Hanging artwork is a huge part of setting up home. Fortunately there are so many different ways to do so and there's honestly no wrong way. However, there are some useful tips and tricks that can help you be as successful as possible during this somewhat daunting task.
One way to make the most impact is to hang artwork gallery style. Combine artwork of all different shapes, sizes and colors together in one large space. If you have your sofa against a wall, that's an ideal space to hang artwork in this style. You have the option of using the same style and color frame for each piece to somewhat unify the pieces or you can mismatch as much as you want.
If you like the look of gallery style but still have one large piece — it's actually rather simple to combine the two looks. Hang the large piece centered above the bed (or any other piece of furniture) and hang the remaining smaller pieces gallery style to the left or right. This will help cover a larger wall or that unique space above a headboard.
Maybe you only have one very large piece that you want to stand alone. Lean it up against the wall on a credenza in the dining room. If it's bold and colorful, make sure the accessories around it are muted so that all eyes are focused on the artwork.
Images: 1. Here's Looking At Me Kid, 2. Sterling Style, 3. Flipflops And Pearls, 4. Roland Bellow, 5. Little Green Notebook
Which Wall Color Gives the Best Sleep?
Ana Creates a Community at Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Z2 iPod Dock and Wi...
Soda Recipe: Homemade Ginger Ale
I know there's a lot of room to fill up in the first example, but I think it short changes the art.
anyone have a source for the duvet, pillows, or throw (for that matter) in photo 5????
nevermind. think i found the pillows. ouch!
http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/main/ProductDetail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524446394721&afsrc=1&site_refer=GGLBASE001&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=8033050750399
Does anyone have any ideas for decorating an angled wall? Should I just look for lightweight stuff and hang them with velcro strips? I've got some nice pieces I'm just afraid that I'll come home to find those velcro will be no match for gravity.
I like the gallery idea, which is what I've done. I have a grouping of six. There's one large squarish piece (a sepia-toned photo) with two smaller, 8x10ish pieces next to it (block print on top is vertical, color photo underneath is horizontal). Then underneath to the left I have a small skinny one (another color photo), and next to that on the right, a tiny ceramic television set I got from a local artist. I love how all the variety works together but wouldn't add anything else. Agree that whole art walls are too much.
This may sound paranoid, but a wall full of various-sized silhouettes is starting to take on the spooky, all-pervading dolls effect! #3 is fab.
Hey! Does anyone know where the flowery pillows in the third photo come from?
aprilheartssaaron - They look like they may be from Missoni?
Yep there seems like there is an "art" to hanging art.
@maxpierce: the pillows are from an etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/thatfunkyboutique and they're made of recycled sweaters (I'm in the process of picking a color to order one now)
I know it's old-school, but the "mishmash" trend of hanging art of varying strengths (pale with bold, tiny with huge) all over a wall just looks sloppy to me, every time I see it. What's lost is a sense of balance and proportion to the furnishings. I anxiously await a return to structure and balance.
@ Mary B C - i've seen mismatched art hung in a balanced manner, and not necessary be symmetrical. there are ways to do it, if you do it right. but i agree, it's not for everyone.
Mary B C , out of curiosity: what about if there is still some unifying element to the mismatched frames? For instance...different frame shapes/sizes but all in the same color? or different colors but same shape? does that still register as sloppy to you?
Thanks so much @gwenlle!
Mary B C, the way I handle multiples may work for you:
I tend to do the same frames, and have a "theme" of some sort throughout the photos I select. Whether that is outdoor photos, or the bistro set that my in-laws have, or some other set. It helps tell the story as well.
We're planning on doing something like that at my dad's apartment. He has a great picture up already of St. Paul in his NYC apartment, so we're going to do the places that he has lived.
I don't need symmetry - mismatched sizes will work absolutely. But it's the mismatch of weight or proportion that always looks off to me.
Different art unified by similar frames, absolutely - because the frames balance each other. Large piece balanced by numerous small pieces, absolutely, because the smalls can match the weight of the big.
A big, dark, bold painting, next to a couple small old needlepoints in pale frames - not cool.
Also, I find that a lot of people hang groups of small items with far too much empty space between them, so the idea of creating visual weight with a bank of small things is disrupted. The look of the whole is diluted, until you only see a bunch of small things, rather than one visual mass.
For example: Third photo in this piece.
There are some very dark things over that couch, and some very light things that blend much more into the wall. From a distance (or without clicking into the close-up) that reads visually to me as: Big, heavy thing above couch on right. Smaller but still heavy thing middle. Lower left, a couple heavy (dark) things. Upper left, pale stuff that blends into the wall and looks like it needs WEIGHT.
I know I'm not using designer terms here, but I know what I like and what tracks as balanced, when my eye lights on it.