•Most art should be hung 150 to 165cms from the floor to the center of the art, roughly your eye level should be two thirds up from the bottom of the picture. Think about how the artwork will relate to everything else in the room, whether it is over a piece of furniture such as a table,sofa or a bed.
• If it is on a blank wall, such as an entryway you will probably want it a little higher, but if its over a sofa you will probably want it between 15 to 20cms above the back of the sofa or headboard, as you don't want a huge gaping space between the top of your sofa/furniture and the artwork ending up too high up on the wall. If you have someone that can help you, use them to hold the artwork at the spot you think it will work and walk back to decide if you like it there and then mark the top of the frame in that spot so you have you specified preference height.
•I recommend measuring the width of the sofa/furniture, and if you have one large picture, then take the sofa measurement and divide it exactly in half on the wall and mark that spot, and your picture should hang perfectly in the middle at your preferred marked height. Same will apply to a picture above a desk, dining table or a bed.
•If you have two pictures to hang along side one another then use the same sofa measurement width and divide by two. You now have two halves to each side of the sofa centre point. Now measure the distance between the edge of the sofa to the centre point of the sofa and divide it by two. This is your new centre point to hang your picture perfectly in the middle of each half of the sofa/bed/desk/dining table. If more than two pictures use the same principle by dividing the space into how many divisions as there are pictures and then half that division to get your exact hanging point.
Now all the above will work well for a medium to large piece of art. If you are hanging a small piece, such as a small mirror, you will probably want to do groupings or find a smaller or more narrow wall so the piece doesn't disappear or look too small. A grouping of 4 to 6 small paintings hung vertically or horizontally on a wall has a very modern appeal.
If you're hanging artwork by yourself,mark on the wall with pencil where the top of the frame where your art work should sit. Then measure the back of the picture from the top of your frame to the hook eye on the picture or the top of the hanging rope pulled to its highest point at the back of the picture. Take this measurement and measure down from your height pencil marking on the wall, measurement down and this is where your nail or hook should be placed. If hanging more than one picture be sure to measure all of them as rope length or hook height can vary on each picture and will effect the level of the pictures.
• If you don't want to draw on the wall I recommend using red dot stickers as these are easy to maneuver and wont leave marks.
•It is better to use picture hooks rather than nails because hooks are designed to redistribute the weight suspended from them. Hooks push the weight of pictures into the wall and then down, rather than just down as with nails. Nails tend to give way; and it takes a larger nail to support the same weight that a smaller picture hook will. Hooks usually come in packages that list the weight its hooks will hold. Always use the right size.
•If you don't want to make holes in your wall then sticky picture hooks can be applied for light weight or canvas art work, but for security a picture hook is always the best approach to ensure your valued artwork doesn't fall down and get damaged. If artwork is considerably heavy or has a heavy frame I recommend drilling a hole in the wall and placing in a wall groove to secure your nail so it will not be pulled out by the weight of your picture.
•It is always advisable to check the wall for wires behind the plaster to ensure you don't put a nail through some important wiring or water pipes. Wire and pipe detectors can be purchased in most hard ware stores or accompany drill sets.
• Lastly and most importantly your home is an expression of who you are, and your walls are your own personal gallery space. They should reflect your interests, your personality and your memories -
in other words, they should reflect YOU.
For advice on purchasing artwork that reflects you and best suits your home or office space, contact the Butler Goode Gallery to enquire about our free Art Consultancy services and choose from our diverse portfolio of Contemporary European and World Art, Contemporary Australian and Aboriginal art.
www.butlergoodegallery.com
