You've found the perfect picture to go above the sofa, you shout for joy, hammer in the picture hanger, stand back, and...wait, something is not right. Whether it's drapery rods, chandeliers, or picture frames, when you walk into a room that feels a little off, it's often due to miscalculated height. While there are no hard and fast "rules" for height, we've gathered some helpful guidelines for getting it right...
General Rule: 5"-9" above large pieces of furniture like a sofa or headboard or above the objects on a table or console.
If you're like me, once an idea pops into your head, your instinct is to accomplish it as quickly as possible. Unfortunately when it comes to picture-hanging that impulsive tendency often translates into lots of nail holes and awkwardly hung frames. The easiest way to get it right the first time is to cut out templates of the frames and hang them in place with masking tape so that you can step back and get the full effect. This is especially effective if you're hanging a group of frames. Check out Little Birdie Secret's great tutorial for hanging a picture collage using paper templates. I would only add that using masking tape rather than nails may save you a few nail hole mistakes. When in doubt, go low. Hanging them too high makes for strained necks and the infamous floating effect that vexes so many of our readers. For example...
For some wonderful examples of low hanging artwork, check out ATSF JessicaBlake's post from this winter.
General Rule: Hang at eye level or slightly lower. Obviously, due to our varying heights, all eye levels are not the same, but using this as a guideline will help prevent dizzy guests and headaches. Generally, this means between that the center of the mirror is 56"-59" from the ground. In our home, we've followed Maxwell's advice of roughly 57" to great effect. Dining Room Chandeliers
General Rule: For chandeliers with multiple arms, the guideline height is 26 to 32 inches above the table. This creates an intimate zone without blocking your view of other table guests. If you are using a round opaque pendant or bowl-style chandelier or opaque pendant, the height can be a little higher — 30-36 inches above the table.
There are always exceptions to every rule. An important one pertains to the particular architectural embellishments and quirks of your space. If you want to highlight unusual ceiling angles, hang artwork in a manner that mimics it lines, as pictured above.
(Images: 1: Sarah Kaye via Pink Wallpaper, 2: Skona Hem, 3: Ideal Home, 4: Domino, 5: Jonathan Adler, 6: Erik Johnson via Hatch, 7: via Design Sponge)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
My advice is to remember that the things on the wall and the furniture and objects beneath them all need to work as one composition. There should be a little tension and a relationship between the sofa and the painting over it. (For sofas, in particular, there is also the issue of not banging your head on the art, if the sofa back makes that possible...)
Stand back and see if the whole vignette works together. The desk photo above is a perfect example -- remove any one item from the grouping and it doesn't work as well -- meaning everything contributes and has meaning to the arrangement. Having the flowers in the foreground overlap the painting in the background ties the grouping together in a pleasing way.
view SherryBinNH's profile
Is there such a thing as hanging artwork/mirrors too low?
view bepsf's profile
@Bepsf, maybe?. I've always been rather fond of large pieces of art on the floor, leaning on the wall. Of course, I'm pretty short, so I imagine my tall friends might not be that fond of the idea.
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
Oh, AT. You couldn't have posted this in the morning, BEFORE I spent two hours doing a salon-style arrangement?
view Lisa (Montreal)'s profile
often things seem hung too low to me, but i am 6'2"...
i usually go the standard height in our place since my wife is 5'2", so we compromise.
Depends on what is under it a lot, print above the bookcase, obviously higher, giant poster, did it by eye since it was so large standard height seemed too high since we have high ceilings, frames going over the bed soon, will do it by eye, tricky situation.
view jmorey's profile
Thanks. I'm always clueless on this.
view TypicalGuy's profile
I'm a firm believer in hanging curtains as high as you can. Everything else on the wall depends on the size and look of the room.
view baileyb's profile
I'm short and have a tendency to hang things much lower... sometimes I have the dilemma of staring at my pictures after they are hung... wondering if the picture is too small, do I need more or is it too low, too big, wrong frames... I will have to try some of the tips in the post to see if they help.
view sfteri's profile