. On a taller ceiling, that constraint eases, so orientation becomes more of a style choice.

On a genuinely open wall

Stairwells, tall hallway walls, double-height spaces, anywhere with nothing beneath to anchor to. The centre point shifts upward from standard eye level here, typically 155-165cm as ceiling height increases, scaled to the wall itself rather than a fixed number. This is where XL art gets to be the room's one statement. Whether it's anchored to furniture below or standing alone on an open wall, the principle stays the same, let the piece take up the space it's earned, and trust that scale is what makes it feel considered.

Take your time with this. You've put thought, and often quite a bit of both time and money, into the art you've chosen, it deserves a placement that does it justice. If you're still deciding on framing, our guide to choosing a frame is a good next step, it covers not just how a frame looks, but how it protects the piece for years to come.