Tips For Hanging Art At Home
Hanging art in the home need not involve thousands of pounds spent on collectables and at specialist auctions. Art can be anything in which you see creativity or beauty. This could come in the form of posters, prints, plates, crafts or textiles. There is now a whole variety of art hanging systems available online to help you hang your art like a professional interior decorator or gallery curator, so finding the right tools and following these top tips will make your home gallery simply shine.
Hang At Eye Level
Many people hang art too high on a wall, which draws the eye away and means that the beauty of the art goes, for the most part, unappreciated. For high ceilings, art should be hung so that average eye level hits roughly the middle of the piece. In children’s rooms, hanging art at a height for their eye level can also help them pay attention and enjoy the things they have to look at on their walls. Of course, if the ceilings in a room are very low, and the art piece is very long, this may not be possible. In these instances, visually split your wall height up into quarters and hang your art in the third highest. When hanging art above a sofa or other furniture it’s best to leave between 8–10 inches of clearance above it, no matter where this fits with the eye level rule.
Keep A Balance
Although the eye may not be immediately directed to the biggest piece of art on a wall, it usually will be to the boldest or darkest – and so pieces of similar aesthetic may need to be spaced out around a room to avoid overshadowing the rest of a collection. Well-curated gallery walls help balance out pieces of art while presenting them all in a suitable manner for optimum exposure. If only one piece is being hung in a room and it is particularly eye-catching, it may need to be offset with similarly bold statement furniture.
Frame Wisely
Collecting pieces of art to hang is one thing but displaying them is a whole different beast. Frames should be used wisely to highlight and complement the pieces within them and can either be kept in the same style between a collection or mixed and matched for a more versatile look. There is a common misconception that art frames are expensive and unwieldy items. The dawn of the internet and of budget homeware store has seen a huge rise in variety, with everywhere from supermarkets to e-commerce auction websites now offering them! For rarer or more costly pieces, it may be worth visiting a professional framer to find an appropriate option.
Invest In Good Quality Art Hanging Systems
Hanging your art is all well and good, but if a piece falls down from the wall and breaks, it’ll likely be destined for the bin. Art hanging systems are worth spending money on as a protective investment for your art – ensuring it’ll stay in place long term and avoid unnecessary slips or gusts to keep safe. Picture rails are a popular option as are custom hooks, but be careful with adhesive options — cheap imitations are often a futile saving that only have ill consequences in the end. Plate hangers are also always worth the expenditure as other hanging implements aren’t designed for the specificities of plates, so run the risk of damage.