You’ve found the piece. You love it. You’ve held it up against the wall, taken three steps back, tilted your head, and now you’re standing there with a hammer wondering: is this actually the right spot?
Hanging art is one of those things that looks effortless when it’s done well and painfully obvious when it isn’t. The good news is that there are only a handful of rules worth knowing, and once you’ve got them, you can hang almost anything with confidence.
The eye-level rule (and what it actually means)
The single most repeated piece of advice in the art-hanging world is “hang it at eye level”. It’s good advice. It’s also slightly misleading, because eye level changes depending on where you’re standing.
The most useful version: hang your art 4-8 inches above the furniture beneath it. A sofa, a console table, a bed, a desk; the piece should feel anchored to whatever it’s sitting above, not floating off into the ceiling. If there's no furniture underneath (a hallway, a stairwell, a blank wall), then aim for the center of the piece to land around 57-60 inches from the floor. That’s the height most galleries hang at, and it’s no coincidence; it’s roughly average human eye level.
Statement piece vs gallery walls
How you hang depends on what you’re hanging.
If it’s a single statement piece
Lean towards the lower end of that 4-8 inch range. Big pieces have presence on their own – they don’t need height to make an impact, and pushing them too high can make them feel disconnected from the room. Centre it on the wall (or the furniture below), and let it do its thing.
If you’re building a gallery wall
Start with your largest or most eye-catching piece and build outward from there. This is the single best tip we can give you for gallery walls – it's the difference between an arrangement that looks intentional and one that looks like you ran out of room and started improvising.
A few more things that help:
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Lay the whole arrangement out on the floor first. Move things around until it feels right, then transfer it to the wall.
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Keep the spacing between pieces consistent – usually 2-3 inches works well.
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Mix sizes and orientations on purpose. A wall of identically-sized prints can feel stiff; a mix feels collected.
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Trace each frame onto craft paper, cut it out, and tape the templates to the wall before drilling. It takes ten extra minutes and saves you from a lot of unnecessary holes.
Choosing the right frame and mat
Once you’ve decided where a piece is going, the frame and mat decisions are what take it from “hung on the wall” to “properly displayed”.
Frame color
Pick a frame color that complements the print, not one that competes with it. A black frame around a moody, high-contrast print sharpens it. A natural wood frame around a soft botanical warms it. A white frame around a colorful piece keeps the focus on the art itself. The wrong frame doesn’t ruin a print, but the right one makes it sing.
To mat or not to mat
A mat, that border of paper between the print and the frame, does two things: it gives the art breathing room, and it creates a more uniform, gallery-style look. If you’re going for consistency across a wall of pieces, mats help everything feel cohesive.
If you prefer something more eclectic, more layered, more lived-in, skip the mat. Frame-to-edge gives a tighter, more contemporary look that works beautifully when you’re mixing styles.
Don’t want to hang anything? Lean it.
Leaning art is the underrated cousin of hanging it. It works on dressers, desks, console tables, floating shelves, mantels – and yes, even directly on the floor for large pieces. The look is effortless and a little bit unstudied, which is exactly why it works.
The other advantage: you can rearrange whenever you feel like it. No nails, no measuring, no commitment. Lean two pieces against each other in front of a third for a layered look that feels collected rather than curated.
The most common mistakes (and how to dodge them)
Even people with great taste in art sometimes get the hanging part wrong. Here’s what to watch out for.
Hanging it too high
By far the most common mistake, and the easiest to avoid. Stick to the 4-8 inch rule. Test the position with painter’s tape or a paper template before you reach for the hammer – it's much easier to adjust a pencil mark than a nail.
Choosing pieces that are too small
A small print on a large wall can look lonely and unfinished. Measure your wall before you buy, and remember the two-thirds rule: your art should cover roughly two-thirds of the available wall space.
Overcrowding the wall
The flip side of the same coin. A maximalist gallery wall is great – a wall so packed it has nowhere to breathe is not. Even busy arrangements need a little negative space around them. Art should speak, not shout.
Skipping the templates
If you’re hanging more than one piece, do not eyeball it. Cut paper templates, tape them to the wall, live with them for a day or two, and then commit. Future you will be very grateful.
Forgetting about the room
Art doesn’t exist in isolation. Step back regularly while you’re hanging and look at the whole space – furniture, lighting, other pieces. A print that looks perfect from two feet away might fight with the lamp next to it from across the room.
One last thing
Hanging art well isn’t about getting it perfect on the first try. It’s about being willing to step back, look honestly, and adjust. A small shift in height, a slight rearrangement of a gallery wall, a frame swapped out for a different color – these small decisions are what turn a wall of art into a wall that actually feels finished.
Still looking for the right pieces to hang? Browse the full collection here.
